We are concerned residents, citizens and visitors including creatives, faith-based practitioners, intellectuals who revere the land at Newton as a sacred space where at least 570 enslaved persons are buried. We acknowledge that they lived in horrible conditions, that at the time of their deaths they were not even considered human. 

Although, the BMHS has owned and managed the Burial Ground of the Enslaved since the 1990s and has been working to make the site a space for the contemplation of the slave trade and slavery, recent construction to build a memorial near the site has caused us grave concern. The Barbados Tourism Investment Inc. (BTII) has begun work surrounding the site to develop a Heritage District. https://barbadostoday.bb/2024/12/25/phase-1-of-the-newton-ancestrial-memorial-begins/

Phase One includes a memorial. The rest of the future project will extend to the development of a ‘Heritage District’.

To date, parts of the burial space have been encroached upon. The area of the plantation once marked as the “Upper and Lower Negro Yard”, or slave village has been scraped to make a car park. On October 4, 2024, the Barbados Museum & Historical Society (BMHS) through its Newton Enslaved Burial Ground Committee advised the BTII that archaeological investigations needed to be conducted before construction, and that archaeologists were to be onsite to monitor once works commenced. However, the BTII did not consult the BMHS before work began and, to date, has not publicly acknowledged damage to the site.

On Saturday night, December 14, 2024, a committee member observed construction on the site. By Monday, December 16, 2024, the damage was done. Their agenda is clear, they must complete this task by May 2025. With no public statements about damage to the site nor community participation in Phase One of the project, we are concerned about how this site will be protected, made accessible, managed, or maintained in the future of this project. We respectfully request, from all parties, community inclusion in this development.

THIS PROJECT MUST PAUSE!

A decolonized practice of inclusion is required. The developers’ desire to complete this project must include communities, especially the spiritual practitioners who engage with the space and with archaeologists, whose findings are crucial in raising awareness of how the enslaved lived, worked and died. The interest in building modern structures to memorialize the enslaved cannot be more important than the memories of the persons laid to rest there. We must do all we can to ensure that no damage is done to this important site of trauma, memory and reverence. There should be an ongoing effort to heal the energy and memory of those interred at Newton and to seek similar connection with custodians and descendants today.

WE URGE FOR INCLUSION!

As concerned citizens, we urge for inclusion towards:

-Legislation to protect the land with all burials as consecrated, sacred space.

-Protection for access by practitioners who have continued to engage the ground as a space of reverence.

-Cultural Orientation for the BTII Senior Administration and all those involved in the development of the Heritage District.

- Frequent consultation with the practitioners and the stakeholders in the protection, development, management, and use of the space.

-Curation of events and rituals that are in keeping with the memories of those interred in ways that are respectful, and with a sustained effort to acknowledge, atone, educate and inspire. This helps to affirm that the highest reverence is bestowed ancestrally, ethically and spiritually and in a way that minimises any harm from contamination, damage or destruction.