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‘Slavery is slavery boss! I ain’t going nowhere jumping up’- L. Allen Wheatley
In a social media post this morning, August 6, 2023, Mr Wheatley lamented the high cost of living in the Virgin Islands and commented that the Virgin Islands people are in economic slavery.
“We talking about emancipation from slavery. Man, we in a set of economic slavery in this country, it is ridiculous. You think we free? We ain’t free…politically, we ain’t free.”
Political slavery
Mr Wheatley also opined that the Virgin Islands also remains in political slavery.
“Massa down the road got our constitution in he lap sleeping, every morning laughing at us, saying hey, I wonder if I will free them today politically or I going to give them their constitution or keep it. Imagine that. So, politically we are slaves, economically we are slaves, because we can’t even afford [to shop in] the supermarkets now.
According to Mr Wheatley, until the VI has political and economic freedom he will not be a part of the emancipation revellery.
“Slavery is slavery boss. I ain’t going nowhere jumping up until they get up my damn constitution and I could go to the supermarket and spend and not have to worry about getting embarrassed or whether I will get change left back. When we get to that stage, then in my mind, we are free.”
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59 Responses to “‘Slavery is slavery boss! I ain’t going nowhere jumping up’- L. Allen Wheatley”
VI residents are in the midst of celebrating 189 years of Emancipation from the exploiting , brutalizing,,dehumanizing, violence, rape, lynching, murder and other unimaginable atrocities of physical slavery. But I’m not in the celebrating mood, for the Emancipation celebration has devolved into a farce mimicking falsely the true meaning and purpose of Emancipation. It has been wholly commercialized and lost its true purpose. Are we truly experiencing the blessings of liberty and freedom?
True, as a people,,as a territory, we transitioned from a lowly presidency in the Leeward Islands Federation to a forgotten and neglected direct colony to a dependent territory to today an Overseas Territory(OT). Under all of these statuses the BVI has been under the unilateral thumbs of the UK, ie, UK-appointed governor. As a territory, we are floundering from pillar to post not knowing up from down or east from west. The divide and rule conditioning crafted and implemented by Willy Lynch and hosts of others has and is working well. We are trying to find ourselves even after almost 200 years of supposed emancipation. We have altruistically put the needs of others over VI group self interest. We have hitched our blessings of liberty and freedom to the UK wagon, thinking and believing that the UK knows what is best for us.
Moreover, in case we have forgotten, the UK was instrumental in launching and implementing the slave trade, the institution of slavery, etc, exploiting the labour of our forebears. Slave labour was a real life monopoly game, enriching slave owners without them having to work, ie, the equivalent of the investor class and contributing to building the insurance, banking, real estate, transportation, telecommunications, financial, shipping ,etc industries.
Additionally, lest not also we forget that under Abolition Act of 1833, the UK authorized and appropriated £20, 000, 000 to compensate some 3000 slave owners( University College of London (UCL)) for the lost of their chatel property (slaves) and their source of income and wealth building. The £20M equated to 40% of the UK budget at the time( today’s estimated value £17b); it was also borrowed money/loan which was paid off in 2015. The slave owners were paid but to this day the slaves and their descendants have yet to get even a farthing or even a simple apology to those who were forced to play the monopoly slavery game but had neither assets nor money yet force to partake in the game.
The VI and other regional countries must get reparative justice as did Native Americans, Jews, Japanese, Mexican etc. The Brits did provide reparations to Kenyans for the Mau Mau uprising and resulting brutality. Where are we headed as the VI and Virgin Islanders? The Cheshire Cat in Lewis Carroll Alice in Wonderland noted that if you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there. Is our destination hitching to the UK’s skirt tail? Has that plan work for us thus far? Do we need another wagon to hitch to??
The cost of living, ie, a normal basket of goods, is skyrocketing into the stratosphere, especially for people at the lowest rung of the economic ladder. What is the government plan of action(s), if any, to alleviate the economic pain at the pump, at cash register? Should government consider temporarily some for of Universal Basic Income(UBI), ie, allocation for food, housing, etc. These allocations should be means tested though. This socialism mechanism I must admit is not my original idea; it was another blogger’s. It is socialism but who cares. Take another look at the other socialism mechanisms employed in the the BVI.
Those of you who are partaking in the jump up, rebelling, wuk up, etc., do so safely.
If you are in hospitality industry yes but some of us dont drive taxi, have restaurants, guest houses and the likes(not all are in the hospitality industry)
look around not much is being done to assist the youth of the day, not all of our youth into book studies. create a environment where some youth men can establish a business washing off vehicles
some might not understand that virgin islands people are entrepreneurs, some of we grew up in the days when our forefathers & fathers were the boat builders, the fishermen, the farmers, fish pot makers, store owners and so on(look around now)
look back at the lockdown when given industries were disrupted had some biting their nails
Trade is also Voluntary. There is an old adage in business and finance which states that @ he who wears the gold makes the rule.” The rich and wealthy can influence economic policy. Nevertheless, they don’t direct for the most don’t direct wholesalers and retailers what items to carry and what prices to charge. That is the purview of the business owners. The rich and wealthy deals in Big business operations and investor operations. These are where the incentives, lower taxes using taxes, debts, crashes, phantom investments, passive investments, etc and profits are. If you want chsnge, ie lower prices put pressure on local businesses with your dollars and feet,,and more competition. Shop with people whose prices are fair and treasonable. That will get their attention but they won’t change if you keep going like lambs to a slaughter.
you are 100% right but do you hear any of our political leaders talking, guns & drugs are not made in this british overseas territory but due to poor border security the place full and who is responsible for the security of the territory’s border security; his excellency the governor from united kingdom
law enforcement have major issues in territory and the person for responsibility for law enforcement comes from london: you mostly see police after something goes wrong. You don’t see police in your community
Divide and Conquer is the norm of the Day and black people fall for it all the time .
Black people are the Black People Worst nightmare
I think the only Independence we need right now is to get away from these Ministers ruling us right now for they dont have a clue as what they should do.
This is such out of touch thinking. The Constitution has nothing to do with your food prices.
The BVI needs some legislators that can focus. We need simple stuff. Roads, hospitals, schools.
Telling people that the UK is standing in the way of you fixing the broken stuff here is nonsense.
Stop trying to scare everyone with the UK boogie man.
Yet only the Dutch Monarcy, only the Dutch prime minister. Only the Dutch who are no longer aspiring to neocolonialism.... yet the UK can not issue an apology
If one royal European family can do it, what’s the UK excuse?
Oh they probably are still racist at heart.
Not one is caused by failure of the Governor, the UK ,white people
Each and every ongoing deprivation and hardship is the direct result of willful behaviour of Black elected by Black folks whose names are known to each of allyo fellow sufferers. All are family members and school mates and inlaws.
The Audacity to be pointing fingers and blaming Police Chief, Governor, UK is insane. They should be laughing at the idiocy and pathetic failure for allyo to admit the obvious..
while sinking deeper with no end in sight.
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