Virgin Islands of the United States Centennial Commission Act

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak on behalf of H.R. 2615, the Virgin Islands of the United States Centennial Commission Act. H.R. 2615 will establish a short-term commission to research, plan, develop, and carry out activities related to the 100th anniversary of the Virgin Islands becoming part of the United States.

The commission will revisit the history leading up to and directly following the transfer of the islands from Denmark to the United States. Its purpose will be to educate those unaware of that history on a national level of the importance of the territories to the geopolitical advancement of this great Nation.

The history of the Virgin Islands and its people is profound, Mr. Speaker. It tells a story of a land so resource-rich and unique in its geography that it was occupied by seven different nations. It tells the story of a resilient people who insurrected slavery and colonial oppression to achieve self-governance.

In 1493, when Christopher Columbus landed on the island of St. Croix, which was then called Aye Aye by its native inhabitants, it is the only place in what is now the United States in which Christopher Columbus landed, but it is also reported to be the first place that he met armed resistance. He renamed islands, part of a chain, the Virgin Islands.

In 1733, on the island of St. John, the slaves rose up, taking control of the island for almost a year until European powers worked together and the Danish received the help of the French and Spanish Armada to help quell what would have been and was one of the first slave uprisings in the New World.

In the mid-1700s, a young boy on the island of St. Croix by the name of Alexander Hamilton received the support of merchant patrons on the island who put together sufficient money to finance his travel and education to the Colonies. He brought to the Colonies his understanding of finance and a monetary system learned from apprenticeship from those merchants, as well as the unique accounting theories from the West African slaves of the island.

Those economic gifts, along with his fighting spirit for revolution, liberty, and abolitionist fervor served him and this country well, as he would soon become the first United States Secretary of the Treasury and creator of our modern financial system.

Virgin Islanders have played an integral role in the history of this Nation well before we were even part of this country. From its inception and beyond, activists and politicians, David Levy Yulee, the first Jewish United States Senator; Denmark Vesey, leader of the Charleston, South Carolina, slave revolt; Judah Benjamin, Secretary of Treasury of the Confederate Army, are all Virgin Islanders.

William Leidesdorff, the founder of San Francisco, and Edward Wilmot Blyden, one of the founders of Liberia, are also from the Virgin Islands.

After purchase by the United States in 1917, the contributions of Virgin Islanders have continued through individuals like David Hamilton Jackson, who was a staunch free press advocate and labor movement leader; Hubert Harrison, a key figure in the movement of the Harlem Renaissance; military veterans like Alton Adams, who was the first African American naval bandleader; and General Samuel Ebbesen.

Ambassador Terence Todman and Congress of Racial Equality chief, Roy Innis, are Virgin Islanders. Actor Kelsey Grammer and future NBA Hall- of-Famer Timothy Duncan are all from the Virgin Islands.

The first female physician of this body as a Member of Congress, my predecessor, Donna Christensen, is a Virgin Islander.

During the time of exploration and slave trade, our geographic location made us a hub of Western Hemisphere commerce for several centuries and served a crucial role in naval military activity in the Caribbean Basin.

So nearly a century ago, the United States purchased the Virgin Islands from Denmark for its geographic importance. On March 31, 2017, the Virgin Islands of the United States will celebrate 100 years as a possession and part of the union of the United States.

This bill, H.R. 2615, establishes the Virgin Islands of the United States Centennial Commission to research, plan, develop, and carry out activities the commission considers appropriate to commemorate--and I say commemorate, not celebrate--commemorate a more solemn and worthy endeavor, the 100th anniversary of the Virgin Islands of the United States becoming an unincorporated territory of the United States.

Now, I have spent a lot of time talking about the Virgin Islands' history and people because at the time of its transfer nearly 100 years ago, little thought was given to the history, and even less to the people of the Virgin Islands.

As the Islanders during that time, my ancestors, my grandparents, watched the Danish flag come down and the Stars and Stripes unfold and ripple over the Fort in Christiansted and over many places in the Virgin Islands, they thought out loud: We knew what we had, but we don't know what we are going to get.

Our elders and leaders hoped and believed that the purchase by the United States would herald greater opportunities and profound modernization. Unfortunately, this has not happened.

It took a decade of petitioning and lobbying to be given citizenship, and we asked for--we asked for it and petitioned again to be part of the draft.

What people willingly offer their sons to fight and die, except those wholly willing to be part of the entire American experience?

Even now we have greater casualties per capita than any other group in this Nation in a volunteer military and is an example in part of our valor and patriotism.

Through passage of H.R. 2615, the commission will serve as a vehicle to begin the work to tell the story and serve to expose the aspirations and dreams of the American people who call the Virgin Islands home.

The commission will begin a national conservation, a discussion to assist in commemorating the great relationship between the United States and its islands--its American islands.

The commission will allow a platform for meaningful dialogue around the Virgin Islands' history with the United States, the genesis of the issues affecting the territory, as well as how we solve them.

This is an opportunity to engage lawmakers and our Nation around the challenges and enormous opportunities present in the Virgin Islands-- opportunities like our ports and transshipment position, our broadband capacity, our intellectual and artistic pursuits, our university which serves as the only HBCU in the Caribbean, and, most important, our people. Yes, the people still waiting to be recognized and made whole in that transfer nearly a century ago.

As the Virgin Islands enters this next century under United States jurisdiction, it will have continued relevance in the region as foreign investments, commerce, information technology, and maritime traffic grow in the Caribbean. It is my hope and it is my dream that its people will have greater relevance in this great Nation and that this commission will show all the importance of that.

I would like to thank all of the members of the committee for supporting this bill, voting it unanimously out of committee, and thank Ranking Member Cummings and especially the chairman, Mr. Chaffetz, for working with my staff and me on this bill.

This bipartisan commission, which will be comprised of House and Senate Members along with the administration and other officials, seems only fitting, as the 100th anniversary comes only once.

I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 2615.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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