This Testimony was submitted to the Sub Committee on Insular Affairs.

First, let me be clear, I mean no offense or disrespect to anyone who has come to the Virgin Islands seeking a better way of life. This testimony is to put on record as a Native Virgin Islander, we deserve the right to speak to our sovereignty, no matter how long it takes or the challenges we face.

Please do not assume because this document/constitution has been submitted that Virgin Islanders do not care about status, the right to self determination or self government. This is farthest from the truth. As a person considered “Native” under whatever definition the body is using today, I am of African ancestry as well as Carib and Taino (those who were here upon the arrival of Columbus).

Today however, I am speaking with regard to my African ancestors who never had a say in the political discussion as to the status of the only home they knew. I stand here as a representative of their silent voices whose blood, sweat, tears and lives were shed to build the Virgin Islands which created and enriched many wealthy nations. Yet, the Africans and their descendants never freely had a say as to what political future they wanted, even after the transfer of the property then known as the Danish Virgin Islands.

In the Virgin Islands those of us of native descent are in the minority. Our non governing status has left us without the ability to hold the United States accountable for the violations of treaties held between itself and our former colonial master, Denmark as well as The United Nations and its Resolutions.

Our government system has been manipulated to act in the best interest of external considerations, while neglecting the basic right to self determination of Virgin Islanders. We have been and continue to be overrun and infiltrated by persons who come from places whose status has already been established and are not interested in the self determination for/of people of the Virgin Islands.

Since the opening of our doors to Tourism, with the increase of other Caribbean People and their offspring, the Virgin Islands Community has had to shoulder the cost of education, health care, infrastructure, etc. forced upon us by the United States. Today, the influx continues even though the ethnicities and nationalities are different. Since we have no control of our borders, have we ever been reimbursed for such allowances? These finite resources continue to be spent on people (legal as well as illegal) freely moving in and out of this US Territory. Please refer to UN Resolution 35/118 (Sections 2, 3 and 8 in particular are relevant.) In this case, the member state is the United States of America.

2. Member States shall render all necessary moral and material assistance to the peoples under colonial domination in their struggle to exercise their right to self-determination and independence.

3. Member States shall intensify their efforts to promote the implementation of the resolutions of the General Assembly and of the Security Council relating to Territories and countries under colonial domination.

8. Member States shall adopt the necessary measures to discourage or prevent the systematic influx of outside immigrants and settlers into Territories under colonial domination, which disrupts the demographic composition of those Territories and may constitute a major obstacle to the genuine exercise of the right to self-determination and independence by the people of those Territories.

As a member of the United Nations the United States of America is in violation the same resolutions it has sworn to uphold. Our political process has/is constantly being undermined externally/internally long before we were allowed to vote for our own governor. Political status and our right to self determination has never been truly part of any administration's goal locally or federally except that of Independent Citizens Movement Governor Cyril E. King.

Whenever the topic of Status or the Right to Self Determination is discussed, everyone from every corner of the globe living in the Virgin Islands, tells us we are discriminating against non natives. However, in the same breath "we" are told, "This sort of thing would never happen back home wherever. How is this allowed when we have never been given the opportunity to have open discussion of our complex unresolved issues stemming from the beginning of our colonization. There was never any thought about what was in the best interest of the people who occupy this space whether it be Native Peoples or the Peoples who were kidnapped and forced into bondage against their will.

This is a true opportunity to resolve our colonial status with the assistance of the United States of America if all parties first step forward with truth, integrity in the best interest of all involved. Virgin Islanders wherever they are, need to be included in the discussion and resolution of our self determination, or, we will forever be defined by the ideas/ideals/standards of others.

Our communities welcomed all to our shores with open arms through mutual love, respect, integrity, honesty, respectful dialogue and all the other good things we are known for and now we find ourselves disappearing as the grains of sand are washed away/absorbed by the ocean. Much of what we are experiencing negatively today has been perpetuated long before "we" were in control of things.

Until “Virgin Islanders” are allowed freely without intervention, objection and interjection from “others”, to discuss and determine who and where we stand in the world at large, this issue will continue to fester and further divide Virgin Islanders from Caribbean Peoples and those who visit our shores.

By following “your” constitution, where are my rights to sovereignty and self determination? This constitution assumes this is a confirmation that “Virgin Islanders” wherever they are agree with our Un-Incorporated Status.

Truly the only status options open to the Virgin Islands of the United States are, Free Association, Independence and Full Integration into the U.S. Many of us do not recognize your sovereignty because we are already a sovereign people. Truth be told, with or without a constitution, the Virgin Islands are still a colony and property of the US and not a part of.

Thank you.

Respectfully Submitted by,
Caroline A. Browne