BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THERE was a range of attitudes to the Royal Visit this weekend; some rooted in the good times royal visits usually generated, and some rooted in a feeling of injustice - negative feelings stemming from the realization that this history of colonization we were celebrating was really one of the exploiter and the exploited.
There was great nostalgia surrounding the visit especially by those who recalled the celebration of the Queen’s coronation in 1952 and/or her subsequent visits in 1966 and in 1985.
As we transitioned to Statehood in 1966 and Independence in 1983, there were royal visitors to witness the transitions and to give their blessing. As Brimstone Hill was restored, again royal family representatives came to officially open the forts from which their country waged furious battles to retain the ownership of this valuable part of their realm – as it was in those times.
The Royal visits brought back feelings of the ‘good old days’ which often came with holidays and school treats. The only time when one ate at school then was when buns and coloured drinks were shared as on Empire Day and one sang ‘God save the Queen’ and ‘Rule Britannia’.
The Queen’s coronation in 1952 was filled with festivities and mock coronations and we, as faithful and loyal subjects, celebrated their joy as our joy.
Back then the only history we knew was the History of the British Empire and we looked to Britain as our protector, the Queen was our “mother” and England was the Mother Country.
It is this nostalgia that Raphel Archibald, member of the local organizing committee for the Diamond Jubilee Celebrations, tried to conjure up when he said:
“It is history. It’s something that one remembers with pride and it is something that the young people will remember and can pass on to their children and grandchildren.” The band was expected to perform favorites such as ‘Men of Harlech’.
Since those days of colonialism a great deal has changed. In St. Kitts and Nevis, every descendant of former peasants now has access to secondary education. The history of the Caribbean, the history of slavery, the horrors of the Middle Passage and the struggle to gain the land on which our ancestors struggled for over three hundred years – are now known.
With the numerous new publications since Emancipation, knowledge of Africa, its vast wealth and former civilizations and the mad rush of colonial powers to greedily carve it up, have become common knowledge.
The unfortunate outcome of all this is that one section of our nation has become totally fixed in our British past and feels that culture represents our path to civilization.
Another section is stuck in pre-slavery times, totally rejecting anything that smacks of our colonizers and is determined to get back to Africa to start all over again. ‘How can we sing King Alpha song in a strange land’, some have come to believe.
There is still another section that considers itself totally Caribbean and will refuse to become aligned to a past beyond the Caribbean and its present experiences.
These feelings of being wronged by colonial powers were revived recently by the dynamic and persuasive talk on ‘Reparation’ given just last week by Lawyer Michael Lorne under the auspices of the UNESCO Slave Route Project.
The angst stemming from this historical awakening was expressed in many commentaries to articles on SKNVibes and they ran like this:
• “So, with all this info, we still preparing to meet and greet those coming from England to our shores on Saturday?”
• You are robbed of your religion, your freedom, your wealth and your culture. But you are also blind, dumb and deaf. They should make you build another Brimstone Hill.”
But as long as we continue to believe that we must be committed to thinking either way or the other, we will be at war within ourselves for we can see from our varying shades of ‘black’ that our very blood has now been mixed.
In the same way that our biology is merged by blood, in much the same way we have to merge our cultures.
A child whose parents’ union ended in divorce or in domestic violence must still come to terms with the fact that he/she is still a part of each one of them.
That child must extract the best part of each parent and use those strengths to rise higher than each parent ever did. Only then can s/he come to terms with history and progressing in life.
Maybe it is only through a sense of a ‘family relationship’ that the Queen’s son, Prince Edward, was able to find common ground with his mother’s former subjects. So the gist of his speech if we were to put it in our local language went like this:
“Mama really sorry she couldn’t come sheself, so she sen’ me and Sophie and hope we will do ok and that it is alright with you. We still friends and I will tell her how you all still like her and want to be friends with her.’ She really want to stay friends; she proud of all you. Naming the park after her will make her real happy and she say that she really grateful that all this time you still want her as the head of your country.”
But in Prince Edward’s official language, this is what he said:
"Obviously the Queen is extremely sorry that she can't be here in person, and I hope that you'll accept us as rather poor substitutes."
"We do come here as very firm friends, and we will do our level best to capture all your expressions of loyalty and friendship and take those back with us," he said.
"Her Majesty takes a very keen and special interest in St, Christopher and Nevis and all that the people of these two wonderful islands do, and she's extremely proud of all your achievements s over the years and this is another achievement of yours that I know she will be particularly so delighted to know that you are renaming this park and giving...this area of outstanding natural beauty and importance to you this special status in this year."
He said that the Queen was very touched by St. Kitts and Nevis' loyalty. .."...And that you have for so long continued to want her to be your Head of State and how much she appreciates that."
As we wrangle with the mixture of feelings that history has bequeathed to us, we must be watchful we do not harbor a sense of inferiority in our relations with our other family. Our teachings of Africa tell us that on a personal level, we are equal human beings and never must we be made to feel inferior. We easily feel slighted if we perceive that our very own consider the needs of others above ours.
This is why this comment from our fellow citizen on SKNVibes will strike a chord with all of us:
• “I always wonder why countries do repairs when someone they deem important is visiting, but the people who pay taxes to maintain infrastructure, must make out with bad roads, etc. It should be that they get the bumps and potholes so they really see how people live daily. Shameful!”
When we display our local culture to Prince Edward – the masquerades, the mocka jumbies and the calypsonian – we were showing that we are people in our own right, with our own culture and dignity. We must not forget that.
