PM calls for reclaiming national destiny

The 400th anniversary of the landing of the first British ship in Barbados passed largely unnoticed by the descendants of the British settlers and enslaved people who now call it home on Wednesday, save a message by the prime minister who called on Barbadians to confront their colonial past and shape a new future.

It was on May 14, 1625 that the English merchant ship owned by William Courteen and captained by John Powell arrived and its crew took possession of the island of King James I, who, unbeknownst to the ship, had died two months previously and had been succeeded by Charles I. Although formal settlement at Jamestown – now Holetown – was not until February 1627, the 1625 arrival marks the start of colonisation of the island, which had apparently been long abandoned by the indigenous Taino and Kalinago peoples.

In her message, Mottley urged citizens to stand strong, honour the past, and actively reclaim the destiny once denied to their ancestors.

She acknowledged the painful legacy of slavery that followed, calling it “one of the darkest chapters in our nation’s history”.

She said: “With the arrival of that ship, the Olive Blossom, regrettably came one of the darkest chapters in our nation’s history, a system of enslavement that would test the very limits of human endurance. But 400 years on, we remain standing together and stronger. Today we honour those whose lives were forever altered. We celebrate the indomitable spirit of their descendants, and we acknowledge how far we have journeyed and how far, my friends, we still must go to reclaim a stolen destiny for the benefit of the past, present, and future of the global African diaspora and the entire world.”

In keeping with the theme of reclaiming the country’s destiny, the prime minister referenced the Charter of Barbados, which was adopted in 2021 as a declaration of national values rooted in dignity, equality and civic duty.

“This was our benchmark that beckons us to confront the shadows of the past, dismantle lingering barriers to unity, and weave a society in which every Bajan can flourish, as our great compatriot George Lamming so poignantly observed in his 1966 essay, The West Indian People, and I quote: ‘The architecture of our future is not only unfinished, the scaffolding has hardly gone up,’ unquote.”

She pointed to initiatives such as the digitisation of archival records and the establishment of the Barbados Heritage District at Newton as tangible steps towards reclaiming the agency lost through centuries of colonialism.

“We must answer through action, every museum wing that is opened, every oral history project that is launched, every student that is guided through these digital archives, we see them as a seed of hope taking root, ensuring that deferred dreams do blossom into purpose and into promise,” she said.

She added: “So today, my friends, is not simply an anniversary of sorrow… it is actually a celebration of resilience, of innovation and of unity. It is a testament to the unbreakable bonds that join us to one another and that join us to the wider Caribbean civilisation and the wider African diaspora. It is a reminder that though our past was marred by injustice, our future, yes, our future remains ours to forge on this solemn day.”

(SB)