When I left the “Bridging the Gap Between the United States Virgin Islands and Africa” Mini-Summit, I carried conflicting emotions. There was genuine elation at the bold vision of
African and African Diasporic solidarity. There was also grief, the kind that comes from knowing the psychic and material realities people of African descent face worldwide. Slavery, colonialism, and racism ravaged our past, shaped our present, and will continue to determine our future unless we commit to collective repair. I also felt rage and sadness, emotions stirred by the waves of federal indictments, arrests, and allegations of fraud, corruption, and wrongdoing shaking our territory.
Inside the Westin ballroom, the future of the Virgin Islands felt bright and expansive, as
impressive as the resort’s floor-to-ceiling view of the Charlotte Amalie harbor. As a St. Johnian, the great-niece of Larry Sewer who championed Ghana–USVI relations, the granddaughter of an Ethiopian woman, and the daughter of a Sewer who spent his early years in Ethiopia, the idea of deepening ties with Africa resonated with me on both personal and political levels.
The Summit offered an ambitious conceptual vision. USVI, Ghanaian and Nigerian economic
leaders outlined possibilities in digital sovereignty, workforce development, financial access, and trans-Atlantic trade. Presentations highlighted the Virgin Islands’ geographic position as a gateway to the Americas, VINGN’s fiber infrastructure, and Africa’s rapid adoption of blockchain and mobile money. The presence of African and African American financial institutions suggested new pathways for banking access across Africa and the Diaspora.
Panels focused on how investors can land projects in the USVI, while cultural sessions explored tourism and heritage partnerships. Ghana’s major export sectors — cocoa, shea butter, and gold — alongside tourism, were named as areas for collaboration. And while an MOU was signed between Governor Bryan and Maame Efua Houadjeto of the Ghana Tourism Authority, its terms were not shared publicly, raising understandable questions about transparency. Many substantive exchanges unfolded in the hallways, in quiet, informal networking conversations.
For those of us who study African liberation movements, this moment carries weight. Kwame Nkrumah’s words — “We must unite now or perish” and “I am not African because I was born in Africa but because Africa was born in me” — echoed throughout the program. Amílcar Cabral’s enduring warning echoed as well, “Tell no lies, claim no easy victories.”
While the Summit projected a promising vision of the Virgin Islands as a digital and cultural hub to the Americas, it unfolded against the backdrop of deep public distrust. The gulf between the future being imagined and the daily struggles of Virgin Islanders is real. Former Senator JanelleSarauw has described it as “a tale of two cities. ” Our cost of living is high, WAPA outages persist, healthcare remains strained, and many elders still leave the territory for basic care. In this context, it is essential to make clear how every Virgin Islander will benefit from decisions made today.
Africa’s economic trajectory shows why these conversations matter. The continent is home to more than 1.5 billion people (World Bank, 2024), its workforce is expanding faster than any region on earth (World Bank Africa Indicators, 2023), and foreign direct investment reached an estimated $97 billion in 2024 (UNCTAD, 2025). The opportunity is immense but only if it is shared.
Future summits must include practical pathways for Virgin Islanders: how to start businesses in Ghana, connect with West African wholesalers and producers, or navigate registration with the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) or the Office of the Registrar of Companies (ORC). We need workshops on landing contracts in Ghana, Nigeria, and across the continent alongside the workshops on landing contracts here at home. Virgin Islanders also need access to education and workforce training, cultural and tourism exchange programs, agricultural partnerships, and financing options through African, African American, and Diaspora institutions. Many Virgin Islanders critiqued the original delegation to Ghana as wasteful or untransparent, and whether one agrees or not, those concerns highlight why public trust and clear communication must be central to any future partnership. We need transparency about what our government has committed to in these agreements. Above all, we need systems rooted in integrity and accountability so that the resources flowing through the territory strengthen our communities rather than undermine them.
Some may dismiss the Summit as tone-deaf given the moment we are in. I hope instead that it becomes one step in a longer journey, one that improves the emotional and material lives of every Virgin Islander and African. A future USVI–Africa partnership must show clearly how local and historically disadvantaged businesses will be supported, how working families will access opportunity, and how everyday people will benefit in real, tangible ways.
To move forward, we need transparency, clarity, and community buy-in. The potential for a
powerful, ethical, and mutually beneficial partnership with West Africa is enormous. For that promise to be real, the door being opened must be wide enough for all of us, not just a select few, to walk through.
— Dr. Hadiya Sewer is a strategist, philosopher, and President and Co-Founder of St. JanCo: the St. John Heritage Collective, a founding member of the Virgin Islands Studies Collective, and an Environment and Democracy Cross-Territorial Fellow at Right to Democracy. She was a Research Fellow in African and African American Studies at Stanford University and a Visiting Scholar at Brown University’s Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice. A longtime advocate for decolonization, environmental justice and equitable development, she writes on governance, transparency, and the intersection of culture and public policy.
Editor’s Note: Opinion articles do not represent the views of the Virgin Islands Source newsroom and are the sole expressed opinion of the writer. Submissions can be made to visource@gmail.com.
