PRESS RELEASE: Report Commission on suspended excavations African burial ground St. Eustatius long overdue

 

 

 

PRESS RELEASE

 

Report Commission on suspended excavations African burial ground St. Eustatius long overdue

 

 ST. EUSTATIUS / 21 January 2022 / -- Ubuntu Connected Front

 

Last year, July 2021, the Statia Heritage Research Commission (SHRC) was initiated, and official installed in September to investigate the controversial excavations at the African burial ground of former plantation Golden Rock. The purpose of this Commission was threefold. First, the compilation of recommendations for the local government of St. Eustatius concerning the handling of human remains; in particular ancestral remains of African descent. Secondly, including the engagement of the community, through practices relating to archaeological research; and thirdly the evaluation of the St. Eustatius Center of Archaeological Research’s (SECAR’s) processes as it relates to the excavation of the Golden Rock Burial Ground site.

 

It was indicated that at the end of the year the final report by the Commission will be presented to the local government. We are now nearing the end of the first month of 2022 and no formal mention has been made to the presentation of this report in question.

 

Kenneth Cuvalay, Chair Ubuntu Connected Front (UCF) Caribbean: “The composition of the Commission, with its strong ties to Leiden University, already raises concerns about its ability to operate independently. The reputation of the Chairman of the Commission is also at stake. He is portrayed in the media with a skull of an excavated African in his hands. He called me racist because I called on young black people to pursue careers in archaeology, anthropology and journalism which all makes clear that he is incapable of understanding what the protests are all about. And now this delay.”

 

What is also quite alarming is, that based on an article of the same local government “Starting November 28th 2021: SECAR conducts test trenches near animal shelter”, that consultation was sorted by the government of St. Eustatius from the same Commission. The Commission in turned apparently had no objections and agreed that the research could be carried out by SECAR. What is questionable thus, is that the same Commission that is investigating SECAR’s practices approves that the institution continue with business as usual.

 

Ubuntu Connected Front (UCF) Caribbean is publicly calling on the government to release this report, demanding transparency, seeing that the deadline has past, compounded by the facts that excavations still continue, under water and on land, in absences of knowing what standards and policies may apply to safeguard the already disrespected manner in which our ancestry have been dealt with.

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Information for the Editor 

Contact: Kenneth Cuvalay, chairman UCF Caribbean 

 About Ubuntu Connected Front (UCF)

 Ubuntu Connected Front is a political party in the Netherlands founded in 2017. It participated in the 2021 Parliamentary election and although it did not receive enough votes to win a seat in the House of Representatives, it was the most popular party in St. Eustatius, receiving 50,8% of the votes. Motto: “Equality is a human right, not a privilege”. UCF focuses on equal rights for people of African descent.

 Ubuntu means "humanity" in African Bantu languages. It is often translated as "I am because we are", or "humanity towards others". It is Ubuntu Connected Front’s core belief that all people have rights, which promotes equality of treatment and eliminates marginalization and deprivation.

 Black Agenda. The 'Black Agenda' of Ubuntu Connected Front (UCF) can be found in the "Manifest for NL Transformation" at the UCF website (Chapter 5).

The Black Agenda consists of three pillars:

1.     Recognition concerns the impact of our slavery past as a crime against humanity.

2.     Justice is about historical restoration of rights.

3.     Development aims to achieve equal development opportunities for everyone.