'Didn't my people before me slave for this country?' - Bob Marley
By the time you are reading this, advance polls would have been cast by nearly 2,000 eligible voters in the Virgin Islands. That would be inclusive of some of the 688 persons who had their “Belonger Status” verified via a special sitting of the House of Assembly on Monday, April 17th.
Over the last few months, we all have been witness to the colourful antics that come with election season in any given Caribbean Island. VI elections seem to have an extra flare to it as those who were once political allies are now wearing different colours. Or, those who wore one set of colours in 2019 have changed their political shades.
Once you know the close family relations of all the candidates, one could be forgiven for thinking they were watching an episode of Family Feud.
After reading the various platforms, watching the debates, reading online articles etc. etc. one can see a lot of common promises. You know; paving roads, fixing the incinerator, and lowering the cost of living. Let's be real, there is no politician, political party or government that can lower the costs of living.
In all of the usual promises, I have yet to read anything from political parties reaching out to the tens of thousands of Virgin Islands living around the world. You know, those of us who can easily pass the Hon. Eileen Parsons’s test when it comes to being of Ancestral Virgin Island stock.
Our Home
It is ok for the UK Government, via the Governor, to be going all out to ensure that those who applied for status get what they have waited for. Yet, can someone show those of us living abroad, where there has been a concerted effort to entice the diaspora to return home to invest in land and businesses? For every Virgin Islander in the territory there are at least three or four living outside of the territory.
As it stands “indigenous Virgin Islanders” are the distinct minority within the territory. Until and unless there is a sudden uptick of pregnancies amongst Virgin Islanders, those numbers will continue to trend downward. There is no getting around that numerical reality.
So, where do we go from here?
Reality check, we were abandoned by the colonial slave masters and left to fend for ourselves for centuries.
The very reason why the VI is now a magnet for persons from around the world is because our fore-parents toiled the land and took to the unforgiving seas all in an effort to make life better for subsequent generations. It is not from the benevolence of those from European shores. So, some sort of government immigration programme and incentives to the VI Diaspora.
When the dust settles on Monday, or Tuesday, whoever is the government needs to understand that they have a responsibility to not only those living within the territory but as importantly, to those of the very same families that sacrificed to build the territory to what it is today. We should not just be called upon when the colonial oppressors come knocking. Our people slaved for this country.
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10 Responses to “'Didn't my people before me slave for this country?' - Bob Marley”
The Brits abandoned VI post 1834.
We will be doom as a country until we understand that having a large part of population with limited civil rights doesnt make us very different to those slavers society that we so much dislike.
We are the obstacle of our own growth. By keeping this country under the power of a few handfull people whose only merit is their descent of some original families, we are punishing the real VI islanders (all the people that choose to to live here and build this country)