By FIONA STOKES-VI DAILY NEWSST. CROIX - Discussions on reparations for ancestors of slaves living in the U.S. Virgin Islands continued during the weekend at the University of the Virgin Islands. The African-Caribbean Reparations & Resettlement Alliance-sponsored two-day round-table generated lively discussion among the nearly 100 people who attended the event.....Shelley Moorhead, president of ACRRA, was the moderator. He encouraged feedback from the participants, who included students, educators, community members, legislators, politicians, farmers, government leaders, community activists and attorneys.
The group brainstormed about community initiatives, projects and programs and also assigned duties and organizational roles as the list of local organizations participating in the group's efforts expanded to close to 30. The group also nominated a number of individuals from throughout the territory to serve as advisers, team leaders and members on various projects that fall under headings of education, reparation and restoration.
Moorhead said he was overwhelmed by the turnout and the caliber of participants as ACRRA strives to shape public opinion of their reparations efforts. "These people here are representatives of groups and organizations," he said. "They represent thousands." Moorhead encouraged the participants to continue to work toward their common goal and to understand that it will take a lot of hard work. But he said it ultimately will pay off. "What you have done here is adjudicate more than 300 years of Virgin Islands history," he said. "These ideas and concepts can remain as such, or we can take our collective energy and create something substantive." See: Discussions at UVI spotlight local reparations effort
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