Pastor Bell's Words To Live By

Yesterday evening I went to see the film, ‘Songs of Redemption, breaking the chains” and participate in the post screening debate, at the seventh ‘I will tell’ film festival in Pimlico SW1V. The film graphically show the experiences of several men incarcerated in a prison in Kingston Jamaica, serving sentences from three years to life. The majority of the inmates pass their time by writing, composing and singing songs in which they share their stories. For them this is cathartic, as it gives them an opportunity to reflect on their crime, come to terms with their lot and hope for a better future.

This is a chilling reminder of the restorative work that needs to be done among the African Caribbean Diaspora to bringing about healing, deliverance and restoration. What we see in this film, is the fruit of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade and its continued impact six generation after manumission.  The inmates present human faces that belie the atrocities they have committed. One young man in particular, speaks about his crime of killing his ‘baby mother’ after being intoxicated with alcohol and marijuana and then feeling to hang himself.  These actions are typical of those inflicted on their ancestors hundreds of years ago. Emasculating the male, using the female as a ‘breeder’ to produce ‘picaninnies’, creating a disconnect between fathers and their children, instituting a cycle of poverty and depravity, causing folks to hate themselves and to beat their off-springs like animals are the back drop to all that is going on.

This documentary highlights the reason why the community needs to work together to deal with the real issues of systemic evil. As the slavers did 180 years ago, the penal justice system seeks to destroy the creativity and the God given ability that these people possess, but somehow they are still alive to tell their story.

Thank God for Jesus, the liberator of humanity!