U.S. should apologize for purchase of Virgin Islands - territorial ML

U.S. SHOULD APOLOGIZE TO VIRGIN ISLANDS AT 2017 CENTENNIAL FOR PAST SIN, SENATOR NELSON SAYS

Virgin Islands consortium

 ST. CROIX — During a Committee on Government Services, Consumer and Veterans Affairs hearing held on Thursday, Positive Nelson, the veteran Independent Citizens Movement (I.C.M.) senator, said the United States should apologize for its sin of purchasing the territory from Denmark without giving Virgin Islanders input in determining their destiny, a wrongdoing he said Denmark is guilty of as well.

It’s a stance that became more mature on Thursday, but Mr. Nelson has harbored that idea for sometime.

“I feel there’s been no transfer of power,” Mr. Nelson said earlier in April during a debate on the issuance of Centennial license plates. “There was a transfer of ownership; and until Virgin Islanders rise up and empower themselves into what really should have happened in 1917 when a free people were sold without any input, that’s the discussion we really need to be having if we’re really serious and conscious about what happened.”

On Thursday, Mr. Nelson revealed that he’s sponsoring legislation that would call on Governor Kenneth Mapp to require an apology from the U.S. and Denmark during 2017 Centennial events.

“The real discussion that we should be having is should we require the governor to request an apology from Denmark and the U.S. at the Centennial. That would be appropriate. That would show that we understand that we were wronged at least. And even if they never give it, just asking for it on a public stage says a lot about where we ought to be consciously. We can’t lead our people with the same level of misguided antics of the past,” Mr. Nelson said.

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