The St. Croix Foundation for Community Development, in partnership with Crucian Heritage and Nature Tourism (CHANT), hosted “An Afternoon with Mario Moorhead” on Sunday at the Old Bethlehem Sugar Factory. The afternoon of learning and exploring Virgin Islands history was also a celebration of the author, historian, activist, talk show host, and Crucian native’s 85th birthday.
With the blow of a conch shell to commemorate the event, the room filled with a mixture of 60 people ranging from young people to elders to listen to Moorhead’s extensive knowledge of Virgin Islands history.
“Scholars, historians and opinionated people only too often say that our history did not begin with slavery. I am not familiar with these opinionated historians and scholars telling us. If our history did not begin with slavery, when are you or whoever going to tell us where it began?” said Moorhead, who shared his V.I. history knowledge based on his research and discussions he’s had with historians, physicists, scholars and other experts on history that can be dated back to 30,000 years ago.
St. Croix Foundation President Deanne James reflected on how Moorhead has helped to influence her personal and professional journey. She said that about eight years ago, around this time, she had been questioning many things about where she came from, and she had been encouraged to read Moorhead’s book “Crucian Dialogues: Defining the Problem.” After three days of reading, she had finished the entire book.
“Maybe it’s as simple as our children knowing who they are to make better life choices. That shifted me in terms of how I turn up as far as my work,” said James.
James emphasized the significance of incorporating the wisdom of elders into the foundation’s initiatives. At an event, she was reminded of the crucial role elders play, and she has committed to ensuring that V.I. elders are included in all the foundation’s efforts. “Their guidance will help us cultivate wisdom as we strive to advance social justice for the Virgin Islands,” said James.
“Today is about planting seeds. We see ourselves as the soil, Mario planting the seeds and the rest of us have to cultivate the seedlings. Our hope is after today that there will be someone or someones that will say ‘We need more of this,’ and we will take the lead in not only making sure opportunities like this are available for adults, but also for our children,” said James.
Lilli Cox, the director of Communications and Community Investments, connected the event with the larger initiatives of the foundation. “It was a multitude of factors,” and part of it is the foundation’s work with the Kid’s Count. Every year, the St. Croix Foundation collects data directly from agencies to comprehensively report on the status of the U.S. Virgin Islands youth. “This year we did much more, we took that data and started to activate it,” said Cox.
With the rise of violence from young men and women, Cox said with the increase and decrease, “we are not seeing real improvements,” she said.
Cox said that we are watching the mental health crisis unfold and we are beginning to wonder what the cause is. “Perhaps it’s a lot of different things because we believe in systems thinking, again, not one single thinking,” she said.
Cox said this is why “Sankofa,” or the spirit of learning from our past to better understand our present and shape our future, is important. Discussions like these help us learn where we came from to have a better understanding of where we are going, she said.
