Alred C. Frett. Photo: VINO/File

While that does not make me special, it makes us negligent when we ignore the warnings and writings on the Wall... As a result, lots of people continue to perish simply because a willful lack of vision prevents us from preparing for the Dangers ahead... This may be because we have grown so accustomed to lives of hardship, we exchange reality for fabricated fantasy as the source of our feel-good self-medication.

Of course, this solves nothing – pretense simply begets pretense... When I spoke of the Knees of the rulers being on the necks of the people, there were many denials but facts are facts and while any fool can make an excuse, a wise man would seek a solution...  Even when things happen in the dark and we cannot count on seeing to believe, it is clear that who feels it still knows it...The pain and struggle is real.

It’s no longer one for all and all for one and, it doesn’t matter whether those in power are inexperienced, failures of past ventures or lacking in humanity... Casting blame is now our national pastime and Fairness and Justice are merely words from a Dictionary... In fact, Politicians, Commissioners, Registrars, Directors and Section Heads can consider it their right to place their feet firmly on our Necks.

We can dream lofty dreams and mistake our illusions for visions but sooner or later we will be forced to acknowledge that the Monies for our leaders glorified Budget Estimates and Capital Projects, can only come from the Blood, Sweat and Tears of our people... These may be in the forms of, Taxes, Fines, increased Borrowing or any means deemed necessary - Another dose of reality or inconvenient Truth.

Every Department or Sector seems guilty for as soon as they receive the title of Director, Commissioner, Registrar or some such designation, they become invincible and all-powerful... They create their own agendas against the interests of our People but designed for personal profits and vindictiveness... This is no longer secret; we hear the complaints daily and some of us have experienced the effects directly.

COI success was our failure:

Oppressors feel so comfortable victimising us that they bludgeon us without mercy and expect us to just grin and bear it... This is never easy and many may not survive but as we live and relive this scenario, it is becoming clearer and clearer, that nothing will change unless we change it... I have never been a good slave and I refuse to be for sale, so, I have been made a prime target for speaking out against injustice.

Meanwhile, for years we have been pauperising our People by squeezing the bottom to fatten the top as we systematically destroy our traditional labour and revenue pools... Egyptian Pyramids have stood for centuries but we flipped ours - Somehow, we seem to think that Caribbean Cones can stand just as well on their bottoms... The associated Corruption was endemic enough to require a UK Inquiry.

While this Commission of Inquiry may have been justified and effective, they lacked a real interest in the wellbeing of our People... Their real mission was protection of UK’s Taxpayers and once they realised how much we believed in Prayers and a myth that we could create heaven from hell by doing nothing; they relaxed - it worked for them – They did nothing but are now controlling our destiny at our expense.

Long after the fact, we complain about UK having too much power... Maybe we should ask ourselves, how did she get this power? or, who gave it to her?... Was it because she saw personal greed and our leaders as easy to divide and conquer? – Fact is, she came, she saw and she conquered without firing a shot – We are the ones strangling our Economy, imprisoning our Youth and shooting one another.

Oops! Cats eat Cheese too?

No wonder the people are terrified; CoI was a paper tiger and there is no one willing to come to our rescue... All protection and shortcomings are ignored... Our choices rely on kindergarten colouring books that depict Rats as famous for eating cheese and Cats as infamous for hating Rats... That is good enough, so we congratulate ourselves on putting the Cats to guard Cheese from Rats.

Not too long after; when the Cheese is missing, we blame the Rats and, it doesn’t matter that Cats also eat Cheese and can consume far more than Rats... Of course, to escape blame, some Oppressors use Family and Friends to cover their tracks, but Tortola is so small that every other person is your family or friend, and, with Politicians being the Selectors of the Rejectors the sufferation continues unabated.

A drowning man will clutch at straws and, some of us have grown so desperate that we complain with one hand and grab with the other – By time the Trickle reaches us, it arrives with all the blame but very little of the gain... By this time, we are so far gone that it’s damn if you do and damn if you don’t – It’s now a pattern but, please, don’t just take my word – before you praise or condemn, check it for yourself.

If we are fortunate enough not to be consumed by the greed for those material things that we will leave behind, that is good but, let’s not forget that each of us has an inherent obligation to impart our knowledge to the next generation; even, if and when, they choose to reject it... This is the thing most likely to live on after we are gone – We see this with Solomon, Shakespeare and our own dearly departed.

You often asked ‘why play Gospel Music and promote Christian Values if I’m not a believer?’ The answer is simple; I play all Music so it’s not about me... In addition, I don’t have to believe in a God to believe that Persons genuinely believe that their God and Religion work for them... This is known in Medicine as the Placebo Effect in Miracles of the Body’s own Healing Powers or as Mind over Matter.

Forgetting our History & the Golden Rule:

Maybe we will always take great pride in self-righteousness, just as we make up our own facts and take things for granted... In this way, we act as conduits and echoes of sayings we do not mean... Thus, we swear, ‘To deny human rights to one is to deny human rights to all’ even as we fight for a Constitution that denies Human and Civil Rights to others... Perhaps we think, being Virgin Islanders make us Gods.

However, the fact is, we have been so programmed as Copy Cats that we ignore our own history and fight harder than anyone to prolong the wrongs that were done to us as a people... As a result, Blacks like us and Clarence Thomas – who is married to a white woman – still threaten ‘same-gender and interracial unions’ for others... No wonder America still needed to pass laws to protect us from ourselves.

If we have no desire for marriage, or intermarriage or homosexuality; that is our right and, no one should force us to do otherwise... At the same time, remember our history; when Blacks could not intermarry or even marry as slaves... Our ancestors fought for every inch of positive change, but lately, we have been fighting for a Constitution that would take us backwards rather than forwards - Do harm instead of good.

We are cowards but we preach, ‘never to worry about who is offended by us speaking the truth but, to worry instead about who will be misled and destroyed if we don’t’ – we also claim that, ‘Truth will be exposed in the end no matter how much we hide it; whereas, Lies are mere delays to the inevitable’... However, when blind leads blind we find that - ‘Talking ain’t Walking’ and, ‘Saying so don’t Make it so’.

We are stuck at the proverbial Roundabout with myriads of serious problems but we choose to focus on political nonsense that makes us appear retarded... Maybe, like the CoI, the UK is playing us for fools - To her, this is a mere distraction in futility, because, as long as she is in control, she will not allow VI Laws that oppose those she proposed for her own people - That is the truth and this is the fact. Amen!

PS: Will continue addressing some of your Questions & Comments on Live BVP Radio Programmes