Political Quotes

“The Virgin Islands and its people speak of great resilience. We are a people rich in history and agriculture, struggles and triumphs in the face of disenfranchisement. March 31, 2022, marked 104 years that the Virgin Islands of the United States have been part of the United States. Our islands were acquired by the United States in the costliest per-acre sale in U.S. land purchase. We became the most easterly point of the United States, and served to protect the Caribbean Basin and the Panama Canal, particularly during World War I. The sale of the Danish West Indies pulled Denmark out of depression and gave them the capital resources, gold bullion, necessary for them to become the happiest country that we know today. The brutal slavery and serf system that they inflicted on my ancestors, however, was not a happy time. During the transfer of ceremonies on March 31, 1917, the people of the Virgin Islands, my people, were citizens of no country. All four of my grandparents were alive and living on the island of St. Croix at the time of the transfer. Only qualified Danish citizens living in Denmark were able to vote in the plebiscite. {time} 1045 Of my eight great-grandparents, I believe one may have met the land and income requirement mandatory to be able to vote. Only one would have been able to vote for his destiny.…”