♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -The first remains that were found were not found by me.
♪♪ ♪♪ [ Birds chirping ] ♪♪ I'm standing on the most significant trace of the transatlantic slave trade, and there is nothing here to show that.
If you didn't know, you wouldn't feel anything.
How could you know, if no one tells you or reminds you?
Yeah.
♪♪ -One of Britain's oldest colonies has a history which stretches back over four centuries.
A dot in the South Atlantic, only ten miles long by six wide, Saint Helena lies more than 1,000 miles from Africa and nearly 2,000 miles from South America.
♪♪ Since 1659, the island has been a British possession.
The colony's 4,500 inhabitants speak only English and lead a typically English way of life.
Jamestown is unique.
Here, in the middle of a vast ocean, is a Georgian village in a tropical setting.
Beyond lies desolate Rupert's Valley, a sad place haunted by the ghosts of slaves and lepers.
♪♪ The most famous exile of all arrived in October 1815.
He was Napoleon Bonaparte, destined to spend the last six years of his life in Saint Helena.
The man who'd conquered Europe lay dying.
Today the tricolor flies over the empty grave.
Napoleon's brooding spirit seems to hang over this sad, silent place.
♪♪ ♪♪ -I was 23 years old.
It was at the end of 2011 when a friend sent me the job application.
My family, they were like, "Are you making this up?"
For the first time, I was utterly alone.
And nothing prepares you for that more than six days surrounded by mountains and mountains of water.
The RMS ship, it's the only means of getting to and from Saint Helena.
And then seeing this rock appear in the horizon.
It looked so dark.
[ Birds squawking ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Basil Read, who was awarded the contract for the construction, needed an environmental officer.
It felt like the Saint Helena airport job opportunity would be the adventure I was looking for.
[ Laughs ] I guess I had in my head that there was something better for me than being African or being Namibian.
As an outsider, I felt desperate to fit in.
I don't think that anyone was prepared, especially myself, for how much involvement was actually required.
Oh, okay.
All the works on-site would have to be run past me.
-1, fire.
[ Explosion ] [ Cheering ] [ Explosions ] [ Laughter ] ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Gulls crying ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -I'm feeling the excitement building in me.
The airport opening is really a game-changer for the island.
It's something to be proud of.
-It was an incredible moment for everyone that had worked on the project.
This is what it was all about -- a plane landing on the island, and it was so important for the Saint Helenian community.
-There, see it?
See it?
-Ooh, there she is, there she is, there she is!
-Whoo!
♪♪ ♪♪ -Uh-oh.
Oh, no, she is, she is.
[ Cheering and applause ] No, no.
Uh-oh.
Uh-oh.
♪♪ ♪♪ -Saint Helena government has announced a delay to the official opening of Saint Helena Airport.
The decision to postpone the inaugural services has been necessary amid ongoing uncertainty regarding wind shear.
Intensive work is ongoing to put in place appropriate measures to guarantee safe flight operations.
♪♪ [ Gulls crying ] -It was devastating.
I wasn't just there as part of the Saint Helena Airport project, but I'm a member of the community.
I have a child.
I have a family here.
[ Birds chirping ] You okay, Noah?
You ready to go?
-Yes.
-Big boost.
There we go.
Oops.
Oopsy daisy!
-[ Babbling ] -You okay?
Where are you going now?
-This is "Straight Talk", and we are going to have a straight talk today because, right now, we have a community that are living by rumor and speculation, and we're not sure how long th is solution is going to take, but beyond the airport, we've also got the RMS.
We know she's been extended until September.
You ready?
-Car coming!
-Car coming!
Let's go, let's go, let's go!
-Come on!
Come on, girl!
-Say, "Bye, Mummy."
Bye, pumpkin!
I love you!
♪♪ -The international press have really gone to town, printing a story about a useless white elephant and UK taxpayers' money being wasted on 4,000 individuals.
-At the airport on a no plane day.
We've been having a lot of those.
Deciding to have my baby here, away from my family, my mother and father, my support system from home... ...it does something to you.
The airport site is just the hub of it.
We also have a 14-kilometer road connecting two valleys -- Rupert's Valley and Prosperous Bay Plain.
But going through communities, disturbing people, disturbing heritage and archaeology, it's -- it's not been an easy project.
Mm.
♪♪ They came across the remains, like they knew that they would, based on maps that clearly demarcated where those burial grounds were.
