For a country to give an official apology many things come into play; the political landscape, legal factors, financial factors, ethical questions and so on. Denmark has not yet apologized for slave-trading on the U.S. Virgin Islands when they were Danish territory in the years 1672-1917.
By Alberte Beierholm Sørensen & Sofie Bladt
In 1998 – the 150th anniversary for the official abolition of slavery, on what was then called the Danish West Indies, Danish officials were invited to the Islands to mark the day. No one showed up. Instead Danish actor Kurt Ravn and Danish-american singer Etta Cameron traveled to the now U.S. Virgin Islands to take part in the commemoration. The actor was planned to read aloud the emancipation declaration dressed as Peter von Scholten – a guvnor who has been credited in the history books as the one to abolish slavery. Uproars from the crowd got in the way of the reading, the local senator, Adelbert Bryan yelling ‘No Dane can be a friend of mine until Denmark has apologized for slavery!’. This kickstarted what has later come to be known as “The apology debate” in Denmark.
Since then, numerous requests for an official apology from the Danish government have been sent from organizations and people on the Islands. An official apology from Denmark to the U.S. Virgin Islands for their enslavement of hundreds of thousands of people, has yet to come.
Nothing can change the past
There is more than one perspective to consider when giving an official apology. In 1998 the Danish Secretary of State, Niels Helveg Petersen, said that he did not see the point in people who had nothing to do with slavery, apologizing to people who had never been enslaved.
Sune Lægaard, researcher in the Research Group for Criminal Justice Ethics, University of Roskilde says,
“the government is an institution; it is not people – even though it is manned by people. In my opinion it could make sense for the Danish government to apologize because the Danish government at the time, maintained slavery and made money off of it”
Both supporters and opposers of an apology have been present in the debate throughout the years.
In 2013 Danish right-wing politician Søren Espersen said; “It is a crazy way of thinking, to apologize for something that happened 200 years ago. One could say, polemically, that it is a great joy for the people now living on the Danish West Indies that they have grown up as American citizens in a free country rather than living in Ghana.”
Though the debate has evolved since Espersens statement in 2013, Denmark has yet to give an official apology to the U.S. Virgin Islands. For the people on the Islands it could mean more than realized in Denmark.
Jaylene Jones is from the U.S Virgin Islands and has helped organize rallies for the Black Lives Matter movement
“I would like for Denmark to apologize for signing us over to a country that had no care for us. People are not things to be sold. Denmark should have known better – treated us with better respect. Apologize for not treating us like human beings with a mind of our own” she says.
Lisa Storm Villadsen, Associate Professor at the University of Copenhagen, currently researching in official apologies explains,
“It can be an incredible emotional release to receive an apology. Recipients feel as though the guilt, that they did not deserve to have, is being removed. It feels this emotional because people have a tendency to internalize the bad things that happen to them.”
Social media is a mobilizing tool
Lately, the Black Lives Matter movement has mobilized people all over the world to protest the injustice black people are facing. Events have been held in Denmark as well as the U.S. Virgin Islands. Jaylene Jones organized an event on St. John, one of the three US Virgin Islands
“Our hearts hurt and we feel quite connected to the protests in the States,” she says.
With the power of social media, issues can gain so much attention and mobilize such a large number of people, that will be hard for politicians to ignore. Like in the case of George Floyd a black man who died during an arrest in Minnesota, USA, Black Lives Matter protests all over the world have led politicians to react.
“It can be impossible for politicians to ignore a matter, they have to enter into a discussion because there is a sort of public opinion that, for example, the transatlantic slave-trade is something we as a nation should apologize for. So, the more these kinds of mechanisms come into play, the more official apologies we will see, I think,” says Sune Lægaard, researcher in the Research Group for Criminal Justice Ethics, University of Roskilde.
It is quite rare for a politician to act only based on an assessment of what is morally right, Sune Lægaard adds. It will have to be something that makes sense for them politically, and something that they can capitalize on.
International politics can be an obstacle
In order to give a meaningful apology both sides have to agree what happened and why it was wrong. The Danish government have recognized their past wrongdoings on the Islands, but there can be political resistance to giving an apology
“often, the fear is that an apology will lead to financial liability for the damages, so to speak,” says Lisa Storm Villadsen, “that way of thinking comes from insurance law – if you hit someone’s car, you will pay the damages because it was your fault, that it happened.”
The main reason behind official apologies is that heads of state want to acknowledge, either on behalf of the current government or the whole country, that something reprehensible happened in the name of the state. But diplomatically, it can be problematic for Denmark to apologize for their past with the U.S. Virgin Islands as they are now American territory.
“The relationship is quite strained because we have become so dependent – colonialism is still alive and well today. It does not bode well that in 2020 black people are still fighting for a seat at the table,” says Jalayne Jones when asked about the Islanders relationship with the US.
“Unforgivable”
Lars Hven Troelsen, chairman of the Danish Westindien Society says that he understands why the government has not apologized. Danish Westindien Society is an apolitical association that works to inform and promote the U.S. Virgin Islands and its history in Denmark. He visited the Islands in 2017 – the 100th year anniversary of the transfer of the Islands from Denmark to the USA. They were present when the Danish Prime Minister at the time, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, gave his speech on St. Croix.
“He [Lars Løkke Rasmussen] said that Denmark’s actions in the slave trade were ‘unforgivable’. It is a fantastic way to phrase it – no one agrees that this is morally or socially acceptable, but it can be problematic to view the past through the eyes of the present,” says Lars Hven Troelsen.
Another argument against apologizing is, that the trading of slaves primarily happened before Denmark became a constitutional monarchy in 1849. A constitutional monarchy means that Denmark is a democracy and a monarchy at the same time – meaning that the power of the monarch is limited by the constitution. At the time of slavery Denmark was a monarchy, so in a sense, the current government is not representatives of the leadership in Denmark at that period in time.
Lisa Storm Villadsen adds that national identity and the understanding the people have of their nation, might also be part of why Denmark has not apologized.
“In my opinion an apology would benefit Danish society. It would be healthy to collectively face our past and learn from both strong and weak times. It is a good opportunity for society to grow and formulate new principles to stand by.”
The apology debate in Denmark might continue a while longer. In the meantime there is room for the Danish consciousness of the grimmer past to grow and let others have a seat at the table.