BLACK BRITONS of Grenadian heritage are calling for the Caribbean country to become a republic and for the removal of King Charles as its head of state.

The calls from Grenada’s UK-based diaspora come as it celebrates 50 years of independence from Britain on February 7 this year.

Many Grenadians The Voice spoke to believe now could be the perfect time to cut ties with Britain and for the island to “stand on its own two feet”.

Award-winning academic and author Professor Gus John, who was born in Grenada and came to the UK in August 1964 as a19-year-old, told The Voice he fully supports the idea of Grenada becoming a republic.

“We have our national anthem, our beautiful flags. But when you dig deeper, what has that meant for the society?” he said. “How economically independent are we and how much have we divested ourselves of colonialism?”

Situated in the eastern Caribbean Sea, and the southernmost of the Windward islands, Grenada consists of the island of Grenada itself, and two smaller islands of Carriacou and Petite Martinique.

Prof John says marking independence should also include acknowledging that the legacy of slavery is sadly still rife in his homeland.

“The problem is there is a lot of religion being taught in schools and the Roman Catholic Church still has too much of an influence over what goes on in schools.

“We have got to insist upon a distinction between religion and spirituality and go back to our roots and understand the importance of our ancestors and our ancestral traditions.”

The respected activist and academic is urging the Grenadian diaspora to “engage in self-repair” to dismantle the damaging influence of colonialism.

“I still hear many Grenadians talking about not wanting to be called African, and there are still tropes around the place about who is Black and who is too Black,” he said.

“We have to understand that we have been impacted by racism and colonialism. We have got to engage in self-repair and it has to start at many levels, within the schooling system, within the home, within popular culture and all the areas that influence our lives.”

John also welcomes the growing drive for reparations and reparatory justice for the horrors of the Transatlantic slave trade.

Painful history

However, he added that Grenada must also confront a painful part of its history, the aftermath of its historic revolution. In 1979, Grenada’s then controversial Prime Minister Eric Gairy was ousted in a coup or ‘revolution’ organised by the New Jewel Movement (NJM) led by Maurice Bishop.

Bishop and his party sought to prioritise education , Black liberation and socio-economic development on the Caribbean island.

Under Bishop’s leadership between 1979 and 1983, Grenada thrived with new schools built, a growth in agricultural development and women’s rights, as well as a nationwide literacy campaign to improve the lives of its citizens.

However, on October 19, 1983, Bishop and several members of his cabinet were executed by firing-squad. Forty years on, the location of his remains is still unknown, despite searches by forensic anthropologists.

John, author of the 2010 book Time to Tell: The Grenada Massacre and After wants Grenada to mark its landmark year of independence by demanding a full inquiry as well as teaching the next generation about the world’s first revolution in the English-speaking Caribbean. “It remains an open sore in the country,” he said.

“The people of Grenada have as much need for closure when it comes to what happened to those people who perished on October 19, 1983. It is a scandal that nobody seems to know, but somebody must know.”

Preserving Grenada’s culture

Pearl Modeste-Quashie is a teacher from Park Royal, west London, and was just seven months old when Grenada gained independence from Britain in 1974.

She told The Voice she had several fond memories of growing up on the island. While she says she would like to see Grenada become a republic in her lifetime, she is not sure if the country is ready.

“Honestly, I do not see how Grenada is benefitting from the British Monarchy being our head of state,” she said. “The biggest challenge (to becoming a republic) would be to get the majority of the population to come together to agree on the transition, as currently there is a huge political divide based on the two main political parties — the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New National Party (NNP).”

The popular teacher says she plans to mark Grenada’s 50th year of independence doing what she does best, teaching her students at The Eden SDA School in west London about their African and Caribbean roots and showing them there is more to their identity than what Britain has to offer

“It is important because there has been a breakdown in holding onto our culture, our communication, languages, and dialects. Even the Patois language in Grenada, it used to be an integral part of our society and now it is a very small percentage that actually speaks it and they are mainly the older folks.”

She added: “The only time they associate themselves with being from the Caribbean is in the Notting Hill Carnival. Everybody wants to put a flag up, for some of them that is the extent of how cultural they are, and that is not the substance of our being.

“Our culture and heritage is much richer than that. Some of us need to revisit our culture and learn so we can teach it to our children so it is not lost forever.”

Representing Grenada

Euon Brown, a former professional footballer who represented Grenada at both youth and senior level, is now the Director of Pro Sports Cybernetics, a youth football coaching company.

Brown was born in London and has Grenadian heritage through both his mother and father — who was born in Carriacou.

The football coach told The Voice he would support Grenada becoming a republic if there was the right preparation for it once the excitement of becoming a republic disappeared.

“It’s time for us to stand on our own two feet, but there needs to be a sustainable plan,” he said. “There needs to be a solid manifesto that the people are on board with, that we can see positive progress and positive change for the people.”

Brown recalled how representing the country of his heritage was one of the best moments of his life.   

“As soon as I knew Grenada was interested it was a no-brainer for me because of the heritage and I’m so glad that I did,” he said.

As a 14-year-old, he travelled to Grenada on holiday to find out more about his father’s side of the family. Whilst there he played football in a local tournament which led to him being scouted to play professionally for the national team.

Looking back, he said: “I didn’t ever think I would be playing football out there as it was just a holiday to find out more about my family. I was given size 12 boots to wear and I’m a size 10, but that didn’t stop me from being top goal scorer in that tournament.”

Unbeknown to Brown, Grenada’s national football team manager at the time was watching him play match and approached him afterwards. He asked the young player if he was Grenadian to which Brown replied “Yes, I think so.”

From then on, he regularly travelled back to the country to train and was part of the national youth squad. Brown was one of the first British players to go through all the youth ranks and be selected for Grenada’s senior team.

Sadly a series of injuries and a diagnosis of sciatica brought his promising international football career to an end. He says he would like to see more talented young British athletes of Grenadian heritage represent the country, something that would help increase international awareness of the country.

“I couldn’t be more proud to be Grenadian especially now, because people are starting to hear about Grenada a little bit more. Ten years ago people thought you were from Spain when you said ‘I’m from Grenada’. They always thought you were talking about Granada.”