♪♪ ♪♪ -What we're doing is a big strip excavation, whereby we're excavating along the corridor for the proposed airport haul road, in which there are a large number of slave, or freed slave, graves from the 1840s through '65, when this is basically a depot and a hospital for slaves freed by the Royal Navy's West Africa Squadron.
♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ What we've got here are actually the physical remains of, basically, captured Africans who are straight off the ship.
They go into boxes and we're taking them to storage.
Ultimately, the burials themselves, the individuals, they will be reburied.
-What numbers can you estimate we have?
-We don't know the absolute figure, but it's certainly not going to be far off 10,000.
♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -On the left-hand side is where they cleared the 325 human remains, in order to make way for this road.
And those 325 remains are now in the Pipe Store, and have been since 2008.
Why did we build an access road through a burial ground?
I hope the answer is not as simple as color, being of lesser importance, value.
I feel like everyone's to blame.
It's not just government.
It's everyone.
Everyone that's ever had a part to play in this, that have done nothing and continue to do nothing.
Myself included.
-We've still got slave remains in a pipe building in Jamestown for eight years.
The airport development has overshadowed the urgent need for us to deal with this.
There was a budget allocated under the airport development for the reburial of slave remains.
Can't we at least start using that to get some things done?
Shouldn't we have somebody to lead on this, with participation from local people?
Just to read something very quickly, from the lead archaeologist -- "The human remains from Rupert's Valley are unique.
They are, quite simply, the only assemblage in the world that purely points to the Middle Passage of first-generation slaves, straight out of the slave ship and only weeks out of Africa."
♪♪ [ Birds chirping ] ♪♪ Yeah, all the old maps say, "African," "old African burial ground."
Yeah, it says, "Graveyard."
-So, in actual fact, if whoever was building the road had done their research properly, they would've known there was a graveyard there.
-No, they did know.
-They did know?
-They did know.
They didn't change their plans.
The way that the liberated African remains are being treated now, they're not part of society.
-Which is why I say they're almost, like, still considered as slaves.
-Mm.
-They're not considered as people.
-So... ...what's the plan?
♪♪ Okay.
♪♪ [ Dusts off hands ] [ Sighs ] -"They made it no further than Rupert's Valley.
They now wait in this room for their final resting place."
[ "Looking Through the Eyes of Don Fernando" plays ] ♪♪ -♪ I'm proud to be a part of you, Saint Helena ♪ ♪ It's you what made me what I am today ♪ ♪ We tried so hard to preserve your natural beauty ♪ ♪ But progress has passed us somewhere along the way ♪ -♪ Looking through the eyes of Don Fernando ♪ ♪ Saint Helena, you must've been a pretty sight ♪ [ Cheering, whistling, and applause ] ♪ I know that loneliness was ever with him ♪ ♪ But the freedom that you offered ♪ ♪ Made everything alright ♪ [ On radio ] ♪ Today I think your beauty is [indistinct] ♪ -And we'd like to say welcome back to all of our listeners.
The time here at Saint FM is going on to nine minutes past 10:00.
My guest has arrived.
It's Cruyff Buckley, who's also going to be running in the upcoming elections.
So, Cruyff, welcome to Saint FM.
-Thank you very much for having me, Tammy.
-We're really glad you're here.
-[ Panting ] -[ Laughs ] -What are your thoughts on the airport, as well?
Because, of course, we're waiting for scheduled weekly flights to be announced.
So much rests on the airport becoming operational -- our hopes to grow the economy, to become a hot spot tourism destination.
How important is it for us to get this right, Cruyff?
I want some remnants of our culture to be left for, you know, our children's children.
[ Foghorn blaring ] [ Melancholy tune plays ] ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Horn blaring ] [ Birds chirping ] ♪♪ [ Camera shutter clicking ] ♪♪ ♪♪ -Us, as a group, we decided to get everyone else involved because it's not our story to tell.
I'm Namibian.
I have no right to speak for the Saints, but we can't do it alone, and we don't really know what we want to do, yet, and we want to figure that out with everyone else here, as well.
-You know, it would be good to have something and I think it should be the responsibility of the government and the island, as a whole, to have a really good memorial here on the island.
-We have to take ownership of this at some point and realize that we can't bury our mistakes or, indeed, purge our history.
-Those particular slaves, they died in transit, so, none of us are going to be, actually, direct descendants of those ones, to the bones that are in the store.
I mean, look at me.
I'm, obviously, connected somewhere along the line, but not directly to those in the Pipe Store.
You can't be.
-You maybe not so, in your opinion, Pam, but it's left to be proved.
-Not my opinion.
That's facts.
-[ Laughs ] -You can't.
They died in transit.
