Jamaica working on split with monarchy as Charles’s coronation looms

No matter where you go in Kingston, the capital of Jamaica, no one seems to care about the coronation of King Charles.

The fact that he is even the King of a country where hundreds of thousands were enslaved in the century of British rule is considered a historical insult to many.

“Why is the King still the head of our country?” asked Jahmar Clarke, 32, over a game of dominoes with friends at a Kingston bar.

“We have to get past the monarchy … it’s time to deal with it as a nation.”

That’s what Jamaica did. The government has said it will hold a national referendum with the aim of removing King Charles as head of state in 2025.

“We continue,” Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness to Prince William and his wife, Catherine, during their much-criticized tour of Jamaica last year.

“We want to … fulfill our true ambition and destiny as an independent, progressive and prosperous nation.”

Jamaican leaders also want an apology and compensation – for all the suffering they caused and all the wealth they took from the island.

WATCH | Jamaica likes King Charles for wanting to move away from monarchy:

Call to apologize

Jamaica was invaded by the British in 1655, quickly becoming one of the empire’s best colonies. All that wealth was built on the backs of enslaved people who were forced to work on sugar plantations all over the island.

With The royal family was complicit in brutality from the beginning.

The Royal African Company, which brought many Africans to Jamaica, operated under a royal charter from King Charles II. Many of the slaves were branded “DY” for the Duke of York who ran the company. The duke later became King James II.

“The royal family and many people in the British government, past and present, have been deeply involved in getting riches from atrocities,” said Dave Gosse, director of the Caribbean Studies Institute/Reggae Studies Unit at Western University. Indies.

When emancipation came in 1834, slave owners still benefited.

Under the Slavery Compensation Act of 1837, the British government paid £20 million – almost $30 billion Cdn today – to slave owners for the loss of human property. Slaves get nothing.

In fact, even after emancipation took effect, many are forced to work for their owners without pay for another four years as a so-called apprentice.

Experts have linked it many social challenges of Jamaica, and throughout the Caribbean, directly to the legacy of slavery, including its very entrenched poverty, stark class divide, and lack of development.

“People are now more aware of our history and the royal family’s role in the saga,” Gosse said. “What we want is for someone to apologize and say ‘I’m sorry.'”

There have been calls for Prince William to apologize during his March 2022 visit to the country, including an open letter signed by dozens of prominent Jamaicans. But it didn’t come.

“I want to express it deep grief, “William said. “Slavery is an abomination. It probably won’t happen.”

The tour is seen as an attempt to strike a charm, with the republican rumblings that Jamaica already has. However, it was riddled with photo ops problems and was criticized as tone-deaf. It seemed to only spurred the Jamaican move.

‘Foreign King’

Jamaica has established a constitutional reform committee, charged with ensuring a smooth transition from a constitutional monarchy to a republic. In the week before the coronation, the government sent a video about the reform process, has been referring to Charles as a “foreign king.”

The date of the referendum has not been announced but polls from last year shows the majority of Jamaicans support severing ties and both major political parties support the move.

Jamaica will follow suit Barbados, which removed the English king as head of state in 2021. Other Caribbean countries, such as Antigua and Barbudaa, they have the same conversation.

“Our goal is to be truly independent from our colonial past and the people who served us,” said Minister for Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport Olivia Grange.

But not only goals. Grange is the government minister responsible for the Jamaican government’s reparations. A new private member’s bill tabled in Jamaica’s parliament says the British government owes Jamaica at least £7.6 billion ($12 billion Cdn).

“Jamaica is one country that continues to suffer from the … slavery of our ancestors,” he said. “We’re asking if it’s a mistake we’ve made – so we have to prepare for the damage.”

Grange said the government plans to petition King Charles directly.

“We’re looking at all options,” he said. “We will not stop until we get justice.”

‘The metaphorical chain is broken’

While reparations are important to many people on the island, they are not all that important – abolishing the monarchy also has psychological and symbolic benefits for countless Jamaicans.

“Are we really emancipated if we still have a monarchical head of government, which is ancient in nature?” asked Toniann Pellington, 19, a graduate student at Immaculate Conception, an all-girls high school in Kingston.

“Removing the King as head of state will not affect our daily lives, but it does mean that the metaphorical chain has been broken,” Pellington said. “We are not mentally enslaved anymore.”

Pellington with classmates Summer-Leigh Yapp, Jade Thomas, and Dana-Kaye McPherson, who are all old enough to vote in the upcoming referendum. Each said they couldn’t wait to have a head of state who looked like them and represented their country.

He laments the reminders of British colonialism that are present throughout Jamaica – the statues, street names, parliamentary structures, and the reverence that remains for the Royal Family.

Students, and several others in Kingston, were cited Bob Marley is famous Redemption Songwith the lyrics, “free yourself from mental slavery, no one can free our minds but ourselves.”

“We really want to have our own Caribbean identity and I think the existence of the monarchy is really hindering it,” Yapp said. “It’s like hanging over Jamaica … pulling us back and keeping us from further progress.”

“There are a lot of Eurocentric ideals that we are working towards,” he added. “If we begin to separate ourselves from them, we, as a people, can establish ourselves.”