27 Mar NiteCap Journal: Why is it cheaper to fly from St. Thomas to Miami than to Anguilla?

I’ve often asked myself this, but I guess the nagging frustration didn’t really ask the question. It’s because we in the Virgin Islands and larger Caribbean make the most of hardship, smiling our way through stone age inconveniences that would break most folks elsewhere.

Well, this weekend the cost of traveling between islands is one I now consider to be too expensive.

Let me explain.

As I write this, my 13-year old cousin Kymani is annihilating the competition here at Mater Dei High in Santa Ana, California, but this is my first time meeting the burgeoning teenage basketball phenom.

Imagine that.

Yesterday, we laid our Uncle Rudolph to rest and Kymani was one of many relatives I got to meet for the first time. When my cousin Curt, Uncle Rudy’s son, embraced me it was a hug that echoed a harsh truth.

Why did it take a funeral?

I told Curt, “I can feel that Anguilla love,” while cherishing the moment, but Curt corrected me. “Nah cousin, that’s that blood.”

Yes, it’s cliche that weddings and funerals bring families together, but being forced to live miles apart due to a lack of opportunity isn’t. In fact, I’m tired of those who disregarded our lives while crafting our islands for their pleasure believing that we’ll continue to embrace the cliche that we’re mere sand beaches.

Having said that, no one seems to care that a one-way ticket from St. Thomas to Anguilla is often double what it cost for a one-way flight to Miami. The price to visit other islands in the surrounding Eastern Caribbean can be even four times more expensive. The fact that Anguilla is only 120 miles away from St. Thomas while Miami is 1100 miles away adds to the frustration.

No one seems to care that loved ones have missed entire lifetimes due to the Caribbean’s broken and overpriced transportation eco-system. Furthermore, the cost of travel makes the dream of a unified Caribbean, just that, a dream. Maybe those who colonized these islands desired a fragmented, thus weakened Caribbean diaspora.

I don’t expect them to care that I had to sit through a funeral and hear about the iconic space Uncle Rudy created for himself out here in Los Angeles after leaving Anguilla for St. Thomas from strangers.

I remember him yelling, “Nephew the revolution will be televised!” when heading to my Unbreakable film screening at USC back in 2018. The proclamation gave a clue to discovering the man whose life was celebrated at the Carson Community Center as an educator and civic leader. When I asked Uncle Rudy why he chose California he fired back, “Nephew I didn’t choose California. This is the place that offered me a job.”

My uncle didn’t have many choices back then, but in 2022 our leaders can choose to strengthen the bonds between the US Virgin Islands and surrounding Caribbean beginning with something simple yet monumental like the price of a plane ticket. Our past and present history has already showed us how much of an asset our Caribbean neighbors are to us. Enter Tim Duncan and Aliyah Boston. The NBA legend and rising star of women’s basketball are both native Virgin Islanders with Anguillian roots.

As for Kymani? His team won the tournament with him being named the MVP.

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