They died when they came here... -Sorry.
Sorry, sorry, sorry.
-...so, you can't.
-Genetics are broader than that.
You don't have to be directly.
It doesn't have to be your mother or father, right?
-This should've been a big topic when it first started because, right now, we've got like almost 10 years in and the bones are still there.
This should've been dealt with then.
That's a prison round here.
That is not a resting place.
-Hello, hello.
You alright?
-All of those things that you're pontificating now is already in process.
It's just that you've got to be realistic.
Because of the airport, you know, things are moving along, slowly, because of the situation.
So, we have to be realistic about this, you know?
It's no good getting up, jumping on the bandwagon and saying, "You need to do this, you need to do that.
Nothing's been happening."
-The point of this group is not to try and point fingers or do a witch hunt on why the 325 are still in the Pipe Store.
We're making this everyone's responsibility.
Everyone is accountable, not just government, not just Access Office, not Basil Read, not Heritage Society, not National Trust.
It's everyone's responsibility because we are all linked to this story.
[ Applause ] -Okay, Annina.
-Standing by, Mr. Don.
-The second to last house, we need to carry a valve platform through the garden.
-What we're also trying to do is raise awareness about the heritage that has seemed to be forgotten.
Everyone knows so much about Napoleon because they've worked so hard on telling the story.
-I have this book.
-Numbers.
-Numbers.
-We're talking about 30,000 African slaves that would've passed through Saint Helena at that time.
Approximately 9,000 are buried in Rupert's Valley.
That's double the population of the island today.
Mr. Don, if I convince her to let you through, which day would you like to have it done?
I need to give her as much information as possible.
-I think Wednesday is good, Wednesday.
[ Beep ] -Mr. Don, tomorrow is Wednesday.
Are you talking about tomorrow?
A third of them were children.
A third.
Yeah?
3,000 buried in Rupert's.
I use numbers, but we need to connect to these people.
It's not their fault that their story was not told, that they couldn't leave something behind to say who they were.
[ Birds chirping ] Mm.
[ Creature lows in distance ] -The way we treat those bones is a reflection on us, as a community, I feel.
Historically, I think it's been forgotten.
-It just seems too obvious... -Yeah.
-...the neglect.
It almost seems intentional.
-On this island, we've been robbed of culture, robbed of language, and attitudes to blackness... -Mm-hmm.
-...attitudes to other on this island.
It's the way it's been fed down from my nan's generation.
It's the old cliché they used to say in the Caribbean, you know, "If you're white, you're alright.
If you're brown, stick around.
If you're Black, step back."
We are products of the legacy of colonialism.
♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -Welcome to our forum for anybody that is interested in standing as a councilor.
I should mention, I don't run the country... [ Laughs ] ...although I know a lot of people think that.
It is actually the councilors that are the powerhouse of decision-making on this island.
Any other questions?
A few years ago, Richard III's remains were found in a car park in Leicester.
A big fanfare, his remains were, with dignity, interned.
Our liberated slaves are in part of that prison complex, now, for the last eight years.
We need the same.
What is the state of play, right at this moment, with that?
[ Crickets chirping ] [ Suspenseful music plays ] ♪♪ -It's years of conditioning.
Decades of conditioning that it's not important.
And now we just look like a bunch of crazies, trying to stir it up again.
♪♪ ♪♪ I hope that there's a sort of recognition and acknowledgment of what value heritage could have for a community.
1860, James.
Christian name.
Surname Alexander.
Listed as liberated African.
Where do you just -- do you instill that mind-set?
Which is important.
It is important to have that sense of pride in your cultural identity.
It is important.
If this is not the opportunity to do that for these people and, now, my people... ...then when?
-We're going to do something special this morning, which is a DNA test.
This is a first, I think, here at Saint FM.
Annina, why are we doing this?
-It's all about trying to build that connection between what lies beneath in Rupert's Valley, so we can see what's really going on in Saint Helena.
So, Tammy, if you can just rub that on the inside of your cheek.
Yeah, quite, with vigorous pressure.
Sorry.
I want to see blood.
-I think what happens with the liberated slave remains is an uncomfortable subject.
-No one wants to really address it.
We've sat in the studio and discussed that something needs to happen and that's come through all the time -- something needs to happen, something needs to happen -- but it never happens.
I don't want to see us, in two or three years from now, still talking about what needs to happen with the slave remains.
-This is your local news from Saint FM for Wednesday, the 26th of July.
Today is Polling Day.
Votes will be counted at the Saint Helena Community College hall this evening commencing at approximately 8:00.
