Skelton-Cline: Stop Calling VI a Territory
Talk show host Claude Skelton-Cline has urged Virgin Islanders and lawmakers to stop referring to the Virgin Islands as a territory and embrace the term country. Speaking following the House of Assembly's 75th legislative anniversary sitting, he argued that the population should not shy away from discussing independence. He encouraged the use of designations such as island nation and ocean state to reflect true self-identity.
Skelton-Cline has urged Virgin Islanders to reject the term 'Territory' and to begin referring to the Virgin Islands as a country, arguing that language matters in the territory's political and national identity. On the November 4, 2025 edition of his programme Honestly Speaking, Skelton-Cline spoke in the aftermath of a Special Sitting of the House of Assembly earlier that day, where members marked the 75th anniversary of the restoration of the Virgin Islands legislature.
He said he heard legislators and others use phrases such as 'Territory' and 'Overseas Territory' and insisted those labels were imposed by the United Kingdom. "Listen, I want to say to Virgin Islanders, we’re not no Overseas Territory, we are not a territory," he told listeners. "We are a country!" Skelton-Cline pointed to the 2007 Constitution, saying the relationship with the United Kingdom is now one of partnership rather than colonial rule, even as he recalled the UK's colonial role in earlier decades.
He argued that many people have been "scared" into avoiding the word 'independent' and instead use terms like 'self-determination.' "You are on a self-determined path which will result in your independence," he said, adding that residents should not be ashamed to acknowledge that aspiration.
The commentator also suggested alternative descriptors that better reflect the territory's geography and identity, including "ocean state" and "island nation," and warned against allowing external labels to define the community: "Stop allowing yourselves to be named." Skelton-Cline's remarks come amid ongoing local conversation about the future constitutional relationship between the Virgin Islands and the United Kingdom.
While legal and diplomatic definitions differ, the debate over terminology is significant for many residents because words shape public expectations and political momentum. How elected officials, civil society and the wider public respond to calls for a change in language—and whether such rhetoric will translate into formal political steps toward independence—remains to be seen.
The comments were reported by Virgin Islands News Online (VINO) following the November 4 broadcast. Skelton-Cline's intervention is likely to rekindle public discussion about identity, self-determination and the trajectory of the territory's constitutional future.
Primary source: VINO