Stacey E. Plaskett

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to welcome Pastor Dexter Skepple, Senior Pastor of Speak the Word Ministries to the Well of the House, and to thank him for offering this morning's opening prayer.

For more than twenty-five years, Pastor Skepple has served as a faith leader in the United States Virgin Islands, guiding his congregation and our community with humility, integrity, and an unwavering commitment to servant leadership. He mentors our young men, counsels families through hardship, and quietly shows up for the people of the Virgin Islands every day.

It is a distinct honor for the people of the Virgin Islands to have one of their own faith leaders recognized here, on the Floor of the House.

I thank Pastor Skepple for his ministry, his leadership, his wisdom, and his decades of devotion to our community. May God bless him and his family always.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 8121, legislation I introduced to designate the Christiansted Bandstand in Christiansted, St. Croix, in the Virgin Islands of the United States as the Peter G. Thurland, Sr., Bandstand.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Westerman, Ranking Member Huffman, along with the members and staff of the House Committee on Natural Resources, for their consideration of this bill and for advancing it to the floor. I appreciate their thoughtful attention to a matter that means a great deal to the people of St. Croix, and I look forward to working with Members on both sides of the aisle to advance this legislation to the President's desk.

The Christiansted Bandstand is one of the most significant cultural landmarks in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Located in the heart of Christiansted, it has served for over a century as a gathering place for residents and visitors and as the center of St. Croix's musical and civic life.

H.R. 8121 would designate that landmark in honor of the man most responsible for its character and continuity, Peter G. Thurland, Sr.

Mr. Thurland was born on February 19, 1892, in Christiansted, St. Croix, then the Danish West Indies. On March 31, 1917, he performed with the Christiansted Industrial Brass Band at the formal transfer ceremony on the Christiansted Wharf, present at the very moment the Virgin Islands became part of the United States.

Following the transfer of the Danish West Indies to the United States, he enlisted in the United States Navy on June 12 of that same year and served as a member of the Navy Band.

During his service, he was instrumental in the physical construction and design of the Christiansted Bandstand. He performed there with the Christiansted Navy Band until his honorable discharge in September 1921.

In 1938, Mr. Thurland founded the St. Croix Community Band, which performed free monthly concerts for three consecutive decades. He trained generations of young musicians and led the band until 1968. He was also a master craftsman and cabinetmaker. His work can still be seen throughout our island.

Mr. Speaker, my own parents talked about the many activities the bandstand represented for children growing up in the town in the 1930s and 40s. One of our most iconic period painters, Leo Carty, used the bandstand in some of his most memorable paintings. My own children have played around the bandstand without a marker to explain who built the gathering spot. A naming with a marker sharing the creator and the history of the bandstand can only bring our island closer together.

This legislation was first introduced, as you have heard, from Congressman Ron de Lugo in the 103rd Congress. I am proud to bring it again in the 119th Congress. The Thurland family has long advocated for this recognition, and their persistence reflects the esteem in which their grandfather, their patriarch, is held across St. Croix.

Peter G. Thurland, Sr., helped construct the Christiansted Bandstand, served his country with distinction, and dedicated decades to the cultural life of St. Croix. His name belongs on that landmark.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 8121.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in celebration of Caribbean American Heritage Month, a month of

honoring the immeasurable contributions of Caribbean Americans to the fabric of this Nation, contributions that have shaped our politics, our culture, our arts, and our very understanding of what it means to fight for justice.

Every month I try to recognize many different individuals of Caribbean-American heritage who come from many walks of life, but this month I want to focus on the accomplishments of Caribbean-American women: their accomplishments and their struggles at the highest levels of government, and at the highest levels of politics that are shaping and have shaped this country.

I stand here as a proud daughter of the United States Virgin Islands, a territory whose people carry within it the full weight and beauty of Caribbean culture.

I am honored to serve alongside my sister, Congresswoman Yvette Clarke of Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants, who spent her entire career championing the rights of working families, immigrants, and communities of color with a tenacity that reflects the very best of the Caribbean tradition.

I am honored to serve alongside Congresswoman Frederica Wilson of Florida, a proud Bahamian American, whose bold leadership and refusal to be silent in the face of injustice has made her a force in this Congress and a hero, a shero in her community.

Of course, we remember the late Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants, who for three decades was one of the fiercest advocates this Congress has ever known.

These women do not simply represent Caribbean Americans, they embody the excellence that our communities demand of them.

The story we continue to write did not, of course, begin with us. It began on the islands themselves, with women like Queen Breffu, an Akwamu woman enslaved on St. John in the Danish West Indies, who in 1733 helped lead one of the earliest slave revolts in the Americas.

It continued with Queen Nanny of the Maroons in Jamaica, a leader of a community of formerly enslaved Africans who waged war against the British empire and won, seizing their own freedom and building their own societies. That spirit of self-determination is the spirit Caribbean Americans carry with them to this day and this country.

It continued with Shirley Chisholm, the daughter of immigrants from Barbados and Guyana, who in 1968 became the first Black woman elected to the United States Congress, and who in 1972 had the courage to run for President.

It continued with Claudia Jones, a journalist, activist, and visionary whose legacy endures; Cicely Tyson, who wasn't just an actor but a great civil rights leader, an advocate not confined to the roles that were assigned to her; and, of course, Kamala Harris, the daughter of a Jamaican father who shattered what many believed to be an unbreakable ceiling when she became the first woman and the first Black American to serve as Vice President of the United States. Vice President Harris carried the hopes of Caribbean Americans with her into the White House, a reminder that children of the Caribbean do not simply contribute to this Nation. We lead. She dared to lead a nominating party 107 days. Only a Caribbean woman could do that.

Caribbean leadership extends across the region. Dame Mary Eugenia Charles of Dominica became the first woman to serve as the head of government in the Caribbean. The Iron Lady, as she was known, bent to no outside pressure. Other influential women include Dame Pearlette Louisy of Saint Lucia, Dame Cynthia ``Mother'' Pratt from the Bahamas, of course Ruby Rouss of the United States Virgin Islands, and now Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados, who stands today as one of the most consequential leaders in the world, reshaping global conversations.

When people say we are not ready for a Black woman President, a Black woman Governor or CEO, my brothers and sisters, we have been doing it all along. We just need the support for the titles that we already deserve.

I wish all of my brothers and sisters of Caribbean descent Happy Caribbean American Heritage Month.