-He is the last of the candidates that we're going to be interviewing.
I'd just like to start off by asking you what is your view on the most appropriate method of burial for the liberated Africans?
♪♪ -Okay.
[ Applause ] ♪♪ ♪♪ You're joined now by some other, younger, new members of council.
♪♪ [ Clack, whirring ] -Damn.
-Hey, Briany!
You alright?
-Hey, hey, hey, hey.
-Imagine!
Where am I going to go now?
No, no, no, I'm staying here.
I'm staying put now.
That I've been here?
Five and a half.
-Five and a half?
-Yeah.
When you were working there, did you ever come across -- -[ Laughs ] -You know what I'm going to ask now.
-Every day.
-Yeah?
-Every day.
Every day.
-Sure.
So, if you had to... ...roughly, give a count, from what you experienced, like what do you actually -- Yeah.
Hundreds, hundreds.
And when you say box, you mean like coffin, or...?
-[ Laughing ] No.
-Just a box?
-A box.
-Wooden box?
-[ Laughing ] Yeah.
-Okay.
Yeah.
...yeah... ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Birds chirping ] -It sounds so familiar.
Sounds like the work we did at the airport project.
Thirty years later, you do it again.
Make promises and... ...nothing happens.
[ Suspenseful theme plays ] -This is... -It's a graveyard right in the heart of downtown, and it's already surprising some historians.
-History is being literally uncovered in Lower Manhattan.
While government officials have withheld comment and have sealed the site from the public, Fox News has learned that archaeologists have discovered an historic site at this location at 290 Broadway, where a federal office building is scheduled to be built between Duane and Reade Streets.
-How will the government, then, acknowledge the fact that this was a cemetery?
-The two points that the community has requested, that I cannot satisfy, are the reinterment of the skeletons within the building and also the creation of a museum on the site.
The region has been able to come with a $250,000 contribution... -We don't want that.
-...to interpretative display, which we will do.
-That's just a pacifier!
-It is not a pa-- -We don't want that.
-It's obviously not a pacifier.
-The discovery of the African Burial Ground, said to be the largest burial ground for early African Americans in the United States, is a link, a key link, between our present and our past.
These bones tell a story.
They tell us of a life of hardship, made harder because of ignorance and prejudice.
-Peggy King Jorde, coming from a family steeped in the civil rights movement, swung into action to preserve an African American burial ground in Lower Manhattan, becoming heavily involved in saving others across the world.
[ Playing march ] ♪♪ [ Cheering ] [ Applause ] -Whoa.
Hm?
She's not coming back.
[ Laughs ] -One of the world's most isolated outposts joined the 21st century today when the British island of Saint Helena welcomed its first commercial flight.
-After months of delays and a problem with high winds that labeled it the World's Most Useless Airport, now, they've worked out a way round it.
And that's why they've got a small aircraft doing the job.
Saints, as they're called, ar e hoping for a silver lining.
♪♪ -[Indistinct], I didn't say you can start!
Make them stop!
[ Speaking Afrikaans ] -Okay, okay.
-Sorry, guys.
I don't know if you guys know, but this whole power station was built on burial grounds, eh?
-Okay.
-The power station, the fuel farm, everything up to -- if you follow that white line there, is burial grounds, eh?
Up to 10,000 bodies lie where we're standing now, all the way to the back there, yeah?
Break it in, yeah.
-Break it up.
[ Ring ] -Peggy?
-Nina!
-I can't believe it.
It's -- -I know.
I know.
I found myself being consumed, once I started reading the emails about what was going on and I really almost don't even believe it, quite frankly.
What do they think this site is?
I'm trying to find out what that divide is.
-It's been a history, a long history, of people coming in from the outside and telling Saint Helenians how to feel and what they need and what they don't need.
-Okay.
-The site is not known and is not recognized as a cultural heritage site.
It is recognized as a future site for development.
-Well, it's -- yeah.
You know, my grandmother used to always say, "Race is a powerful thing," and it does things to people.
-Mm.
-And nobody likes to hear that they're a bad guy.
-Mm.
-[ Laughing ] You know?
The recommendations to Congress that I authored for the African Burial Ground in New York, it could serve as a playbook.
We can't talk about the history there, meaning in the States, without talking about the history of Saint Helena.
And we can't talk about the history of Saint Helena without referencing the history and what we know from North America.
♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Indistinct conversations ] No, don't.
Let's not do this.
Let's not do this.
I told you.
It is our history, and it's physical.
You can see it.
