We Were Raised To Believe That Mental Illness Is A Curse

We were brainwashed into believing that 'mad' people's state of insanity is the result of the sins of the father or a curse someone placed on the family.

Image by Annelise Lords

This piece is challenging to write as a Jamaican who understands hatred and knows love. Children's memory will sometimes fade out what their parents said. But their memory will cling to what their parents do. Most of us are visual learners.

Five teenagers have been charged with murder in connection with the fiery death of 48-year-old Lionel Johnson of Deanery Road, Kingston 3, a "savage act" that prompted the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development to offer a reward of $500,000 for information leading to an arrest in the matter.

https://jamaica.loopnews.com/content/five-teens-charged-murder-homeless-man-who-was-set-ablaze

Five teenagers between 15 and 17 years old threw gasoline on the mentally ill Lionel Johnson and lit him at a gas station in Kingston, Jamaica. He died while undergoing treatment at the Kingston Public Hospital.