Letter: A return to Denmark for reparations
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| Published on Saturday, June 26, 2010 |
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Dear Sir:
This summer the Virgin Islands Reparations Movement will be traveling to Copenhagen to embark upon a new course of activism with respect to the era of the Danish West Indies, the associated human tragedy, and the related and still lingering social ills. We envision making the most important statement ever to be made in Denmark by Virgin Islanders on the matter of slavery and colonization in the Danish West Indies.
We need your support!
We have counted on the promise of Governor John P. deJongh, Jr. when he stated publicly, “I will support those who want to go to Denmark to seek that government’s support.” However, despite having documented his pledge, it is now clear that those advocating slavery reparations in the US Virgin Islands have assumed too much of our governor.
My name is Shelley Moorhead and I am the president of the Caribbean Institute for a New Humanity and the founder of the African-Caribbean Reparations and Resettlement Alliance better known to you as ACRRA. For the last six years my organization has led the movement for repair in US Virgin Islands.
Today, I would like to be very clear and to set the record straight. There has been no real, tangible support by our government for Virgin Islands reparations initiatives. If it were not for the goodwill and vision of one or two elected officials in the territory, our Virgin Islands Reparations Movement would not be alive today. The public promises of support by Governor deJongh, the announcements by Government House of planned delegations to Denmark, and the unfunded legislative appropriations signed off on by our senators have by design been intentioned only to pacify the grass roots movement. Contrarily, the empty assurances by our governor and pledges by our senators have only worked to further frustrate the masses regarding an already difficult and very complex matter of our Virgin Islands humanity.
The frustrations that have been experienced by those who labor in the Virgin Islands Reparations Movement are many. We said that our mission was to achieve reparations for Virgin Islanders for more than 175 years of unjust enslavement and dehumanization by Denmark on these shores. They said “we agree” and “we are with you” and “proceed on”, and on May 4, 2005 they passed a resolution to confirm this. We said we were going to Copenhagen to make it happen. They said “we will give you the tools”. We said we’re leaving tomorrow. They said, “Okay, we’ll give you the vehicle you need to get there.” But, when the Virgin Islands Reparations Movement got ready to go… the vehicle did not work. After countless attempts at trying to start it, ACRRA looked under the hood and realized that the vehicle had no engine. When we called to find out where the engine was we could not get an answer or a return call. Our leaders had once again allowed politics to place people on the backburner and had left the reparations movement to defend Virgin Islands humanity alone.
The May 4, 2005 resolution “condemn[s] the institution of slavery and seek[s] reparations from Denmark." The legislation also expresses direct support for ACRRA and the work of the Virgin Islands Reparations Movement; but, I ask our senators today, what is the value of your word? Where can we find your support? When will the support of cats, dogs, horses, and car racing cease to beat out the support for human repair in the Virgin Islands Legislature?
We all remember ACRRA’s 34-day stance at Government House on St Croix. Our protest was purposed to not only raise awareness in our community, but to petition the Virgin Islands government to become active in the movement for the repair of our people. Two weeks to the day into the protest ACRRA received a letter from Governor deJongh explaining that while funds for ACRRA had been appropriated they would not be released because of the “difficult financial circumstances” the Territory found itself in during that time. The letter recommends that the Virgin Islands Reparations Movement raise its own funds, and the governor used as an example a recent trip his wife, Cecile, had taken with eleven students to Rwanda, saying on page 2 of his letter, “They did not request or utilize government monies, but rather fundraised to achieve their goals.”
Documents have since been released that directly contradict the governor’s assertion that public funds were not used for these and subsequent activities related to the Rwanda initiative and show that funds have been distributed from the Virgin Islands Lottery, apparently without Lottery board approval, well in excess of $140,000.
It is the craft of every shrewd politician to balance public promises with quiet manipulation behind the walls of government; however, in the case of the Virgin Islands Reparations Movement it has been the misplaced portentousness of the governor that uncovers his disregard of the people. These statements have not served the governor well; neither have the exposure of these inconsistencies worked to rectify the reparations dilemma. To say the least, this kind of politics has not worked out in the best interest of Virgin Islanders.
The “Rwanda Project” document shows requests to and disbursements from the V.I. Lottery dating back to March, 2008, relative to this initiative, as well as requisitions and cancelled checks showing when and to whom payments were made. Specifically, requestors were Barbara Young, on behalf of both the Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands and in her capacity as the Teacher Club Advisor of the World Religion Club at Eudora Kean High School; Cecile deJongh, on behalf of the Children and Family Council, Leadership in Action Program, requesting a monthly contribution of $10,000 for ten months; and, a request from Shaun Pennington of the St. Croix Source, on behalf of the Rwanda Project, USVI. Young, deJongh, and Pennington are listed on Pennington’s letter as president, vice president, and secretary respectively of the Rwanda Project, USVI.
In view of Governor deJongh’s stated funding restrictions, we are now to discover that Virgin Islands tax payers footed the bill for Rwanda. It is a noble thing to travel to a troubled country and to pursue the repair of African Humanity there. The trip was publicized as a visit to help children orphaned by HIV/AIDS. However, given the fact that the U.S. Virgin Islands lead statistically in rates of HIV/AIDS, second only to Washington, D.C. – the AIDS capitol of the United States – it is an irresponsible thing to apply ourselves elsewhere in the world while neglecting the African Humanity here at home in the Virgin Islands.
History records that from 1666 to 1917, the Kingdom of Denmark owned and occupied the islands of St Thomas, St John, and St Croix -- the now US Virgin Islands. For 175 years Denmark enslaved over 200,000 African men, women, and children, transporting them to the Danish West Indies through the horror of the middle passage and forcing them to endure the remainder of their lives as chattel… with no accompanying wages. However, half those displaced by Denmark and destined for the islands' shores were not as fortunate. More than 100,000 Africans perished during the dreadful journey across the Atlantic Ocean.
Reparations by definition is acknowledgement between communities which share a common past with the aim to heal the wounds from past human rights violations. The aim of reparations is to heal consequences of inhumanity and to create bonds of equality between communities divided by the historic roles carried out as offender and offended. Reparations are the joint obligation to truth-telling, to ensure that the relevant historical facts are uncovered, discussed and properly memorialized. Reparations, through initiatives in education, restoration, and reconciliation, will succeed in making some form of amends in the present to give material substance to expressions of regret and responsibility.
ACRRA has been invited by the Danish Institute for Human Rights to revisit our historic April 2005 Memorandum of Understanding and we are confident that this agreement between organizations will be the precursor to a new relationship between Denmark and the people Virgin Islands whereby reparations will become a reality for our people in the near future.
To our elected officials, if there be any among you having the desire to do what is right for Virgin Islands humanity – now is the time to stand and be counted! To the people of the Virgin Islands, over the course of the next few months, our heritage, culture, social issues and the history of our political development will be front and center on the international stage. ACRRA invites you to take pride in the Virgin Islands Reparations Movement and we guarantee you that we will not return to the territory empty handed.
Please stay involved, informed, and connected… You may follow ACRRA online at http://www.acrra.org and by searching for “The Virgin Islands Reparations Movement” on Facebook where you will find more than 1,300 members, 160 relevant news articles, 90 photos, and 20 videos all documenting the Virgin Islands Reparations Movement.
To donate to the movement, please visit us online at www.acrra.org./donate.html.
Thank you.
Shelley Moorhead | | | | Reads : 1558 | | | |
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