[ Birds chirping ] -Within the community, there is this thought that this system of government is not working for the island and, in fact, is not working for the councilors themselves.
How democratic are we, actually, when it comes to making the major decisions for the island?
We don't always have that much say.
-[ Shaky breathing] [ Sniffles ] 9,000.
And more.
9,000 lives wasted.
Where's the message?
Where's the lesson learnt?
♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Now, we're in Rupert's Valley.
-Wow.
-Beautiful, huh?
-Yeah.
It's absolutely beautiful.
-So, now, as we go further up, the latest map puts all of this... -Yeah.
-...including the jail site... -Yeah.
-...including the power station... -Right.
...right up the valley to where you hit straight into... -The base of that hill?
-Yeah.
-Uh-huh.
-...as the Upper Burial Ground.
-Are you kidding me?!
This is huge!
-Yeah.
-This is massive!
-I hear you.
-There is such an opportunity here to do the right thing and set the example and set the standard for a lot of other sites.
To me, it's a no-brainer.
You know, you don't turn your back on something like this.
It's just -- It's immense.
-Mm.
-It's immense.
Coming here, really being sensitive to people thinking that, "Oh, you're going to come here and try and tell us what to do with our thing," and, for me, I'm coming here to bear witness to how you guys decide to treat it.
So, you treat it any way you want to treat it, but I'm a witness.
-Yeah.
-Because this history is tied to my history.
-There we go.
-And I know your history.
-There we go.
-So, I'm here to bear witness.
And then you show us what you're going to do.
-Yeah.
Oof!
Oof.
♪♪ -You know, we realized we had a parallel story -- working on a development project, only to discover that your project is, you know, mixed in with a rare cultural resource.
-Beautiful.
-Ah, thank you.
-It is a history that is my own and I'm tethered to and it makes me very sad that the focus hasn't been given and now, it's time.
It's time to remember.
It's time to remember.
[ Birds chirping ] -Um, this way?
Yeah.
-How far down does it go?
-It's just in -- So, it's not part of the actual cemetery.
It's -- -This?
Oh, you mean the burials?
Yeah, the burial.
It's on the side here.
Oh, really?!
-Yeah.
-Oh.
"Liberated Africans."
-Mm-hmm.
[ Twigs snapping ] ♪♪ -And was it a mass grave?
-Yeah.
Exhumed from the power station 30 years ago.
At first, they just put them in steel drums, and the community, obviously, witnessed the fact that the government was digging up in a known burial ground.
They demanded that the government, number one, carry out a dignified reburial of all the remains that were exhumed, that they build a memorial, and that they ensure that this doesn't happen again.
-Right.
-So, we talk about the community not being connected to the story... -Less than.
-...but when they did speak up, they were ignored.
-I mean, it's in the most desolate part [ Laughing ] of the cemetery, you know?
♪♪ -The objects, when they were excavated, were kind of earmarked, from the start, for an exhibition to Liverpool Slavery Museum.
There were four boxes, all found within the 325.
-Mm.
-Oh, my word.
-So, this is all from one burial.
-All of these beads, or just that box?
-This box, including these.
So, they're all packed... -Yeah, according to burial.
-...in individual box, according to burial.
-Wow!
-Hair, and there's also a braid.
-[ Gasps ] -Ooh.
-A braid.
-[ Gasps ] -Yeah.
-I wonder if that was a male or a female's.
-The paper there indicates the exact burial it's from.
So, we still have the capability, if the community wants, to rebury these with the correct individuals, as well.
-Right.
-Yeah.
That was always part of the plan -- if that was decided, then that can happen.
-Okay.
-Whoa!
That's amazing.
-You can see the -- -Yeah, that's amazing.
Mm.
Yeah.
♪♪ Wow.
Absolutely amazing.
♪♪ -Yeah.
[ Laughs ] -Were these ever put on display for the community on Saint Helena?
-Uh, [ Laughing ] no.
-That is so criminal.
I'm sorry.
That's like -- I can't get over that.
-Yeah.
-That they could go away -- oh, my word -- and not -- Oh, my word, no, that's -- Anyways, I guess the time is now, then.
[ Sighs ] [ Indistinct conversations ] [ Utensil taps glass ] -Welcome, everyone.
With this exhibition, we are actively reaching back and doing away with this disconnect that everyone talks about, but no one can really define it or describe it.
We are all witnesses to this story.
[ Camera shutter clicks ] Once they're reburied, I hope it's just the beginning for everyone else as well, just as it is the beginning for me to bear witness to my own five years of not paying attention to the story like I really should've, or like I really could've.
