Donate NowScott P. Harris, for The Pulitzer Center
Jake shows his Loyalist POW tattoo - Photo by Matthais Thoelen
Today I met with a former UVF prisoner named Jake Kane. Jake joined the UVF (a Loyalist Paramilitary group) as a teenager in the 1970's. In 1976, at the age of 17, he was given a twelve year sentence for attempted murder (of which he served six years.) He insists that he was not a terrorist. He was an anti-terrorist who opened fire on a group of Catholics. Today, Jake works with other ex-prisoners in Shankill as a community organizer. Among other things, they try to use their experiences to help today's teens avoid the path that they took. They also do what they can to promote tourism to the working class neighborhood.
Jake was very helpful, and couldn't have been nicer. But one thing really stood out for me: while he repeatedly made the point that it was perfectly safe to walk around Shankill (as long as you're not wearing a Glasgow Celtic jersey), when I asked when he thought they'd be able to take down the 40 foot high peace line that separates Shankill from The Falls, he paused, and said, "At least fifteen years." If it's so safe and so peaceful, why will it take fifteen years for the wall to come down? Because the second it comes down the kids will be out there throwing rocks at each other. It's a repeat of what I've heard all week from both sides of the line: As far as they've come in the last ten years, and they've come incredibly far, healing this wound will take generations.