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HomeNewsArchivesFYI: Sen. Wayne James Travels to Denmark

FYI: Sen. Wayne James Travels to Denmark

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March 18, 2009 – St. Croix Senator Wayne James spoke before the Danish Parliament's Standing Committee on Culture today at Christiansborg Castle at 1:00 p.m., Copenhagen time, thereby becoming the first Virgin Islander to be granted official audience with the Danish Government since David Hamilton Jackson's visit to Denmark to argue for better labor relations and freedom of the press in 1915. James' one-hour presentation before the 17-member Committee was to discuss the need for Denmark and the Virgin Islands to confirm their interests in preserving the mutual heritage, architecture, culture, and family relations of the two peoples.
"Our 250-year-long colonial relationship with Denmark was based primarily on sugar and slavery and, as a result, resulted in a bitter-sweet history," James told the body. "But our shared history, with all its good and all its bad, is a historical fact that we would be wise to accept, reconcile, and then go about the business of preserving."
James was prompted to take the trip to present before the Danish Parliament when a trip scheduled for the Virgin Islands during the first week of March by the 17-member Cultural Committee was indefinitely postponed amidst public backlash for the trip in light of the international economy.
"The Committee's trip was spun by the Danish media as an extravagant bathing trip to the Caribbean during difficult economic times, but recognizing the socio-historical significance of trip, which could have solidified a Danish-Virgin Islands commitment to preserve their mutual culture, I decided to make the trip to Denmark on behalf of the people of the Virgin Islands. If their people are going to object to their visiting the Virgin Islands in the dead of the cold, dark, Danish winter, then I thought I should leave the comforts of the sunny Caribbean to go to Denmark to make it perfectly clear that we are interested in a commitment to our collaboration," James said.
James self-financed his trip to Copenhagen, meeting the Danish Parliament in his private capacity as opposed to in his public role as a Senator of the United States Virgin Islands. "The Danish people are well aware of my longstanding interest in the preservation of Danish-Virgin Islands heritage–as a collector of art and artefacts, as a historian, and as the descendant of a family which has gone to Denmark for scholarship and friendship since the earliest years of the 1900s," James said. "I received the distinct sense that the Danish Parliament was pleased to receive me based primarily on my 25 years of genuine, demonstrated interest in our cultural exchange. Such trust cannot be bought or won in a political term. This is so much bigger than politics. This is about the preservation of our way of life."
James urged the Committee to begin formal collaboration immediately and assured the Committee that it would be well received by the islands when their mission voyage is rescheduled.
"There is a lot preserve," James informed the Danish Parliament. It would be wise to start sooner rather than later–especially in view of the fact that 2017, the 100th anniversary of Transfer is fast approaching."

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