Donald E. de Castro. Photo: VINO/File

There are those of us who were born here, grew up here and had much of our schooling here and also those persons that migrated here right after the second world war knew that Virgin Islanders were a hardworking, loving, God fearing, Christ like, deeply religious people, a giving people and always willing to help each other and strangers. People of these islands worked for whatever they wanted, whether it was farming, fishing, construction or whatever was required to make an honest living.

The people of the villages of Tortola would bring their farm products into Road Town to sell, and, of course many products were exported mostly to the U. S Virgin Islands. While the people of Anegada and Virgin Gorda would bring some of their products to Tortola they mostly took their products to St. Thomas and the people of Jost Van Dyke mostly traded directly with St. Thomas. In any event no matter how they all worked and traded they were of the same commitment to be a hard working person in order to acquire and accomplish whatever they needed to maintain themselves and their family. They never in their life walked around looking for handouts. Many people of the out districts of Tortola lost much of their land to some greedy merchants for the value of a bag of sugar or flour. Nevertheless these people maintained their dignity and pride and these islands remained a great place to live in.

At home and in school we learned what respect was and that everyone was to be respected. We were taught to say, “thanks” and “please”, “good morning”,” good afternoon” and “good night”. In those days “Mr.” “Mrs.” and “Miss” were used as a form of respect, today they are more of a formality. And today some people are demanding that you address them as either Miss, Mrs., or Mr. I say this because so many people walk around with name tags with these initials in front of their last names or when you ask someone their name they are saying I am, Miss This, Mrs. That or Mr. Somebody and unless you insist they will never tell you their name. This complete disrespect of others; where did it come from?

The elderly were always treated with respect and when they were unable to take care of themselves, their children and grandchildren were proud and happy to take care of them. Today it’s a different story, and we have a home for the elderly so as soon as one elderly say they are tired, not even feeling sick, two actions are taken; first to take them to the Adina Donovan Home for the Elderly and then to find a lawyer that will assist them to get whatever the elderly have. And when that is done very few if any contribute to their care or donate anything to the home. These elderly have no one to lookout for their interest and Government acts as if these people never contributed anything to this Territory.

As the Territory developed it was necessary to import labour to keep up with the development. With the importation of labour, we admitted many people from all walks of life and among these were a large number of anti-Christ and anti-God people. And so began the demise of another aspect of our life, our strong Christian belief. I must say now, that the people that migrated here right after the Second World War was a more respectful and loving people. These people were genuine and contributed a great deal to this Territory.

In addition to the anti-Christ and anti-God people that came here later on, there were those that believed that their culture must be adopted by us, and so because of the response of the leadership this Territory began to go downhill. Also with the importation of labour came a lot Criminal minded people, and many people with lower education than our own people and those that just wanted to rape the country.

When, How and Why Immigration Department developed the policy of requiring pregnant foreign women to leave until the child was born was one of the best things at the time until some politicians felt they needed the votes in order to get re-elected in order that to help destroy the Territory so that policy was replaced and as result we have all seen what happened to this Territory after that.

Another major problem that has developed over the years is that Government and many private individuals feel and strongly believe that all major construction and other work must be done on Sundays, Good Friday and Christmas Day. These people felt that it is unfair and wrong to interrupt traffic for people that have to work during the week with no regards for those that have the right to worship on Sunday. 

As the years went by the young people were being led to believe by the politicians and other influential people that the only line of work that they should concern themselves with is white collar jobs. This became more prevalent when the Financial Services was introduced and became a major factor in our revenue. Because of the lack of foresight of our politicians our young people were not told about the importance of other trades and professions that are of importance in a community, such as construction, plumbing, electricity, carpentry, masonry, auto mechanics, diesel mechanics, just to name a few. Let us not forget the number of jobs available in the marine industry. And of course to leave out the broadcast and journalism field would not be right.

As the islands progressed, and people became more exposed to the outside world people began to expect and want a better life. Many Virgin Islanders who had travelled abroad before and during the Second World War came back home. One of those people was Theodolph Faulkner of Anegada. In the 1940s because of the unpleasant experiences his wife had with the medical services he decided that he must take action to correct the situation. Because of his action and with the help of others the legislature was once again authorized to sit in the Virgin Islands.

As a result, our Territory started moving forward to political maturity and elected such people as Glanville Fonseca, Carlton de Castro, Howard Penn, Charles Brundell-Bruce, these were the first men elected to the First Legislature Council. Then we had Wilfred Smith, Edwin Leonard, Leslie Malone, Theodolph Faulkner, Ivan Dawson, and Waldo O’Neal. These politicians were men with pride, dignity and morals that genuinely had these islands and its people at heart and were always willing and prepared to do whatever was to the best interest of all. The people had respect for these men, and, so these politicians had respect for the people. Later on a few more honest men were elected, like Arnando Scatliffe, Leopold Smith, Robinson O’Neal, Conrad Maduro, Willard Wheatley, Austin Henley, Cyril Romney, Walwyn Brewley, Rieeal George and Paul Watley.

