45 Year since JAGS became Chief; his Unity Speech begs the question: How far have we come on the things which matter most?

#TurksandCaicos, May 27, 2021 – James Alexander George Smith McCartney is the founding father of democratic, representative governance in the Turks and Caicos Islands and for that feat, achieved in the late 1970’s, JAGS has been crowned ‘National Hero’.

This year marks 45-years since Grand Turk-born, James became the first Chief Minister of the country.  James was only 31-years old at the time of his ascent to the role and continues to be one of the youngest democratically elected leaders in the world.

In 1980, after serving as Chief Minister for a mere four years, the Turks and Caicos Islands lost JAGS; he died in a mysterious plane crash over New Jersey, history explains.  The enormity of the loss was felt regionally; his body was never recovered.

If the Rt. Most Excellent JAGS McCartney were with us today, he would be 76-years old.  A husband, a father, grand-father, friend and iconic political leader who was the founder of the People’s Democratic Movement.

Forty-five years later and he is still being remembered; rightly so.  There is still no one who has measured up to his towering political legacy and on Monday, May 31 – JAGS Day – Rt Most Excellent McCartney will be saluted by the nation he loved best. 

His Unity Speech, delivered in 1979 is among his most treasured remarks. 

“Some people tend to think that it is an impossible job bringing all our Islands together because of the separation by water and distance, but we must come together if only for survival. Divided we are weak, united, Turks and Caicos could become one of the greatest young nation in this hemisphere for good in the world,” said the first Chief Minister in an apparent attempt to bridge any lingering divide.

In the speech, it is clear JAGS was acquainted with the ‘divide and conquer’ tactic often used to derail goals and dilute energies; he spoke unapologetically.

“If anything binds us, it is the fact that if nothing else, we are Turks and Caicos Islanders and have a common interest, because we have distinct qualities; so if the need for political union is agreed by us then the will to create it is born, and where is a will, there is a way. Where there is disunity on the political activities of a nation, that nation is left at the mercy of powerful, foreign commercial interests which seek to exploit the situation by pouring vast sums of money into the various factions to ensure conflicts among them and therefore secure their positions in the society, where they could wield their might and guarantee control over that nation; because the truth is, while the people are fighting one another, the real enemies, the controllers from outside, are picking up the pieces, so therefore we the people are losing the nation as being pushed backward.”

Forty-five years since the Turks and Caicos, then home to 7,015 people, was admonished to end the squabbling and forge an impenetrable foundation upon which to build a unique nation.  The question often emerges:  ‘Has anything changed?’

In his Unity Speech, JAGS offers that this dis-unity would be the undoing of the great goals for Turks and Caicos Islands.  The Chief was said he was captaining a ship optimistically determined to outwit the strategists and overcome the obstacles.

“My party and Government are completely devoted to the achievement of political, economic and social advancement of this country and we will not stop until this attained. This is not an idle dream, it is not impossible, I see it, I feel it, it is real, indeed I am living in it already.”

Fast-forward four decades to 2021, with the globally powerful striving of the Black Lives Matter movement still looming large as a driver to end social injustices and inequalities; the sound of JAGS’ voice and the melody of JAGS’ heart beats stronger than ever.

“A few years back a lot of people in our Islands referred to this great movement as “Black Power” well, I would not agree more because to me Black Power is a part of the world rebellion of the oppressed against the oppressor of the exploited against the exploiter. It is a vanguard movement of Black People, and it is characterized by four fifths of the world’s population which has been systematically damned into a state of un-development by colonialism and Neo-colonialism. Black Power is the sum total of economic, cultural and political power which the Black man must have in order to achieve his survival in a highly developed technical society and the world savaged by imperialism,  Colonialism, Neo-colonialism and Fascism.”

This speech, given 42 years ago proves that JAGS was a man exposed to deep insights and unafraid to say out loud, what in his hay day was damming and dangerous.  This speech, given 42-years ago demonstrates that the Rt. Most Excellent JAGS McCartney was a HERO without question.  He took on titans, charged into danger, fueled by an unshakable love for people and fully confident that they were worth the fighting for, worth the dying for.

He saw the future, was ahead of his time when he recommended that the way out of the ‘isms’ was through the empowerment of the predominantly black people who made up the Turks and Caicos Islands.

“In other words Black Power epitomizes a new stage of the yearning and aspiration of the Black man and tells the world what it means.  That is exactly what we as Turks and Caicos Islands people take it to mean.”