-Though our experience in North America may be different from yours, we are tied through the transatlantic trade.
You are the Middle Passage.
You are that history for us.
We are exactly as you are.
You may have a different accent, you may have different customs that you engage in, but we are you, and we're connected.
♪♪ The history of Napoleon, when he was here, was happening at the same time when Africans were here.
They are not separate histories.
Reclaim the neglected history.
Because the history was neglected.
Unlike New York, you had burials in place!
I'm jealous.
I'm jealous, because we have a concrete jungle.
Everything is underneath buildings and sidewalks and streets and subways.
Be a part of renewing the awareness because it's in you doing that and your children doing that that the story will live.
-We're going to discover your story together, Tammy.
It reads, "Tammy Williams, your story begins.
Genetic blueprints are very much shaped by -- immigration, warfare, migration, conquest, and choices.
Therefore, our DNA is a unique combination of genetic markers that are found all over the world.
We are all made up of all of us.
The DNA study of the 325 in the Pipe Store shows that they came from West Central Africa.
Tammy's autosomal DNA results show that 15.6% of her ancestors over the past ten generations come from West Central Africa."
You okay?
-[ Crying ] It's incredible.
-"Exactly the same area as that uncovered from 325."
-Mm.
-"15.6%.
This result shows that this 15.6% of African descent would have occurred in the last 250 years, which would clearly fall within the timeline for the liberated African establishment, between 1840 and 1872."
Really ask yourself, why are we not taking care of the burial grounds in Rupert's Valley?
Why is it okay to take care of Napoleon's tomb, but completely and utterly ignore what's in Rupert's?
And I'm not accusing anyone of anything, but just ask yourself that question because it's not part of our tradition not to take care of our ancestors.
We won't go disturb Saint Paul's Cemetery, but, no, Rupert's is okay because we need to develop there.
So, it's this hangover that will continue, you know, your future generations, unless we confront it right now.
It doesn't need to carry on this way.
It's not okay to disturb a sacred ground, and that's what it is.
♪♪ Careful.
Uhhh!
I can't believe Peggy's gone.
I didn't expect her visit to change me as much as it did.
Today's my last day as a Basil Read employee.
I'll be joining the National Trust, and I'll be leading the African reburial project.
And I've been asked to join the Liberated African Advisory Committee.
I feel, for the first time, that I can actively be a part of making things happen.
♪♪ [ Wind whipping ] -The airport was meant to be the catalyst for change and that the airport is not delivering what it was supposed to do is a big disappointment to Saints, generally.
The weather over the last month has just been atrocious, so, planes can't land.
Businesses on Saint Helena invested based on increased tourist numbers.
We were encouraged to do this by the British government, to tap into something that was going to bring economic benefits for the people of the island.
-Sorry, I'm not in the best mood this week, honestly.
-Fire!
Fire!
Fire!
Fire!
-I'm so anxious, I struggle to sleep.
I just -- I'm a [bleep] mess.
-Fire!
Fire!
-Nothing is happening.
The committee hasn't met.
The report hasn't been submitted to the councilors, so that it can be approved and the recommendations that were put forward can actually be put into action.
Nothing has happened.
I sent an email asking why we haven't met again, why things haven't moved forward, and no response.
It's just a smokescreen.
That's all it's ever been.
-Is this a government issue, or...?
-Peggy, it's the same thing it's been for 35 years -- they just don't care.
-You're facing a government who is saying, "We don't have any money and we have to do development for other reasons because we need to build our economy on the island."
This is the historical heart regarding the economy of this country, of this territory -- trading in human beings.
They were making money, for hundreds of years, off the backs of the people who are laying in that ground.
-Welcome back.
Nina Hayes is with us this morning.
Nina, last time you were here, we had some comments come back from the community, saying, very openly, "You don't speak for us.
You are not representative, really, of the Saint community," even though your husband is a Saint Helenian.
Bit of a toughie, I know, but what are your thoughts on that?
-It's interesting.
If you think about the whole debate in the States, right now, as well, with immigrants.
I mean, the States was made of immigrants, and what is Saint Helena, but immigrants?
And, you know, I've been battling with that question, as well, trying to win the hearts of the Saints.
It's just my makeup.
It's, you know, it's I want to be accepted by the community.
That's natural.
No one wants to be ostracized.
It would be great if all Saints could recognize the significance of the site and own it.
But me knowing better and speaking for those that don't know better, I'm okay with that.
[ Melancholy tune plays ] I love Saint Helena, but I'm an African.
