The Apology Was Just Words. This Is the Healing
Why Sint Maarten’s Youth Won’t Farm — And How Roots Revival Is Breaking the Chains
On December 19,2022 and on July 1, 2023, the Dutch Prime Minister and King apologized for 250 years of slavery. The world watched. The cameras captured the moment. Then everyone moved on.
But in Sint Maarten, nothing changed.
The 300+ year old slave walls at Plantation Succour still stand. The fertile land still waits. And our young people still refuse to farm.
“That’s slave work,” they say. “I’m not doing that.”
The Invisible Wound Nobody Talks About
This is the understudied impact of slavery that makes everyone uncomfortable: the psychological barrier that associates agriculture with humiliation is so deep, so pervasive, that we would rather import 90% of our food than touch the soil our ancestors were forced to till.
My great-grandmother, Victoria Madelaine Marlin, was born in 1893—just thirty years after emancipation. To her, slavery wasn’t ancient history. It was family memory.
“It felt like it happened last week,” she would say.
Victoria knew forty-seven medicinal plants by name, purpose, and preparation. Her knowledge was power. Her hands were skilled. Her wisdom could heal.
Yet today, when I ask young people why they won’t farm, the answer is always the same: “That’s slave work.”
The mental chains are still locked tight. And they’re killing us.
The Deadly Cycle We’re Trapped In
After Hurricane Irma in 2017, Sint Maarten had no fresh food for weeks. Supermarket shelves sat empty. Supply chains collapsed. Families rationed canned goods and waited for international aid.
We have fertile land. We have year-round growing seasons. We have the knowledge buried in family memory.
But we won’t farm. Because farming means slavery. And slavery means shame.
This is what intergenerational trauma looks like. It’s not dramatic. It’s just a quiet, persistent refusal that threatens our survival.
Roots Revival: Where Trauma Meets Transformation
At Plantation Succour, we’re asking the question nobody wants to ask:
Why does a community surrounded by fertile land choose to starve rather than farm? And how do we transform “slave work” into empowerment?
The Roots Revival Project is restoring those 300-year-old slave walls—not as museum pieces, but as working agricultural infrastructure. The same terraces that once grew crops for colonial profit will now grow food for community empowerment.
We’re creating historical educational gardens. We’re building hiking trails along heritage walls. We’re establishing community composting systems. And we’re training young people in agricultural entrepreneurship—not as farmhands, but as innovators, business owners, and climate heroes.
We’re studying how technology, entrepreneurship, and cultural reclamation can break psychological barriers. We’re measuring what works. We’re documenting transformation in real time.
Because an apology without action is just performance. And we’re done performing.
From “Slave Work” to Sacred Work
When a young person plants a seed in soil their great-great-grandmother tilled, something sacred happens.
The chain breaks.
Every tomato we grow is an act of resistance against dependency. Every young person who chooses farming is breaking a mental chain. Every meal sourced locally is freedom tasted.
The walls remember everything—the pain, the prayers, the resilience. And now, finally, they’re holding seeds of freedom.
The Apology Isn’t Enough. We Need You.
Words without investment are performance, not reparation.
This work can’t happen without you. We need funding for wall restoration, youth training, research, and community infrastructure. We need volunteers to be part of the transformation. We need voices amplifying this story to demand political action.
The land is waiting. Our ancestors are watching. The future is ours to grow.
Read the Full Story
Discover the complete journey of Roots Revival—from Victoria’s medicinal plant wisdom to the psychological research we’re conducting, from empty hurricane shelves to abundant CSA harvest boxes, from trauma to healing.
👉 Read the full article: The Apology Was Just Words. This Is the Healing.
Be Part of the Healing
Donate to Roots Revival:
Every contribution directly funds heritage restoration, youth empowerment, and food security transformation.
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Volunteer at Vicky’s Keys:
Come restore the walls. Plant the seeds. Be part of the transformation.
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The apology was just words. This is the work.
Will you help us plant the future?
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