I am not saying for one moment that later members of the Legislature did not endeavor to do good for the Territory and its people; however, it was at a very high cost to the residents of this Territory. One of the high costs was the proper lack of scrutiny and enforcement of the Alien Land Holding Act. Another high cost was that many land holders were encouraged to sell their land cheap to other locals who in turn sold the same land to white expats and made fortunes. In the process some people were able to buy some of the best sites on Tortola and Virgin Gorda and one or more islands, while some belongers could not buy a house lot.

How did we get here is the question many people are asking. The answer is all about greed. Here I quote from “Natural Cures they don’t want you to about” by Kevin Trudeau. Money itself is not bad. Making money and profits is not bad. It becomes bad when it becomes greed. Making money becomes very bad when you “love money.” Making money and making profits is very bad when you hurt your employees, lie and deceive your customers, destroy the environment, exploit workers, illegally drive competitors out of business, and purposely sell inferior products and services.

When you put money above everything else that is when making money is a problem. Money should be used and people loved. The problem is that money is loved and people used. End of quote.

When you look at all I have said you can see where, when and how many people began to lose their morals, dignity, pride and respect and started concentrating on greed you begin to understand why and how we got to where we are.

In losing of respect, dignity, pride and morals it was replaced by anger, hatred and dislike of others and in many cases for no reason. I can understand one hating how one acts, behave, speak, dress, conduct themselves, etc., we may also disagree with another person opinion, and however, these are no reasons to hate the person. I have been saying on my Radio Show for years that it is time for us to redevelop our national pride and to re-establish our identity.

Our identity begins with our name. In the 1970s at a Caribbean Tourist Board Meeting in Jamaica, the delegation from this Territory, The Virgin Islands confronted the delegation from the U. S Virgin Islands about using our name, the USVI delegation refused to stop. Back home one member of the delegation decided that the word British should go in front of Virgin Islands. They were told and advised not to do it because one day it will come back and haunt us and will be costly to have it corrected. We are seeing the problem today forty years later.

And now we are having a Friendship Day every year with people who do not respect us enough to stop using our name. Our schools continue to teach our children lies by not teaching them the correct name of this Territory, business people who feel that putting the word British in front of our name help them to make money, (greed), the news media, the ministers of Government along with the ministers of Religion all refuse to accept our name. They all help us to get where we are.

One other signs of disrespect that our Governments have treated the people of this Territory is the condition how they allowed such a Historic building to be kept closed for so many years. I refer to the Old Administration building on Main Street.

Another lack of respect for the people of this Territory is the way that our modern day “politricsters” treat one of our most historical days of the Virgin Islands. On July 1st 1956 we were granted direct linkage with the Foreign and Colonial Office, now The Foreign and Commonwealth office. This meant that we were no longer under the Governor General of the Colony of the Leeward Islands whose seat was in Antigua. This was our first step to internal self-Government. However, today, they could care less, so no matter what day it falls on, it is moved to a Monday so that they can enjoy a long weekend. Our earlier politicians fought for this day.

Virgin Islanders, we have been lied to, robbed, disrespected, misled, kept in the dark with no sunshine, unable to go to many beaches and taken advantage of in so many ways,  it’s time we stand up for what is rightfully ours. It is time we stop being fearful of each other or of victimization by our leaders and other people in power. Let us remember Theodolph Faulkner, Glanville Fonseca and Carlton de Castro from 1949 and Walter L. de Castro, Noel Lloyd and the Positive Action Movement. One Government tried to give away Anegada and Wickhams Cay but Positive Action Movement saved us but another Government has succeeded in giving away a portion of Wickhams Cay to the detriment of many. But as one NDP supporter said, “we don’t have to worry about the cruise pier development, that problem is for our children and grandchildren”.

Let me finish with this. I took my daughter to the Twilight Games which I thought was a fantastic event but the lack of respect to this Territory was so blatant it was unbelievable. Here we have visitors from sixteen different countries to participate in these games for which we were the hosts. Here we had an opportunity to expose our local Fungi music and music by our Local Bands; however, no one saw this as important or even cared. Before the events began and during the events everyone was entertained by music and this is where I felt disrespected. Most of the music was Reggae, and absolutely no Fungi music was played.

I heard one song that was by a local band and it was the song when the Enis Adams Primary School did a wonderful rendition of our cultural dance. Imagine a Cultural dance without Cultural (Fungi) music. So we had hundreds of people visiting our country who never got the opportunity to hear any of our Fungi music or any of our Local Bands. Can you go to Jamaica, Trinidad or any of the other Countries that participated in this event and hear our Bands and Fungi Music? Coming up in July will be another big International Basketball Meet; here is another opportunity to expose our Bands and our Music. Will we be disrespected again?

Virgin Islanders, the same way others stood up for the rights of the people of this Territory in the past, we can do it again. There is an organization being formed, Virgin Islanders for a Better Virgin Islands; Get Involved.