The Future and Promise of the Virgin Islands Spirit
The Future and Promise of the Virgin Islands Spirit
The curiosity that others have had about my home has made me realize just how deeply special and unique we are.
Ever since I became a Virgin Islander living abroad, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the fabric of who Virgin Islanders are. So often, people I meet ask me, “what is the Virgin Islands like?” Depending on the day, there are only a limited number of answers they could get to that question without receiving a full Virgin Islands History lesson.
The curiosity that people have had about my home made me realize how deeply special and unique we are. Our essence, power, and stories have not historically occupied digital media and national spaces. They are often tucked away under the markets and corners of our community. At the same time, other people around the globe may not be aware of the elements of our people and community. I wonder if we truly and wholly understand our global impact.
As I have thought about my place in the world, I am constantly faced with this ever reckoning question of who am I and, on a larger scale, who are we [Virgin Islanders] exactly?
Along that quest, I’ve learned that…
1. Virgin Islanders are deeply intuitive, spiritual people.
I fondly remember the first time I learned about the Cow-foot woman, a seminal Virgin Islands folklore about a woman with one human foot, one cow foot, that lived “in deh bush” and stole Virgin Islands children who misbehaved. The Cow-foot woman, one of many superstition stories passed on from generation to generation by culture bearers, has taught the youth of our community more than just how to carry themselves. They are, quite frankly, empowering them with the ability to believe beyond what they can see. To connect to a deeper knowledge that every Virgin Islander carries with them, rooted in the deep faith and belief centrally found in our Afro-Carribean religious practices, cultural superstitions, and Virgin Islands folklore. Regardless of how one refers to this sixth sense [be that a message from God, belief in a spirit, or alertness to our respective nature], that feeling that we get in our gut that moves us to think, believe, and move in a particular way at a specific instance is a profound part of our truth.
2. Virgin Islanders are proud people.
It’s 2017, and hurricanes Irma and Maria have just impacted our home, and I am a college student scrolling down my Facebook timeline and notice the words “#VIStrong” plastered all over it. What started as a proclamation to ourselves and each other that we shall overcome another two catastrophic hurricanes became another prideful mantra. The pride we have and hold in our cultural identity, heritage, and people is a characteristic element of who we are. This pride comes as no surprise from a place that has experienced the oppression, enslavement, colonization, and repeated devastation of natural disasters as Black Caribbean people. All that we’ve overcome and continue to overcome as a community has made us root for, support, and celebrate each other like no other place in the world. Virgin Islanders near and far gather three times a year to celebrate and express our love and pride for our home during St. Croix’s Crucian Christmas Festival, St. Thomas’ Virgin Islands Carnival, and St. John’s 4th of July Festival. Our pride is the part of our fabric that continually binds every one of us. Even five years after Hurricanes Irma and Maria, #VIStrong still echoes throughout our community as our mantra and stands as one of the most active demonstrations of the pride we have in our home.
3. Virgin Islanders are extraordinarily talented.
In 2018, my baby sister, Akira Pickering-Haynes, became the first person from the Virgin Islands to compete and win Miss Black USA Talented Teen. It easily became one of my family’s proudest moments because we know how rare the occasion presents itself for Virgin Islands’ talent to be recognized nationally. The level of our endowments and skill have touched spaces like The Voice, American universities, professional basketball, the music industry, National Poetry Outloud, national politics, and so much more. Achievements like this undoubtedly place our 4-island paradise on the global map. The Maya Vs, Brandon Royales, Aaliyah Bostons, Tim Duncans, Nick Daddy Fridays, Theron, and Timo Thomases, Pressure Busspipes, Shawntay Henrys, and Stacey Plasketts of our territory have brilliantly proved the caliber and breadth of Virgin Islands talent. Greatness is in the bloodline of our community. There is no story that can be shared or tale that can be told about the Virgin Islands without a mention of the creatives, artists, organizers, scholars, leaders, change agents, visionaries, revolutionaries, and history makers from every generation of Virgin Islanders, that as my talented sister put it, “make the talent of the Virgin Islands reign supreme.”
Our faith, pride, and talent are just the beginning of our story. There are not enough words that I could use to justly capture the depth of who we are. Though I know that the future and promise of our community, the Virgin Islands, lies in the awareness of both uniquely who we are and who we are not as a people and community – and is connected to our ability to proclaim and profess that boldly. I hope that this awareness and recognition of our uniqueness becomes the first step to capturing what the future of the Virgin Islands might look like and ultimately to fulfilling our promise. So, the next curious person who asks me what the Virgin Islands is like will be learning about who we are, what we believe in, and where we are heading.
Ajayi is the founder of Finding Your Voice and is the assistant director of Positive Youth Development V.I.
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