♪♪ [ Siren wailing in distance ] -NYPD looking for clues in a series of hate crimes tonight, the most recent one happening here at the African Burial Ground in Lower Manhattan.
Someone scrawled a threatening and racist message here.
There are, right now, no suspects, leaving many on edge.
-The words "Kill niggers."
We don't know who put the words here, but we have to continue to push back in the atmosphere that's been created in this country.
This is a place where they tried to erase history, and we're at a time where people are trying to erase identities again.
We have to stand up, no matter what community it is.
We will be more unified together.
-Under our current presidential administration, these kinds of things are happening a lot more.
The comfort level, it's frightening.
And it just reminds me of, coming out of Southwest Georgia, when I was very young and having people call your home and threaten you.
I picked up the phone when someone said, "Oh, I'm going to kill your father within 24 hours."
So, you know, growing up in that kind of environment, where there was a comfort level for people to just casually talk about that.
-Yeah, yeah, yeah.
-I mean, I do carry it with me.
I'm very well aware, when I walk into a restaurant or when I walk into a shop, how I'm going to be treated.
I'm not worried about it, but I, you know, I'm ready.
I'm on the ready, right?
I'm on the ready.
"Prime Congo Negroes for cotton.
Consisting of 80 girls and 138 boys from 12 to 18 years old are offered for sale onboard at Gadsden's Wharf.
Upland and Sea Island cotton will be taken in payment."
-[Bleep] hell.
-Though the building is built in New York and there has been a reburial, the story and the challenge is, you know, it continues to go on, whether it's in Saint Helena or in Charleston or in any other place.
I mean, there are several sites all over the world that you'll find.
This cemetery is situated by the water, where most Gullah cemeteries are situated.
But one thing about being laid to rest on the water is that it is prime real estate.
It's prime real estate.
So, you have a lot of development that is going on with resort areas.
The burying grounds for enslaved people are forgotten and buried under growth and, yeah, yeah.
I don't know what country I've come from.
When you don't know your past, it's really difficult to move forward.
♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Horns blaring ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -Thank you all for allowing me the guilty pleasure of having a conversation that I have not been allowed for a very long time.
♪♪ I grew up in a household where apartheid was rooted in the memory of my parents and in my grandparents.
But for some reason, they never shared that with me, even though it disrupted my father's life completely.
Maybe it's because they wanted me to succeed in a world that was different to the one that they grew up in.
♪♪ And then coming to Saint Helena island seven years ago, I was faced with a lesson that I was not prepared for.
I would encounter human remains.
And what made it even worse, being completely honest with all of you, is that I had to pretend that it didn't mean anything.
And, working for the contractor, I had to make sure that I did my best to make sure there were no delays in the construction.
I have to deal with that.
That's my demon that I fight.
But through that, my time has come to talk about it, to ask difficult questions about it.
And to sit here amongst all of you, I feel like this is an opportunity for all of you to remind me that I'm not crazy.
[ Laughter ] But also to tell you that this space has been under threat for 30 years and continues to be threatened.
[ Laughter ] -No.
-Yeah.
[ Cheering, whistling, and applause ] ♪♪ -Good morning, Nina!
-Good morning, Tammy!
Good morning, listeners.
Good to be back.
-Oh, it's great to have you back.
My question is, why was this trip important for Saint Helena?
How does all of this relate to me, as a Saint Helenian?
-This issue is a global issue and it made me realize, it gave me insight, into the fact that, maybe, that's why we've been struggling to deal with it on the island for so long.
And it's part of the system, it's been institutionalized, it's been going on for hundreds of years.
And it's just the realization that we need the funding from the UK government.
That, without money, we can't protect the site.
We can't establish a memorial, get people interested in it.
And, yes, I had to go out there into the world in order to realize that, and, now, we can move forward with that in mind.
-What happens next, next steps?
-Ooh!
Now, the work begins.
Community involvement.
We establish relationships with people that want to make a change and that are in positions to make a change.
I've drafted a project proposal.
-Fantastic.
-And I feel nothing but hope.
I believe in Saint Helena, and I believe in that site in Rupert's, and I know that we are going to make it something truly Saint, truly Saint.
♪♪ ♪♪ -In our headlines today, Saint Helena government issued another Saint Helena preparedness update, saying that we are still in the prevent stage and keeping Saint Helena safe is their priority.
There are no suspected cases of COVID-19 on the island.
And, of course, we're all doing everything we can to try and stop the virus reaching Saint Helena because, of course, we are very vulnerable as a community.
