By Nelson A. King
The 67th Police Precinct Clergy
Council in Brooklyn, otherwise
known as the Godsquad, wants to
“restore, heal, connect, recover and
empower our community to exist
without violence.”
“All we need to end gun violence in
America is faith that it can be done,
the will to act and the tools to bring
about change,” said Pastor Gil Monrose,
the US Virgin Islands-born head
of the Council, in his New Year’s Message
on Monday.
“We have the faith, the will and the
battle-tested methods to bring about
that change,” he added, writing under
the caption, “No Hate. No Fear. 2020:
A year of new challenges.”
“We have come to the end of not
only the 2019 but the decade,” he
continued. “Since 2010, with the full
cooperation of the 67th Precinct, the
Clergy Council has been a valued
partner in the fight against senseless
gun violence.”
Pastor Monrose said the Public
Safety Coalition’s (PSC) plan, in operation
since 2017, is designed to implement
a “collective, comprehensive,
community initiative to decrease the
involvement of young people in gangs,
crimes and gun violence within the
jurisdiction of the 67th Precinct.”
He said this plan embodies “a holistic
approach involving various partners
and supporters in our diverse
neighborhood, with resources invested
by these community partners for
the betterment of the entire Brooklyn
community.”
“It is our goal and life’s work to
reduce the violence in the communities
in which we serve as pastors and
faith leaders,” Monrose said. “Gun
violence and the loss of life has a significant
and traumatic effect on families
and the communities in which
they reside.”
He said PSC has proved to be proactive
by providing engaging activities,
information and training that has
deterred further violence in the communities.
Through the work of the PSC,
Monrose said there has been a significant
reduction in the number of gun
violence crimes that have overtaken
“our communities.”
“Our ultimate prayer and goal are
to restore, heal, connect, recover and
empower our community to exist
without violence,” he said.
Caribbean Life, JANUARY 10-16, 2020 3
St. Vincent and the Grenadines Ambassador to the UN, I. Rhonda King addresses Flag Planting Ceremony on assumption
of seat on UN Security Council. Permanent Mission of St. Vincent and the Grenadines Mission to the United Nations
SVG has ‘no geo-political axe to
grind’: United Nations envoy
By Nelson A. King
In becoming the smallest nation
ever to serve on the prestigious United
Nations Security Council, St. Vincent
and the Grenadines Ambassador to the
UN, I. Rhonda King, says the country has
“no geo-political axe to grind.”
“This day is a historic one, not only
because we are the smallest nation ever
to sit on the Security Council but also,
perhaps, because the urgency of now
calls for fresh, disinterested and impartial
perspectives on the seemingly intractable
problems of our day,” said Amb.
King in addressing the Flag Planting
Ceremony on Thursday, as St. Vincent
and the Grenadines officially assumed a
non-permanent seat on the UN Security
Council.
“St. Vincent and the Grenadines
has no geo-political axe to grind,” she
declared. “We are just a young nation
that yearns for a better world.”
King said that “all over the world,
there is a growing disquiet,” stating that
“people are rising up, many (if not most)
are young, and they are calling on those
with power to correct the current trajectory
of our planet and our politics.
“Today, St. Vincent and the Grenadines,
a Small Island Developing State
– mere 40 years after reclaiming its independence
from colonial powers (Great
Britain) – will take up its seat for the first
time as an elected member of the Security
Council,” she added.
The ambassador said St. Vincent and
the Grenadines comes to the task with
a team “that largely comprises young,
well-educated, enthusiastic and creative
thinkers.”
“Our permanent representative is
female (yours truly), and I am supported
by two female deputy permanent representatives;
a female political coordinator;
a female alt-political coordinator; and a
female legal adviser,” she said. “Indeed,
we are a team that is two-thirds female.
That, too, is probably historic. But, above
all, we are a Caribbean people.”
In alluding to a quote from the country’s
Prime Minister, Dr. Ralph E. Gonsalves,
King said: “We, metaphorically
speaking, ‘comprise the songs of Caribs
(our indigenous people), the rhythm of
Africa, the chords of Asia, the melody of
Europe and the lyrics of the Caribbean
itself.’”
“With this uniquely blended psyche,
we take up our seat at the horseshoe
table in the Security Council Chamber,”
the diplomat said. “We go forth with
the audacity and the hope of making a
small contribution toward the creation
of transformative, resilient, new realities.”
King thanked the Member States of
United Nations General Assembly for
“placing their trust in St. Vincent and
the Grenadines.
“We will endeavor every day, for the
next two years, to maintain that trust by
discharging our duties and responsibilities
with integrity, steadfast adherence to
the rule of law, the values and principles
enshrined in the United Nations Charter,”
she said.
Earlier, the top Vincentian diplomat
said that St. Vincent and the Grenadines’
“historic journey” began with “Three
Stories and a Prayer: The Manifestation
of the Prophetic Imagination.”
“With the audacity of David, the widow’s
faith, the spirit of Chatoyer (the
Carib chief and St. Vincent and the Grenadines’s
lone national hero), the prayer of
Saint Francis of Assisi, we begin a historic
journey,” she said.
King noted that St. Vincent and the
Grenadines enters the Security Council
“on the cusp of its 75th anniversary and
at a time when the world is riddled with
challenges, and the rules-based system
is increasingly under threat on many
fronts.”
She said that the story of David and
Goliath in the Bible “reminds us that
the small can overcome the powerful,
that the small overcomes the powerful is
more often the case than it is not.”
“As a young nation, we will be remiss
if we believe the fight for our independence
to be is a done deal,” King said.
“Small states, by definition, are vulnerable
in a world, where international law
is compromised and only might makes
right.
“This makes us natural defenders of
the international order that protects us,”
she added. “Indeed, it is the responsibility
of a small state.”
Similarly, the envoy said that, in a
world in which the nexus between climate
change and security “becomes
clearer by the day, in a world in which
climate change is an existential threat
to the Small Island Developing State
(SIDS), in a world where climate change
threatens to make the independent citizens
of a Small Island Developing State
stateless in the not-too-distant future,
the Small Island Developing State has
the responsibility to its citizens to be
bold and advocate vociferously in the
international arena for climate justice
now.”
Godsquad
wants to
empower
community