04 Aug Watch: USVI LEADERS DISCUSS HOW A LACK OF IDENTITY LEADS TO VIOLENCE IN THE US TERRITORY

Award-winning filmmaker author and journalist Peter Bailey held the second #DearUSVI, an unprecedented virtual town hall conversation series with civic leaders, newsmakers and entertainers focused on addressing the continued violence threatening to destroy the fabric of the embattled United States Virgin Islands.

The town hall was organized in partnership with Senator Myron Jackson, the University of the Virgin Islands’ Center for the Spirituality and Professionalism and local telecommunications giant Viya.

Senator Alicia Barnes, multifaceted entertainer Benny Demus as well as culture bearers Chalana Brown and Kurt Marsh Jr. will joined Bailey alongside special guests from the community.

As the embattled U.S. territory struggles to recover in the wake of the devastating 2017 hurricane season and current COVID-19 pandemic there’s been a recent surge in gun violence.

“We’ve long faced another pandemic in our community before COVID-19, which has been self-inflicted genocide due to gun violence,” said Bailey, who’s recently toured North America with his award-winning film “Paradise Discovered: The Unbreakable Virgin Islanders.”

“I’m honored to join a cross-section of influential Virgin Islanders to start a territorywide dialogue to finally address this pandemic as a community,” he said.