Establish Indigenous Virgin Islander category and seek reparations
By Fitsroy Randall, BVI News Staff
Leader of the Opposition Julian Fraser has called for the Constitutional Review Committee to create a new section in the Virgin Islands Constitution that establishes a category for indigenous Virgin Islanders who would get reparations from the United Kingdom.
Speaking at the opening of the emancipation festival celebrations last night, the Third District Representative noted he wanted people to remember one word – reparations – when they left the festival grounds last night.
“I don’t ever want you to forget that one word. I want you to let your children know that one word because it means everything to the future of the Virgin Islands. Before I leave that word with you, I want to say to you that,” Fraser said.
The Opposition Leader noted that the British government has finished paying off a loan that they used to pay the masters of the plantations at the time of emancipation and mentioned it is time for them to get a new loan to pay reparations.
“Reparations shall come to Virgin Islanders who would be here to get it and I want for the new constitution review to reflect that. In that new constitution review, we shall create a new section in the constitution and establish a new category of persons in the Virgin Islands called indigenous Virgin Islanders. Those indigenous Virgin Islanders would be referred to as DOVIS (Descendants of Virgin Islands Slaves) and they would be compensated through this reparation for that whatever we were emancipated from,” the Opposition Leader added.
Fraser takes aim at COI
The Senior Legislator also spoke candidly about the recent Commission of Inquiry and the consequences surrounding the recommendations made by Commissioner Sir Gary Hickenbottom.
“As recently as 2021, January to be exact. A commissioner was appointed to do a Commission of Inquiry and exactly 16 months later, that Commissioner submitted a report to the Governor. In that report, the Governor was told as a recommendation that they should suspend parts of our constitution and impose self-rule on our country,” Fraser said.
“I want you people who are going to be dancing on August Monday to understand what is going on in this place. We have a fight on our hands, and we are going to fight it together and we are going to win. Because like I said in the House of Assembly the other day, the Order in Council has already passed. It is only waiting on the Governor to sign off on it and I said to them, that the Governor has conscience because he did not sign off on it. He is here today, and I am saying the same thing,” the senior legislator proclaimed.
Fraser said people should not take emancipation lightly. He said it has been happening for 188 years and now it is clear, at this time in the territory’s development, what can happen. He said the territory is made of strong people.
“I want to wish you a happy emancipation, I want to wish you a safe emancipation, I want to wish you joy and happiness during that period and I want to wish the Festivals and Fairs Committee all the best and I want them to make sure that the pitfalls that came the way of former Festival and Fairs Committee; they avoid them and make this year’s festivals and fairs exemplary and far different from anyone we have before. I have seen it and it can happen,” he said.
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How about you pay reparations for the Sea Cows Bay projects where you si**oned off tax payers money !
indigenous;
originating or occurring naturally in a particular place; native..who are the real indigenous people. When the colonizers came who did they meet here….and if they didn’t they (the colonizers ) are the true indigenous people and would gladly collect repatriation money.
We are the Descendants of the slave trade need to get this foolish ideology out of our heads that our oppressors / colonisers would ever pay cash for their actions…BUT THEY WILL PAY!
Please just retire, these old fossils are so lost.
The man is just plain st**id. The only indigenous people to the Territory are the Carib Indians. So Ugly Hair wants a change to the constitution to pay the Indians reparations. How noble of him. I think however that he is so ignorant of the fact that the negros are only indigenous to Africa. Trying to get the people on your side with this bulls**t is a result of your fear of prison for the Sea Cow Bay alleged theft of the peoples money.
Somebody go get your uncle.
Fraser, there is a time and place for everything, and that is not the time nor the place.
So long I have been behind you to purchase a piece of government land sea cow’s bay, what a long blow off. which is now in the hand of another department to manage. sir, you failed me miserably, now you talking about something you clearly can’t fix.
Strupez
If reparations were ever paid, how much would get spent properly and how much stolen or wasted? I just ask based on what seems to have happened to the billions of government revenue paid in since the 1980s.
Despite those billions we have third world infrastructure and terrible public education facilities.
A lot was explained by the CoI report. No wonder the ruling cabal don’t like it, but we tax payers see. Now let us vote, before we end up like Haiti!
Think 1930s Germany. They attempted to establish an indigenous German class (Aryans), and then went about exterminating those who were not them and then appropriating their belongings. So let’s establish DOVIS (and decide whether they trump 3 generation Virgin Islanders), and use it as an excuse to trample on those who are not, and see where that gets us.
