The viewpoint of the street took centre stage during an event seeking to stem gang violence.

Expressing an interest in a better future for youth, four young men explained their motivations for participating in the forum Ending Gang Violence and Exploitation yesterday.

Clarke Fox was one of four young men asked to take part in the event.

“Hurt people hurt people,” he said.

Mr Fox, an ex-convict who spent 6½ years in prison beginning when he was 17, said that he and the other young men asked to speak were there because they wanted change.

“It’s time that we do something better, not just for me but for the next generation,” he said.

The message often being conveyed to young people was not a positive one, Mr Fox said.

“What they’re preaching to them is that they’ve got to be gunmen, to be killers, to be drug dealers, to be prostitutes,” he said.

“I don’t want to have a son or a daughter and for them to come up like that. I want to be able to send my daughter or my son to college.”

Mr Fox said that while he could understand how violence begot violence on the street, he couldn’t understand why the people in power capable of providing change were not doing so.

“If a system isn’t working for you what is it doing? It’s working against you,” he said.

“There’s too much talk and not enough action.”

Dozens attended the three-hour long event held by the Interagency Committee for Children and Families, in partnership with the Interagency Community Response task force and Family Centre’s Youth Development Zone.

Those in attendance at Bermuda Industrial Union Headquarters included government representatives, social services providers, law enforcement officials, and community leaders.

Senator Jeff Baron, Minister of National Security, said that the event marked the first time the perspective and access provided by Mr Fox and the other young men to “harmed communities” had been provided.

“There is no one more legitimate to give that message, as you said, to those young men and women than you,” he said of the group.

Acknowledging that neighbourhoods had been harmed, and their members had historically been harassed, Mr Baron said ending gun violence was a community call.

“The message we want you to deliver is to stop the shooting,” he said.

Grassroots and public safety reform were also needed, Mr Baron said.

Gladwyn Simmons, with Emperial Group, likened dealing with the problem of gang violence to that of nuisance insects.

“If you wish to get rid of mosquitoes, don’t have stagnant water,” he said.

“I’m hearing all about the problem — I’m not hearing anything about anybody really understanding how to address the stagnancy.”

Detective Superintendent Sean Field-Lament, with the Bermuda Police Service, said the “catch and convict” aspect of policing done by officers was not the long-term solution to the problem of gang violence.

He said it was “very encouraging” to be in a room filled with people interested in making the island safer.

“The police cannot do this without you,” the detective-sergeant said.

He likened the problem of leaving the gang lifestyle to that of kicking a drug habit.

“You can’t get out of that,” he said regarding the familiar surroundings involved in both circumstances.

“The same problems that exist with that environment are tenfold with the gang environment.”

Mr Field-Lament, who has spent more than three decades with the BPS, said he felt the island was “sadly” on “version 3.0” of gangsters.

“I’ve arrested grandfathers for drugs, I arrested the fathers for drugs, and now we’re seeing the next ones come through,” he said.

“And they’re getting younger.”

Following the presentations, event participants broke off into six groups — including basic needs, employment, and healthcare — to discuss the existing services available, and the barriers currently in place blocking access.

Solutions and commitments to overcoming the roadblocks were then brainstormed.

Martha Dismont, with Family Centre, who served as the event’s moderator, said the information and promises made within the groups would be made available to those in attendance.

Asked by Ms Dismont how he felt about the forum, Mr Fox said he was “very inspired and motivated”.

“Whatever happens next happens next,” he said.