Some of us just can’t be blown down, two category 5 hurricanes within two weeks or not. There are stories in and about the United Virgin Islands that are still yet to be told, but renowned Virgin Islands author and journalist Peter Bailey used his chosen path of journalism to tell this one. It is one of the most impacting events that has ever occurred here, but they still don’t hear us though.
I sat with Peter in the WUVI Studio along with UVI Virgin Islands and Caribbean Cultural Center Director Dr. Chenzira Davis Kahina on the day before the screening at the University of the Virgin Islands St. Thomas campus, to find out who exactly he is and why he was moved to produce the film. Fifteen minutes quickly turned into an hour as we listened to him express his story and why he’s so passionate about sharing the film.
Without yet having seen it for myself, The Unbreakable Virgin Islands, seems to speak of us all and what we can take away from having been the only location in the world to have experienced nature’s wrath in the way that we did during Hurricanes #IrMaria of 2017. But it speaks even louder to me about our strength, resilience and continual fight to remember and return to ourselves.
According to an article on his NiteCap Media website, the film is based on his New York Times Op Ed which he wrote while building a make-shift roof after hurricane Irma destroyed his family’s home. It captures him and a cross-section of Virgin Islanders retelling harrowing tales of surviving hurricanes Irma and Maria.
Now, the intrepid author and journalist, a former staffer at Time and Newsweek, well-known for his “NiteCap” conversation series, is setting out on a nationwide screening tour to share what he calls “one of the most inspiring stories in American history that mainstream media missed,” according to a news release.
Bailey is screening the film at the UVI St. Thomas campus Sports & Fitness Center on Dec. 7 at 7pm and on Dec. 18 at 10am at the Educational Complex on St. Croix. Join the Facebook event for updates. Other tour stops include Atlanta, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Miami, Providence, Rhode Island and Charleston, South Carolina.
Opening song by Lourdes & the Switch.