Here you go again with your division. Don’t you understand that the more divided the BVI is it’s the stronger the UK position becomes? What is an indigenous Virgin Islander? We are not indigenous to this part of the world. We were all brought on slave ships to one port and then shipped like animals to the various islands to work for free. What about this don’t we understand. Look up the meaning of indigenous people and you will see the folly in your statement. The country is too small for all this division and you are too old to be this unwise and prejudice. Stop it!
He calls a spade a spade
You’re just jealous of fraser’s accomplishment
I wish he coulda sue your r@$$
So, only So-called Indigenous Virgin Islanders are descendants of slave and are entitled to reparation. All black people in the Caribbean are entitled to reparation. Reparation should take the form of direct investment in development projects across the Caribbean islands. Namely; Roads, Bridges, Schools, Hospitals and yes Prisons. Just be clear there is never ever going to be any direct payment to individuals. Our Caribbean Leaders needs to get smart in their approach to reparation in stead of just shouting Reparation! Reparation! to the UK. Why not ask the UK to provided direct investment fund and capital equipment in lieu of reparation. This can be on a rotating basis across the Caribbean. Just Imagine What a $100 million dollar in direct investment and equipment could do to any of our smaller island in one year.
is the D3 reps words at the opening of Festival Village last night. But another good reason for UK direct rule to commence now.
Why would bvi tax payers want to pay reparation to indigenous Virgin Islanders?
Hey Experience is the Key: Please enlighten us and list Fraser’s accomplishments.
Indigenous Peoples are distinct social and cultural groups that share collective ancestral ties to the lands and natural resources where they live, occupy or from which they have been displaced.
Indigenous Peoples are distinct social and cultural groups that share collective ancestral ties to the lands and natural resources where they live, occupy or from which they have been displaced.
Struggling working parents? Schoolchildren? Retired folk? Business owners hammered by two years of Covid? Expats whose employers regularly exploit, steal from and mistreat them? Nah, they’re fine.
Nope, if anyone needs more money, it’s those poor, suffering “indigenous Virgin Islanders” who already own everything and control every aspect of society and have more land and money than they could ever need. Yup. This makes perfect sense.
All the indigenous people in the BVI are dead sadly.
If our population was indigenous- we would Never have done what we have done to our natural surroundings. Indigenous people understand what it is to be at one with nature. We can still learn from the surviving Indigenous populations in the region how to regenerate and restore at least some of the damage done. This needs to be, will be, is our future survival imperative.
Sadly the cry for reparations will come to naught….
of reparations seems valid for all those displaced Africans who returned home to Africa immediately after emancipation. The descendants of the displaced Africans who failed to return home to Africa after emancipation only deserve a one way cruise ticket back to Africa now on the condition they stay and live in Africa.
You have been making misleading comments for sometime now. The IBC Act was enacted in 1984. So how was the BVI making billions from 1980?
I wish I could give your comment 100 Likes. You get it ! Reparations will never be ‘cash in hand’ to select descendants of slaves. Anyone who thinks that is deluded.
So high and mighty. How about YOU pay us back all that money your allegedly stole! Airport, High School, Wall….all of it thief. How on earth did you get so entitled. The people of the BVI been lied to so long – at least no one is going to take you seriously.
Stop poking the bear. You are going to get bit.
THAT WAS GENTLY PUT , ? I HOPE HE GETS THE MESSAGE
THAT WAS GENTLY PUT , AND FUNNY ? I HOPE HE GETS THE MESSAGE
I read you and respect where you coming from , we know that drug money is blood money, wouldn’t the reparation money be the same blood money ❓ ?
This is our first year marking our second emancipation.
It is not yet complete but the emancipation from the bandits looting this place over the past 40 years has finally commenced
Just another glaring example of racism promoted by our leaders.
Use of this word “emancipation” in the BVI gives us insight into what is going on here.
A few poorly educated people who have respect in the community began using the word wrongly some years ago. They did not understand that the word is universally used to refer to populations also known as Indians, First Nations, Aboriginals – ie populations and cultures located and evolved in a place for 1000s of years before Europeans arrived and stole their land.
Poorly educated BVI people like that the word indigenous makes them sound like the original and only population that ever mattered here, even though their ancestors were brought in to this region from Africa as forced labour.
The problem is, correcting these people doesn’t work because there’s so much intellectual insecurity. To admit wrong usage is to admit fault on their part. A very small fault. But any fault pointed out by an outsider – white, down islander – is a loss of pride, a sign of weakness and being pushed around. So they double down, use it more, to show how much agency/pride they have because, after all, they don’t want to look like they’re being pushed around by outsiders, right? That would make them look simple and stupid, right?
But of course this pretense, carried on to make them look intelligent and powerful, does the exact opposite. Everyone else, everywhere across the world who now looks at the BVI population is confused. We know they’re not indigenous people, so why do they pretend they are? Do they really think they are – are they that stupid?. Or do they know they are not indigenous? If so, why would they use a wrong word in such an important discussion?
