In a passionate call to action during his weekly press briefing on Monday, Governor Albert Bryan Jr. urged Virgin Islanders living abroad to return home—not for comfort, but for contribution.
“We’re asking people to come home to work,” said Governor Albert Bryan Jr. during a press briefing on Monday. He was responding to the sentiments of many Virgin Islanders in the diaspora who believe conditions in the territory are not conducive for them to move back home. “We’re asking people to come home and take responsibility in making the Virgin Islands a better place for your auntie, your mommy, your cousin.” He also recognized those who have stayed to help advance the territory.
Acknowledging that life in the Virgin Islands is not comparable to the ease and comfort that exists on the mainland, Governor Bryan nevertheless insisted that it was important for skilled Virgin Islanders to consider forgoing luxuries like InstaCart, Uber, and same-day Amazon delivery, in favor of contributing to the territory’s development. “It’s important for us to build our community rather than build somebody else’s community,” the governor argued.
“The Virgin Islands will always be hard. It’s an island,” Governor Bryan declared. “We’re never going to be able to provide every amenity of a Miami or New York City, but it’s getting better every single day.” He characterized those who resist the call to return as telling their fellow Virgin Islands who remain “Oh no, it’s too busy up here in the States, where it’s nice; I don’t have time for the revolution.”
Despite the challenges of living in the territory, Governor Bryan pointed out the advances in quality of life Virgin Islanders have enjoyed over the years. “We live in a territory now where college education is free, where we’re giving people up to $200,000 to buy their homes, where we’re trying to provide healthcare for everybody that comes.” He pointed to the government’s efforts to settle the retroactive wage bill, to stabilize the finances and operations of the Water and Power Authority and the territory’s hospitals, “all while making sure the dump ain’t on fire.”
But the government needs the help of its citizenry. “We have our people getting older. Our parents [are] getting older, people abandoning them in the hospital, people on the streets,” Governor Bryan noted. A declining population of young, able Virgin Islanders would only exacerbate these issues, he argued.
Governor Bryan concluded that Virgin Islanders minded towards helping develop their homeland will “make [their] way home – for the right reasons, not because you want a lap of luxury. If you do, well, stay in the States. No love lost,” the governor declared.
But, “if you’re committed to your home like I am committed to home, welcome home.”
British Caribbean News
