SINT EUSTATIUS (ORANJESTAD) - For those of you who are not acquainted with me, my name is Kenneth Cuvalay, founder of the St. Eustatius Afrikan Burial Ground Alliance.
Together with others, we have been fighting for years against the unethical exhumation of our ancestors—who were dug up in 2021 by an international group of white archaeologists without any involvement from the Afrikan community—as well as against the undignified commemoration PLEASE see below (October 13 – Petition Alliance issued) the so-called "First Salute," a colonial event that is deeply humiliating and shows utter contempt in the faces of Afrikan people not only on St. Eustatius where it is all happening but toward Afrikans globally.
Our humble request:
PLEASE GO TO OUR PETITION FOR MORE BROADER INSIGHT AND SUPPORT US BY SIGNING THE PETITION AND SHARING IT BROADLY INTO YOUR SOCIAL NETWORK AND PLEASE ASKED YOUR SISTERS, BROTHERS AND EVERYONE ELSE YOU KNOW TO SIGHT IT AS WELL.
PLEASE allow me to thank you in advance for the time and effort you will be dedicating to our struggle for respectful and dignity toward our Ancestors and our Afrikan communities worldwide because this is not an issue only pertaining to St. Eustatius but all Afrikans at home on our continent and abroad.
The Issue
For many Afrikan descendants of those who were enslaved on St. Eustatius, Dutch Caribbean, the annual commemoration of the First Salute on November 16, 1776, carries a painful resonance.
While it is a historical event recognized as the first acknowledgement of the United States by a foreign power, the significance of this event is overshadowed by the pervasive and profound experiences of the Dutch trans-Atlantic slave trade, colonialism and chattel slavery that defined the lives of our ancestors during that era.
Ongoing trans-generational trauma and the current situation of Afrikans in light of past and present injustices are rooted in that legacy.
This celebration is held under the pretext of marking the 250th anniversary of the recognition of the United States as an independent nation. The "First Salute" to the American flag took place on November 16, 1776, when the Dutch-held the Caribbean island of St. Eustatius—governed by Johannes de Graaff, 1729–1813), one of the islands at the time major Dutch slaveholders and Enslaver —fired an 11-gun salute in response to a 13-gun salute from the American vessel Andrew Doria.
This occurred during an era when the Dutch Chattel slavery trade, colonialism and the Trafficking in Enslaved Afrikans in general was rampant among the Dutch, America, and many other European nations—a time when our ancestors were forcibly transported from Afrika and enslaved on a massive scale, which no words exist in any language capable of quantifying the magnitude of these horrific and barbaric crimes against humanity committed against our Afrikan ancestors.
Yet in this distorted discourse, not a single word is said—nor is anything heard—about Johannes de Graaff, who committed the most heinous and barbaric crimes against humanity, the Afrikan people.
In February 2018, a motion was submitted and passed in the House of Representatives in The Hague by then-MPs Ronald van Raak (SP) and André Bosman (VVD), laying the foundation for this large-scale commemoration of the "First Salute" on St. Eustatius.
Again, without asking the population of the island, it was determined that “it will bring international visibility to St. Eustatius and everything it has to offer”. The question in whose interest.
Relocate First Salute 250 to The Hague
SIGN Petition issued October 13–Alliance:
Sint Eustatius Afrikan Burial Ground Alliance
YouTube: "Whose Story"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tkTruumKaU&authuser=1