Aside from being deeply offensive to native peoples of the Caribbean and worldwide, who’s populations weren’t just enslaved, they were genocidally destroyed (almost completely), this tells us everything about why the BVI is such a mess.
Politicians decide to do something, in a certain way. But then, if it is wrong or damaging to the BVI, they won’t reverse or change course. Why? Because we’re not letting no outsiders tell us what to do, or what to say.
So we have raw sh*t flowing through RT, extremely dangerous roads, no high school at all, poor health and social care, money disappearing by the millions over the decades, cartel control, and a million positive opportunities for BVI people just passing by.
Don’t blame others for seeing what you show them, Fraser and you people who think you are ‘appropriating’ this word for your own power. You are not. Your use of it to shows us exactly why the BVI is such a disaster. Ignorance, married to arrogance, doubled down.
Young BVIslanders, you are definitely not stupid. Please take note and break away from this vicious, self-defeating cycle!
“If reparations were ever paid, how much would get spent properly and how much stolen or wasted? ”
Ridiculous because it matters not.
What matters is justice & righting the wrongs that literally has them in great wealthy positions, and us VI landers in this position of clawing up from the bottom of ‘civil’ society financially & culturally. As both our finances and culture was critically injured by European SLAVERS.
The slave masters and plantation owners did not have to spend their ill gotten STOLEN profits “properly”. Some are of them are sitting on the gold, silver and jewels of Africans and Amerindians to this day.
Reparations might make those high horse explosive countries think twice about their MURDEROUS GENOCIDAL AND RACIST global activities which are continually & inhumanely being committed in 2022.
Then they complain about human rights abuse while committing them with no repercussions.
Talk sense dont reply with stupidness.
The problem is along with the transatlantic slave trade and destruction of African & Amerindian language & culture came the idea of man dominating nature which if you look at European forests you see where this idea proliferated. The movie pochahontas gives recognition to this often repeated culture clash between natives & European colonialist.
Remember they were the ones that burned their witches at the stake. How could they or their slaves be in tune with nature while burning human beings for nature worship?????
Name them, please. Thanks in advance
I truly wish we were united, and not faking like the so called unity government. If we were thinking people we would have already formulated a well structured all out demonstration at sometime or the other for this same EMANCIPATION DAY. But you see we are so simple minded we can’t unify for anything absolutely..
If we were thinking we would have set up the Sunday Morning We’ll so that when the other activity finishes we would stay there demonstrating until the time for the Rise and Shine tramp where we would freely show our jubilance and not be scratching the grounds like SAM THE MAN AND CINDY making themselves look like Poppy shows.
@ False reality. Just to get a better understanding – Are you saying that the descendants of the enslaved in the Virgin Islands or anywhere else in the Caribbean did not occur naturally (born in that place), so therefore they are not native to the islands? Were they brought in as their ancestors were?
Additionally, the Indians found on these islands did not just drop from the sky. Just as people travel and relocate now, they did so then! They were found here, hence, they were indigenous/native to the area.
Without apology, descendants of those enslaved in the Virgin Islands were born and found here!
A proud and blessed Native Virgin Islander to the Nth generation.
I like the thinking but in many case it was private companies, i.e. Tate and Lyle that profited, perhaps it should be existing multinationals that profited off the sugar/slave trade thats should be made to invest back in the territories from which they profited
.. you are saying Karib and Arawak are not native – they immigrated here, which is how people naturally move around the world.
But you also saying all those people born in the Virgin Islands but whose ancestor does not go back as far as yours – they don’t count because their ancestors are immigrants?
You are trying to have it every which way so you can avoid the truth – people deserves rights and a say in governing this territory, not just all you old family people.
Everytime I read about Reparations I am thinking and who is supposed to pay these. Twohundred and plus years ago the population in Europe were dirt-poor and enslaved in their own way barely surviving from whatever labour they performed. The population would be the one’s to pay the reparation for something which had not been their fault. In this day and age we all are enslaved again by the large corporations, 50 years ago one person working could afford a house and car and feed their family, now 2 people in a family working and we can barely make ends meet. But the word Reparations is just too sweet, common sense can’t dome into play.
My Kalinago people are the real Native of these Islands
Im The real Native to these Islands
@farmer we aint dead we still living on theses islands St Vincent, Dominica, Guyana, Trinidad, central america, and south America
just no words for this stupidity!
You are the true indigenous people!
BVIslanders must stop using this word. It is INSULTING to the real indigenous people of the world.
Add it, it was a mistake to start using it and try to stop. It makes us all look like fools.
You will have to define “Indigenous” Smart a** Fraser.