RECOGNIZING VIRGIN ISLANDS HISTORY MONTH

RECOGNIZING VIRGIN ISLANDS HISTORY MONTH

Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 40 (Tuesday, March 3, 2026) [Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 40 (Tuesday, March 3, 2026)] [House] [Pages H2343-H2344] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] RECOGNIZING VIRGIN ISLANDS HISTORY MONTH (Ms. Plaskett of the Virgin Islands was recognized to address the House for 5 minutes.) Ms. PLASKETT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in recognition of Virgin Islands history month, a time to honor the extraordinary story of a people whose courage, resilience, and sacrifice have shaped not only our beautiful islands but this great Nation itself. One hundred and eight years ago, on March 31, 1917, the islands of St. Croix, St. Thomas, and St. John were transferred from Denmark to the United States in the costliest per-acre land purchase in American history. The 25 million in gold bullion paid for our islands was shipped to Copenhagen from the United States. No provisions were made for the people who lived there. No vote was taken by the Virgin Islanders themselves. Many great nations and conquerors have tried to keep us voiceless and marginalized. Yet, good, strong, blessed people can never be kept down. We have always found a way, from our beginning until today. Virgin Islanders have always been revolutionary. From the very first recorded history of our islands, the people of Ay-Ay, present-day St. Croix, met Columbus with the first armed resistance in the so-called New World. In the 1700s the Akwamu people of St. John took and held their freedom for almost a year, forcing colonial powers to bring an armada to break their hold. In 1848, we became one of only two places in the Western Hemisphere to gain freedom through the direct and violent overthrow of enslavement. Our islands gave this Nation Alexander Hamilton, who learned his genius for finance in the merchant house of St. Croix, from the African counting systems, Dutch ledgers, and others. We have given the United States Abraham Markoe, the designer of the 13 stripes in the American flag. Denmark Vesey gave up his freedom in pursuit of liberation in South Carolina. We have also given the United States Edward Wilmot Blyden, our son, the father of Pan-Africanism; Camille Pissarro, the founder of Impressionism; and William Leidesdorff, the early pioneer and founder of present-day San Francisco. In the mid-1900s, Virgin Islanders came to Washington and petitioned to be included in the draft, asking to send our sons to defend a country that would not yet defend us. We have given America generals, diplomats, statesmen, scientists, artists, and athletes. We have sacrificed in military service at three times the national average, fighting for a commander-in-chief we do not elect. I am a limited voting Delegate. I serve on committees. I fight for my constituents. I show up every single day. However, when the final vote is called on legislation that will directly affect my people, the people of the Virgin Islands, I cannot cast that vote. We are full Americans in responsibility but partial Americans in right. That must change. Our territory has faced enormous challenges. Hurricanes Irma and Maria devastated our infrastructure, tested the will of our people. We still rebuild. We are fighting for SSI expansion so that elderly and disabled Virgin Islanders receive the same Federal safety net their fellow Americans on the mainland receive. We are fighting for inclusion of territories in Federal programs that every other American takes for granted. We are fighting, as we have always fought, for the full promise of an American Dream to extend to our shores. We have tools now that our ancestors did not: Federal investments in our ports, our energy grid, our schools, community project funding, and a growing network of advocates. But tools are only as powerful as the hands that wield them. As we observe Virgin Islands History Month, I want to speak directly to every Virgin Islander. We are the descendants of people who refuse to accept their circumstances as permanent. We are the heirs of a revolutionary tradition that predates this Republic, and we have the power to reimagine and rebuild a Virgin Islands that our ancestors would recognize as worthy of everything they endured. That means engaging fully in our Democracy at every level. It means electing leaders who will fight for territorial equity. It means our young people pursuing education and eventually [[Page H2344]] returning home to lead. It means our businesses innovating, our farmers growing, artists creating, community organizations building, and it means a local government managing systems that work for all and not just benefit a few. It means demanding loudly, persistently with history behind us and without cowering for fear that this Nation treat the people of the territories as full and equal American citizens we are. Mr. Speaker, let us celebrate in our actions Virgin Islands History Month. ____________________