And the new governor, Governor Rushbrook, could have a very big impact, like a new manager coming in will have their own thoughts about how things should be done.
Saint Helena really needs a champion.
What you don't need is someone who's playing both sides.
-Okay, yes.
-Got to get all the applications ready for the burial grounds, remember?
-Yeah.
-Mummy's got to get that all ready today, okay?
[ Ring ] [ Ring ] Nina.
Hello.
The only thing I'd probably have to send to you, or bring down to you, if the Internet's not working, is the master plan.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Everything she asked for will be completed by today.
So, all the business cases, all the other deliverables, will be in final stage.
Are you happy with that?
Okay.
[ Suspenseful music plays ] ♪♪ For the first time, government will hear the voice of what this project is.
It's a massive milestone.
We've never been at this point before.
So, once I send it off this afternoon, we just have to wait, you know.
It will be up to DFID to say whether it's a yes or a no, and how soon.
♪♪ ♪♪ Thank you.
♪♪ -Up.
[ Whispering ] [ Whispering ] Finally, we've come to a decision on doing a right and proper reburial.
And, for the first time, I'm standing here, and I know how much it could cost.
It's feasible.
It's engineeringly sound.
There's no excuse not to do it.
It will be a cemetery.
If you can imagine, on the day of the funeral, the roads will be closed off and we'll have a procession of 325 coffins in differing sizes.
Close to 400 people will be walking up the valley, carrying a coffin.
Each coffin will be strategically placed in their previously designated position, so that we could mark them accordingly.
Not a mass group of people that all looked the same, that all sounded the same.
They each had their own story.
We hope that all Saint Helenians will feel like they should be a part of this.
It's for everyone.
Hey, Mum, you alright?
Just going to see Colin.
Ohhhhhhhhh.
Okay.
It's a coffin now.
Yeah, that looks -- I'm just thinking now.
Let me put my head in there.
Yeah.
That looks about right, eh?
If it's this way.
What do you think, yeah?
Then it's just a bit of room.
If we aim for December, then we have January, February, to get the remains in the coffins and with their jewelry.
♪♪ ♪♪ -How are you?
How's it going there?
-No one responded.
There has been no correspondence as to, "Okay, guys, we're at this step now.
I've spoken to the chief sec.
These were her comments."
No, nothing!
It's just like, "Thank you for producing all this [bleep]" -Okay, okay.
Alright.
-Sent another email and none of them responded.
Only Helena responded, to say she's meeting with the governor and I'm thinking, "Oh, so, now, we report to the governor?
Okay.
Is that you know who defines how this project goes?"
I didn't say this, but I'm thinking it and I'm thinking, "Okay, now, don't overreact, you know, don't lose your [bleep] Don't be that Black woman that everyone thinks you are."
[ Laughs ] And I just felt like, "[bleep] it, I'm out."
Like I don't need this.
Because I keep tolerating it and I keep coming back and I keep smiling and I keep doing whatever the [bleep] they want me to do and what do I get out of it?
[Bleep]-all, and abuse and bullying and I just don't need it.
I'm tired of it like, you know?
We're waiting on something that doesn't exist.
It won't come.
What they're waiting for is for us to grow tired and for us to give up.
Because we've been talking about this for centuries, and they know that.
And we get tired, and we give up.
They will just keep feeding us with enough to keep us...
It's in what's not said, where you realize these mother[bleep] are going to be dragging us along for another hundred years.
Because Black lives don't matter.
End of story.
♪♪ Want Mummy to pick you up?
That's okay.
Alright, here we go.
They found quite a few plants to put down, so, when the rain comes, then all these plants are going to cover the ground and it's going to look like a lovely -- The people?
The graves?
-Yeah.
-Yeah.
They're down there.
Hm?
Because we're making it nice.
We're doing something good for them, yeah?
Just like when you go to the graveyard and you walk over the graves, it's the same, yeah?
As long as we're not hurting them.
Yeah.
-You were picking up those.
-You see the row of plants there, Noah?
-Yeah.
-You know why they're there?
-Why?
-See, those uncles planted them there, so we have a nice hedge that goes all along the burial grounds.
-Hm!
-Yeah, so everyone can know where the burial ground is.
Yeah, we'll still put a sign down.
They're going to put a sign down.
That's a good idea, though.
Yeah, so everyone knows what it is, huh?
Yeah, that's a good idea, my boy.
Only the people that keep it safe, huh?
-Yeah.
-[ Laughs ] Yeah, the signs will come, my boy.
♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Melancholy tune plays ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪
