KUU, Alm.del - 2008-09 - Bilag 179: Henvendelse af 17/3-09 fra Wayne James, De Vestindiske Øer, om hans "Official Testimony" i forbindelse med mødet med udvalget den 17/3-09

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen of the Folketingets Standing Committee onCultural Affairs of the Danish Parliament. It is indeed with great honor and pride that Iaddress you today on behalf of the people of the United States Virgin Islands, the formerDanish West Indies. Since the year 1915--almost 100 years ago--when David HamiltonJackson, financed by the modest wages of the plantation workers whose causes hechampioned, sailed to Denmark in order to present his case for freedom of the press andimproved working conditions in the Danish West Indies, no Virgin Islander has come toDenmark to officially address the people of this glorious nation on behalf of the people ofthe islands. So today we make history.But the purpose of my testimony today is not to enter the annals of 21st-century Danishhistory; instead, it is to present a case for collaboration in the preservation of the mutualhistory of Denmark and the Virgin Islands, which extends as far back as the 17thcentury,when the Kingdom of Denmark, like its European counterparts, navigated the turquoisewaters of the Caribbean Sea in search of riches and empire. That mutual heritage--bothtangible and intangible, obvious and non-obvious--continues to define us to this day,consciously or subconsciously.I would be disingenuous if I did not mention to you that I am very much aware of thepolitical challenges you faced recently regarding your intended cultural expedition tomainland United States and the Virgin Islands. Like you, I am a political leader and amacutely aware of the delicacy of things political. But while the “petite fiasco” was notwidely publicized in the islands--since very few people in the islands were even aware ofthe scheduled visit--the story did make its way around the islands amongst the “people inthe know.” And those of us “in the know” were saddened. We were saddened because itwas yet another lost attempt to solidify a relationship based on almost 250 years of sharedhistory, heritage, and bloodlines. A relationship, which if not officially embraced, willunofficially fade with the passage of time.The issue before us today, then, is a simple one: Whether it is the desire and intention ofthe people of Denmark to reach across the vast expanse of the Atlantic Ocean andembrace the hand of their Caribbean relatives for the purpose of preserving a heritage thatdefines them both. If the answer is in the negative, then time will itself resolve this issuein one or two more generations, leaving the average Dane, who at best is exposed to ahandful of lines in his primary-school history book which innocently describe the formerDanish slave-trading colonies as “sugar islands,” even more uniformed about Denmark’sbitter-sweet history in the Caribbean. If the answer is in the affirmative, however, thework must begin immediately: to acknowledge, then heal, then celebrate and preserve.Denmark’s 250-year-long history in the West Indies is replete with the things legends aremade of: pirates and plantations; sugar and slaves; great fortunes and dismal failures;rebellions and regrets. In the height of the colonial era, Charlotte Amalie, the capital ofthe Danish West Indies, was the third largest city in the Danish empire. And all overhistoric Copenhagen, from Amalienborg to Schimmelmann’s palace on Bredgade, areliving monuments to Denmark’s presence in their “gamle tropekolonier.” Between 1671when the Danes acquired St. Thomas and 1917 when all three islands, namely St.

Thomas, St. Croix, and St. John were sold to the United States for twenty-five milliondollars in gold, Denmark left its indelible “mark” on the islands and their people.Consequently today, besides the historic towns of Christiansted, Frederiksted, andCharlotte Amalie, each filled with blocks of Danish-era architecture and streets whichbear Danish names like Kongensgade and Krystalgade, there are numerous entries in thelocal phonebook of black people bearing surnames like Larsen and Hansen andChristiansen and Ovesen, each the living embodiment of integration. Similarly, whenislanders return home after years abroad, one of the first things they crave is theirmothers’ “red grout,” the island equivalent of the traditional Danish “Rodgrod medflode.” The St. Croix Avis is one of the local newspapers, having been widely read since1844; no traditional gathering is complete without dishes of salted cod and smokedherring; and the Lutheran Church generally occupies the highest hill in the historic towns.Today, as a result of colonialism, there are blonde, blue-eyed Danes in Denmark, albeitsometimes with curly hair or a predisposition to obtaining a dark tan, who, oftenunbeknownst to themselves, have black ancestors. After Americans, Danish touristsrepresent the largest population of visitors to the Virgin Islands. And many a Dane hasslept on wonderful mahogany himmelsengs or sat on caned gyngestols without knowingwhy such items were revered amongst the family’s furnishings. The connection betweenDenmark and the islands is a historical, cultural, and biological fact. It cannot be deniedor diminished because of misplaced guilt. Instead, it should be celebrated--to our mutualbenefit. At the end of the day, we are relatives and we must accept each other, for betteror for worse.When Denmark sailed away from the islands on that fateful day of March in 1917, theislands were left in the hands of the most powerful country on Earth. And it is perhaps forthat reason that Denmark has suffered a “cultural amnesia” of sorts vis a vis its formercolonies. It was to America that islanders turned for economic opportunity, access tohigher education, relief in times of natural disaster, and for an international identity, forexample. Meanwhile Denmark, unlike its European counterparts, never had to contendwith its former “colonials” knocking upon its doors in search of jobs. The present-day“darkening” of Denmark, regarded by many as a threat to the very foundation of Danishcultural identity, has not come from Virgin Islands blood. Instead, it has come fromDenmark’s unwilling embrace of a new, borderless Europe. And ironically, perhaps ifDenmark had remained unified to its former colonies, it would have been better equippedtoday to deal with its role in the European Union and the identity challenges whichaccompany such liaisons.Today, despite tangential socio-historical ties to China, Brazil, and the United States, forexample, Denmark has established and maintains Cultural Offices in those countries. TheKingdom of Denmark, however, has no official cultural presence in the Virgin Islands,much to the detriment of both peoples. Consequently, socio-cultural exchanges betweenDenmark and her former islands--and the mutual benefits proven to derive therefrom--have been left to private initiatives: The VIDA Project (Virgin Islands-DanishApprenticeship Program), a non-profit entity created for the purpose of preserving thetraditional architectural crafts of Denmark and the Virgin Islands ; The African RootsProject, an ambitious undertaking with the mission of connecting the descendants of the

100,000-plus enslaved Africans brought to the Danish West Indies during the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade to their ancestors; The Friends of Denmark and its Danishcounterpart, Friends of West India, who, for almost 50 years, have encouraged travel andfriendship between islanders and Danes ; The Homeward Bound Foundation, its goalbeing to encourage the healing from the ravages of slavery; and The St. Croix LandmarksSociety and the St. Thomas Historical Trust, which have both worked towards thepreservation of the architectural, photographic, and literary history of the Danish WestIndies.There are also numerous individual efforts focused on the preservation of the culturalhistory of Denmark and the islands. Such efforts generally involve the collection of artand artifacts as well as the forging of friendships which transcend geographicalboundaries.Over the past 25 years, for all of my adult life, I have been on a personal mission to domy part to preserve our mutual heritage. And today I boast a private collection of DanishWest Indies furniture, paintings, photographs, and books which would be the envy ofmany a museum. My interest in the area emerged naturally. Besides descending from afamily which can trace its numerous branches to the earliest presence of the Danish era inthe West Indies, oftentimes to the Africans who established the various lines, fourgenerations of my family, beginning with my paternal grandfather, Isaac Gateword James(1893-1978) in the earliest days of the 1900s, and continuing with my father, GustavAlexander James (1919-1983) in the 1930s, have come to Denmark in celebration offriendship and scholarship. And we look forward to those who will follow us continuingin our footsteps to preserve what partly defines who we are.But such initiatives should not be left purely to private concerns; governments must beinvolved in the preservation of their national treasures, both tangible and intangible.Every day, private collections are bought and sold on the international market, oftentimesnot resurfacing for public enjoyment for generations. And as fortunes and made and lost,and as natural disasters come and go, collections, no matter how guarded, are subject tothe ravages of time and chance. Most of the Danes with direct contact to the Danish erain the West Indies are dead. And the few still alive are waning quickly. Those personsable to give eyewitness accounts of the era are closing their eyes for eternity. It istherefore incumbent upon us to seize the opportunity that lies before us. We mustpreserve what is left of Danish West Indies culture.America, as you are well aware, is a wealthy country, quite capable of preservingwhatever initiatives it regards to be of national importance. The history at issue here,however, did not spring from the loins of America. Instead, it was adopted. Thepreservation of Danish West Indies culture, then, is the responsibility of Denmark and theVirgin Islands.Together we must set goals and immediately go about the realization of those goals. Wemust preserve our architectural heritage, both privately and publicly; it serves as the mostvisible example of our cross-cultural collaboration. Virgin Islands linguistic students

should become fluent in gothic and modern Danish, thereby availing themselves to thevast archival in Denmark which are relevant to the islands. There must be artisticexchanges. And cultural institutes must be established. Non-profit entities that have longworked tirelessly to secure our mutual heritage must be supported. Business opportunitiesmust be facilitated.When Denmark left the islands in 1917, it quietly and uneventfully ended a colonialrelationship which had touched four centuries, from the 17thto 20th. And the year 2017will mark the 100thanniversary of the closing of Denmark’s history in the islands. Thechallenge as Denmark and the Virgin Islands embrace the 21stcentury is to determinewhether we want our shared history to strengthen with the passing of each year or todiminish with the passing of each year. It is my firm belief that it is in our mutual bestinterest to preserve our history, for it is in the preservation of our history that we preserveourselves. And it is in the preservation of ourselves that we preserve each other. Suchwould have been the desire of our ancestors. And such should be the legacy we leave forour descendants.Thank you for this opportunity to speak to you on the behalf of the people of the VirginIslands. And thank you for your warm welcome in the cold, Danish winter. Your brothersand sisters in the islands look forward to your arrival upon our warm shores as weembark upon our next journey together.

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