We all owe a debt of gratitude to Rev. Hall for spearheading the effort to create this memorial. This memorial is long overdue. We tend to be diligent at honoring well-known people when they pass, but we forget the real heroes in our lives – the people who may not be famous or rich, whose names are not in the newspapers, who walk the streets unrecognized.

But more often than not, these are the people who make a difference in our lives – the neighbors who are there for us when we need a helping hand, the nurses who ease our pain, the friendly fellow whose smile and greeting brightens our day.

These are the people we honor today. People who day in and day out, enriched our lives. Like the father of three that was shot threw his window while he slept in his bed with his wife and infant daughter to the mother that was killed with her child in her arms.

These are these people that we honor today.

As I think of the people that this memorial is designed to honor, I ask myself: how did we get to this point? How has violent crime in our beloved Bahamas gotten to the point where we seem to have become de-sensitised to the commission of heinous murders.

Last year we suffered from almost 80 murders – 23 murders for every 100,000 Bahamians. The murder rate in The Bahamas is FOUR TIMES the murder rate in the United States. Four times.

It doesn’t have to be this way. We know what we need to do to fight crime and to make memorials like this unnecessary.

We cannot afford to play politics with people's lives. We must pursue policies that are best for the Bahamas regardless of who may have created them.

We need strong deterrents – like tougher sentences for repeat offenders, less sentencing discretion for judges and enhanced penalties for violent offenses.

And we need to help juvenile offenders, rather than turn them into hardened criminals. That means more rehabilitation programmes.

And we need novel approaches, such as “Hope Scholarships” to help at-risk youth get a chance to continue their studies.

To fight crime, we need everyone’s involvement. The community, the government and the Police Force must work hand in hand.

It is time that we get serious about crime in this country. We cannot afford to lose another soul to senseless violence.

The peaceful, serene country we once knew and loved is slipping away. Enough is enough. Let us all here vow to do everything in our powers to stop crime. Let’s be courageous. Let’s be brave. Let us all – as Bahamians – stand up to the criminals and the forces that are taking our country to its demise. We can do it. We can fix it. It’s up to us!

I am convinced that if we work together we can beat this and we’ll know when we’re successful. We won’t need the latest crime numbers. We’ll know because friends and relative will call to share good news, not tell us that another person has fallen. We’ll know because our newscasts will celebrate Bahamian accomplishments, and not fill our screens with gore. We’ll know when we stop honoring people that are tragically cut down before their time in memorials like these and instead celebrate their lives when they pass from old age.

Is that so much to ask? I don’t think so. Be brave, change the Bahamas.

But more often than not, these are the people who make a difference in our lives – the neighbors who are there for us when we need a helping hand, the nurses who ease our pain, the friendly fellow whose smile and greeting brightens our day.

These are the people we honor today. People who day in and day out, enriched our lives. Like the father of three that was shot threw his window while he slept in his bed with his wife and infant daughter to the mother that was killed with her child in her arms.

These are these people that we honor today.

As I think of the people that this memorial is designed to honor, I ask myself: how did we get to this point? How has violent crime in our beloved Bahamas gotten to the point where we seem to have become de-sensitised to the commission of heinous murders.

Last year we suffered from almost 80 murders – 23 murders for every 100,000 Bahamians. The murder rate in The Bahamas is FOUR TIMES the murder rate in the United States. Four times.

It doesn’t have to be this way. We know what we need to do to fight crime and to make memorials like this unnecessary.

We cannot afford to play politics with people's lives. We must pursue policies that are best for the Bahamas regardless of who may have created them.

We need strong deterrents – like tougher sentences for repeat offenders, less sentencing discretion for judges and enhanced penalties for violent offenses.

And we need to help juvenile offenders, rather than turn them into hardened criminals. That means more rehabilitation programmes.

And we need novel approaches, such as “Hope Scholarships” to help at-risk youth get a chance to continue their studies.

To fight crime, we need everyone’s involvement. The community, the government and the Police Force must work hand in hand.

It is time that we get serious about crime in this country. We cannot afford to lose another soul to senseless violence.

The peaceful, serene country we once knew and loved is slipping away. Enough is enough. Let us all here vow to do everything in our powers to stop crime. Let’s be courageous. Let’s be brave. Let us all – as Bahamians – stand up to the criminals and the forces that are taking our country to its demise. We can do it. We can fix it. It’s up to us!

I am convinced that if we work together we can beat this and we’ll know when we’re successful. We won’t need the latest crime numbers. We’ll know because friends and relative will call to share good news, not tell us that another person has fallen. We’ll know because our newscasts will celebrate Bahamian accomplishments, and not fill our screens with gore. We’ll know when we stop honoring people that are tragically cut down before their time in memorials like these and instead celebrate their lives when they pass from old age.

Is that so much to ask? I don’t think so. Be brave, change the Bahamas.