Hundreds braved periodic cloudbursts Monday at the annual Bull and Bread rally honoring legendary V.I. newspaper publisher and labor leader D. Hamilton Jackson in Grove Place for a final display of political passions before Tuesday’s elections.
With the sounds of quelbe and the aroma of roast meat as backdrop, gubernatorial and Senate candidates, families and supporters spent the morning setting up tents and tables with pamphlets and T-shirts, side by side with food vendors setting up their own stands in preparation for a long day of speeches and festivities.
After noon, as the rain gradually became sporadic and the air hot and heavy, people began arriving in larger and larger numbers, often clad in T-shirts proclaiming their political loyalties. Both gubernatorial aspirants were well represented in white and blue shirts, with a sizable contingent also wearing green shirts supporting incumbent Delegate Donna Christensen, and a peppering of other colors representing many of this year’s senatorial candidates.
Incumbents Christensen, Gov. John deJongh Jr. and Lt. Gov. Greg Francis all took a turn at the podium to speak about Jacksons’ legacy and to urge people to go vote Tuesday. DeJongh gave one last stump speech for his administration, touting that last week he signed a new collective bargaining agreement with United Steel Workers Masters, Local Union 8248 and 8249, a union that represents more than 700 government employees from 15 departments and agencies.
“Jackson fought for civil rights, human rights, and labor rights throughout his lifetime. He formed the first labor union in the Danish West Indies,” deJongh said. “By entering into fair and mutually beneficial contracts with the many unions that represent this territory’s public employees, we are honoring the great leader’s legacy.”
Francis recalled growing up in the D. Hamilton Jackson housing community and learning about Jackson’s contributions at a young age.
Young Grove Place residents took the microphone, too. Dylan Heistand, an 11th-grader at AZ Academy, read a short biography of Jackson and asked, in essence, what would Jackson tell us if he were alive today?
“D. Hamilton Jackson helped provide us with our hard-won liberties,” Heistand said. “On this Liberty Day, we should ask ourselves: are we choosing candidates because of facts or because of emotionally charged issues?”
Chean St. Rose, a Grove Place native who graduated from St. Croix Educational Complex, honored Jackson’s commitment to a free press and civic debate by giving his own perspective on what the government should be doing.
“Let’s take a serious look at the drainage and the roads in Grove place,” said St. Rose.
Fixing up park facilities is also crucial for providing younger residents with wholesome recreational outlets, he said. The Jackson Park in Grove Place needs lights and paint for its basketball courts and, and nearby Eulalie Rivera Elementary needs new fencing to help keep riff-raff off the facilities and make it safer for young people playing, he said.
“But most importantly, they need a recreational leader and a supervisor for the kids playing here,” he said.
Afterward, St. Rose said he volunteered to speak because he is on the Grove Place Weed and Seed Teen Youth Group and wants to see his neighborhood do well.
“I just wanted to speak to the people about what needs to be done,” St. Rose said.
There was an unfortunate accident shortly after the ceremonies ended in which a young lady fell backwards off a chair, striking her head against a metal fence. An ambulance was called, and the girl was taken to Gov. Juan F. Luis Hospital for treatment.
The Grove Place Action Committee organizes the park ceremony every year, putting together a series of speakers, arranging for music and special presentations, and cooking up a giant feast of beef and bread. Every first of November since 1915 there has been a celebration near the Grove Place Baobab — across the street from Grove Place’s D. Hamilton Jackson Park — commemorating the organized labor movement on St. Croix, and in time coming to commemorate Jackson as founder of the movement on the island.
It became a tradition to serve up a huge communal meal of beef and bread to the gathered throng on D. Hamilton Jackson Day, which led many to start calling the annual celebration “Bull and Bread.” Others try to discourage that name, however, saying it trivializes Jackson’s legacy by focusing attention on the food, not history. The holiday is also called Liberty Day, in honor of Jackson’s work to establish freedom of the press in the territory.
Once the speeches and benediction were complete, the deejay struck up quelbe music on the sound system, and everyone lined up for the traditional meal of beef and bread, served up by volunteers from the Grove Place Action Committee.
The St. Croix Educational Complex Quelbe Band and the Stylee Band also entertained the crowd.
Along with support from government agencies, schools and many dedicated volunteers, Cruzan Rum, Plaza Extra West, and the St. Croix Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority helped to sponsor Monday’s events.
