[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 171 (Tuesday, October 29, 2019)]
[House]
[Pages H8546-H8547]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        CELEBRATING LIBERTY DAY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
the Virgin Islands (Ms. Plaskett) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. PLASKETT. Mr. Speaker, this week, the Virgin Islands celebrates 
Liberty Day and honors David Hamilton Jackson and his relentless 
pursuit of free press for the people of the Virgin Islands.
  From the 1700s until the 1950s, the Virgin Islands was owned by 
Denmark, which maintained censorship over the press. D. Hamilton 
Jackson knew that in order for a people to truly have freedom, the 
press must also be free.
  Traveling to Denmark to advocate on behalf of the workers of the 
Virgin Islands, he took it upon himself to also fight for the 
emancipation of the press. His passionate advocacy was fruitful, and 
upon his return to the territory, he published the first newspaper in 
the Virgin Islands not controlled by the government.
  This act empowered the people of the Virgin Islands and opened the 
door for generations of Virgin Islanders to allow their voices to be 
heard in the formal medium of press.
  D. Hamilton Jackson challenged the status quo and the prevailing laws 
of his time to secure a future for the islands he loved.
  D. Hamilton Jackson used his newfound right for the free press to 
create The Herald. As editor, he used that publication to uncover 
corruption and educate the working class. Frustrated with neglect from 
the Danish Government, Jackson used The Herald to build support for the 
transfer of the Virgin Islands from Denmark to the United States.
  The American flag that flies over the Virgin Islands today is a fruit 
of the seed that D. Hamilton Jackson sowed on his quest for liberty and 
greater opportunity for Virgin Islanders.

                              {time}  1030

  The Virgin Islands continue to embody the spirit of D. Hamilton 
Jackson and his work.
  Rena Brodhurst has spent her life walking the path of Jackson as a 
champion of Virgin Islands Free Press as the owner and editor of the 
St. Croix Avis. Educated on St. Croix and then attending college, she 
followed her family's tradition of fighting to defend a free press.
  Her father, Mr. Brodhurst, was once convicted of contempt of court 
after publishing an unsigned letter critical of a court decision and 
social conditions of his time. However, the right to free press 
prevailed with the U.S. Third Circuit making clear that the 
constitutional right to freedom of speech in the press was not one that 
would be infringed upon in the United States.
  Rena, herself, has sued the government to protect the right to 
publish freely without retribution. A strong woman, mother, and friend, 
she acts as a true Virgin Islands queen, unbroken and a fierce defender 
of free press.
  Today, a new generation steps up to carry the torch of D. Hamilton 
Jackson. State of the Territory founder Amaziah George, a Marine Corps 
veteran, brings Virgin Islands press to the world through his online 
social media paper.
  His passion for making the voice and concerns of millennial Virgin 
Islanders heard make him a trailblazer of his generation. With his 
willingness to speak truth, the secret stories that

[[Page H8547]]

others are unwilling to discuss, this veteran is really a fighter and a 
soldier of truth.
  These individuals have dedicated themselves to truthfully informing 
the people of the Virgin Islands about their community and the world 
outside of our small corner of it. They are truly legacies of D. 
Hamilton Jackson.
  We must continue this work, as Virgin Islanders still have limited 
constitutional rights as determined by the Insular Cases of the early 
1900s. Those Supreme Court decisions relegate people living within the 
territories to a separate and unequal status.
  The cases posture that people living in territories are inferior 
races that cannot understand Anglo-Saxon principles of law. It keeps 
American citizens living in places like the Virgin Islands, Guam, and 
Puerto Rico as disenfranchised from the full American experience.
  As a young constituent of mine recently wrote in an essay outlining 
the importance of free press, ``only a free press can ensure the 
people's access to information and build a well-informed, transparent, 
and accountable society,'' and that ``we, the people, owe it to our 
country to demand and defend the freedom of such a priceless 
heritage.''
  What a wonderful sentiment from a young person.
  Free press, we must cherish and protect it as a most American of 
values and as one of the most fragile pillars of democracy here and 
around the world.
  In the words of D. Hamilton Jackson, I challenge us to walk in his 
spirit and challenge the status quo for the betterment of our people 
and our Nation. Let us all embody the motto of his newspaper, The 
Herald: ``Liberty, equality, fraternity.''

                          ____________________