Political Quotes

“Today, I rise to honor my ancestors as we approach the 175th anniversary of our emancipation--the self- emancipation of the enslaved people of the Danish West Indies. It is ironic that now in the United States, right now, there is a war being raged to censor and erase history and heritage, not just of Virgin Islanders but for Black and Brown people in this Nation. The bloody insurrection of American revolutionaries to attain their freedom is celebrated, yet the history of resilience and strength, the story of the African Diaspora in this country, is attempted to be taken away. Shackled and bound, over 120,000 of my ancestors, men, women, and children, were stolen and trafficked from the shores of Africa to the islands of St. Croix, St. Thomas, and St. John in the Danish West Indies, now known as the Virgin Islands of the United States. From the early 1650s until 1848, the Danish subjected the people of the Virgin Islands to the atrocities of chattel slavery. Forgotten today, the Danes were notorious for having some of the most grueling and inhumane conditions in the Caribbean. Under these conditions and the watchful eye of the Danish, the people resolved to mobilize and seize their freedom. On July 3, 1848, 9,000 enslaved and freed people on the island of St. Croix collected en masse at Fort Frederik and demanded their immediate and indefinite liberation.…”