Wheatley says that the communities need to return to their original form and the VI’s culture and traditions should be embraced. (Photo showing East End, Tortola) File Photo: VINO

Umoja’s Co-host Natalio Wheatley says VI communities need to return to their original form and embrace its cultures. File Photo: VINO

Peace and quiet and the togetherness of a community are things of the past in the Virgin Islands (VI), with a broken and selfish society now in existence, according to co-host of Umoja Natalio Wheatley.

On his radio show on June 7, 2012, aired on a local radio station, Wheatley said the traditional VI community is lost and while the togetherness of a community was one of its strengths, it is now divided.

He gave examples where persons are living next to neighbours who they have never spoken to, they pass them on the streets never saying good morning or afternoon. He added that this is hurting the communities of the VI. “The Virgin Islands has lost its sense of community and togetherness.”

Wheatley said on the local radio show that the people within the communities have developed a mentality where they are saying they have nothing to do with the community and anything that happens in the community would not affect them.

He said everyone should take up responsibility for the community for what happens in the community and to ensure that the communities are safe. Wheatley said that with a community being together where neighbours are friendly and looking out for their community as their neighbourly act should be, it is an effort to decrease crime.

He opined that communities in the VI “are not the same as back in the day”. He said this is a result of a shift in culture where the people are abandoning traditions.

The community activist said that by abandoning traditions and cultures, it has separated many families, and because of this, families discontinue to train younger ones to be courteous and have manners and respect towards others.

Wheatley said the communities need to return to their original form and the VI’s culture and traditions should be embraced.