[Pages H512-H513]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    SELF-DETERMINATION AND VIRGIN ISLANDS CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
the Virgin Islands (Ms. Plaskett) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. PLASKETT. Madam Speaker, today, I rise to acknowledge and 
congratulate the newly elected members of the Sixth Constitutional 
Convention in the Virgin Islands.
  The willingness of each one of them to help us move forward to 
achieve civil rights and self-determination as a collective people is 
commendable. The work that they do in this legislative session will 
uplift generations of Virgin Islanders to come.
  The legacy of the Virgin Islands--Saint Croix, Saint Thomas, Saint 
John, and Water Island--continues to be defined by the collective 
greatness of all Virgin Islanders who have resisted exploitation in the 
name of freedom and independence.
  We first exercised our right of self-determination in 1493 when a 
Carib war party on the island of Saint Croix fiercely resisted 
Christopher Columbus' expedition, preventing his men from establishing 
a foothold on the island.

                              {time}  1030

  Over the next 200 years, the Caribs fought colonization until they 
were completely eradicated in 1590. Their enduring resistance is our 
ancestral legacy. The island of Ay Ay, Saint Croix, from which I come, 
is proud to see this legacy continue in this Sixth Constitutional 
Convention.
  It continues. In 1733, the Akwamu, enslaved individuals from Ghana, 
fought against their enslavement on the island of Saint John and became 
the first organized armed resistance in the Western Hemisphere against 
enslavement. They held that island for almost a year until the Danes 
working with the Spaniards, the French, and the British were able to 
overthrow them.
  The organizers of that rebellion chose collective suicide rather than 
go back to slavery.
  In 1848, on the island of Saint Croix, those enslaved organized 
themselves, rose up, and took their freedom. Our freedom was not given 
to us by any individual or any government. We took it for ourselves. 
That is the legacy from which I come, and as a daughter of the Virgin 
Islands, I will continue that fight.
  The Virgin Islands has held five Constitutional Conventions since its 
acquisition by the United States in 1917, yet no constitutional drafts 
have been approved since 1977. Personally, I believe some of the issues 
that we have put in our constitution are issues that were never 
resolved by Denmark when we became part of the United States.
  As of 2025, the Virgin Islands have governed under the Revised 
Organic Act of 1954, which acts as the de facto local constitution 
after being passed by Congress in 1936.
  As not only the Representative of the Virgin Islands here in Congress 
but as a daughter of those islands, my family on both sides go back in 
records to the 1700s, maybe earlier. And it is for them that I continue 
to fight for the fundamental and constitutional rights for which all 
Americans, including Virgin Islanders, are entitled.
  When we became a part of the United States, my grandfather's 
generation came to Washington and insisted that we be a part of the 
draft. We wanted the responsibility along with the privileges of being 
part of the American experience. We are part of the draft. We fight in 
every war in numbers per capita greater than any other State, and yet, 
no Virgin Islander can vote for their Commander in Chief.
  I have built upon the work of my predecessor, Congresswoman Donna 
Christensen and numerous Governors of the Virgin Islands to challenge 
the United States' reliance on the Insular Cases as it relates to the 
territories. The Insular Cases were decided at the turn of the 20th 
century by the Supreme Court to justify a racist and colonial legal 
framework for the territories.
  Now, you may ask, oh, why are you saying it is racist? When the 
Supreme Court Justice in his opinion says that the people who inhabit 
these islands are savages who cannot understand constitutional law, 
that is prima facie racism to me, particularly when a Virgin Islander 
who came to the United

[[Page H513]]

States in the 1700s, Alexander Hamilton, helped to write that 
Constitution under which we stand.
  However, through hard work, we have worked together over the years to 
overturn the Insular Cases, advance equality, and challenge the status 
quo. In both the 116th and 117th Congress, I am grateful that under 
Democratic leadership the For the People Act of 2019 and the For the 
People Act of 2021 included a path for voting rights and self-
determination for U.S. territories. Both pieces of legislation included 
a congressional task force to review the issues and make 
recommendations on providing equitable voting representation in 
Congress, voting rights in the Presidential election, and fair 
inclusion in Federal voter protection and election integrity laws.
  In this 119th Congress, I will continue to advocate for the equitable 
treatment of all Americans, including my fellow brothers and sisters in 
the territories. Self-determination, voting rights, and equitable 
treatment under Federal assistance programs must be the cornerstone of 
our work. If we work together, we can all achieve meaningful change.

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