The Seventh Party System: Part LV
Map of the United States
Part I - Metropotamia
Part II - Alta California
Part III - North Carolina
Part IV - New Jersey
Part V - Adams
Part VI - Alabama
Part VII - Rhode Island
Part VIII - Sequoyah
Part IX - Assenisipia
Part X - East Florida
Part XI - Tennessee
Part XII - Kansas
Part XIII - Dakota
Part XIV - Arizona
Part XV - Delaware
Part XVI - Oregon
Part XVII - Ozark
Part XVIII - New Hampshire
Part XIX - Western Connecticut
Part XX - New York
Part XXI - Santo Domingo
Part XXII - South Carolina
Part XXIII - Baja California
Part XXIV - Chersonesus
Part XXV - Canal Zone Territory
Part XXVI - West Florida
Part XXVII - Missouri
Part XXVIII - Colorado
Part XXIX - Trinidad and Tobago
Part XXX - Pennsylvania
Part XXXI - Wisconsin
Part XXXII - Lincoln
Part XXXIII - Deseret
Part XXXIV - Platte
Part XXXV - Kiribati
Part XXXVI - New Mexico
Part XXXVII - Maine
Part XXXVIII - Alaska
Part XXXIX - Hamilton
Part XXXX - Mississippi
Part XXXXI - North Virginia
Part XXXXII - Bioko
Part XXXXIII - Hawaii
Part XXXXIV - Louisiana
Part XXXXV - Seward
Part XXXXVI - Illinoia
Part XXXXVII - Georgia
Part XXXXVIII - Columbia
Part XXXXIX - Maryland
Part L - Texas
Part LI - District of Columbia
Part LII - Vermont
Part LIII - Yazoo
Part LIV - Jefferson
The Virgin Islands is one of the closest American territories and also one of the most loyal to the National Union party, with its high African-American population. Nevertheless, in this year's election the NU's reign would be almost brought to an end amid a surge of nationalism and anti-American sentiment.
Originally a sugercane colony of Denmark it was ruled with an iron fist by their Scandinavian overlords who infamously cut off one finger for each infraction incurred, with summary executions being given to slaves found with no fingers left. With these harsh punishments being dealt out for failing their daily quota by even one bushel the slaves of the Danish Virgin Islands became some of the most rebellious in all the Caribbean, launching nearly a dozen slave revolts from 1733 to 1866. However due to the small populations of the islands each rebellion was able to easily put down by Swiss mercenaries famous for the efficiency at which they massacred rebellious maroon communities.
Eventually, by the mid 1800s the plantations of the island had become unprofitable. Harsh punishments and frequent rebellions made it rare for slaves to survive past their tenth year on the island and with the British banning the slave trade in 1807 Danish nobles had more and more trouble trying to import slaves, often turning to the Southern states as a source of slaves. However with the US Civil war ending in an Union victory and slavery being abolished through the USA in 1863, the Virgin Islands had lost their main source of slaves. While efforts were made to try and import slaves from the Spanish colonies of Puerto Rico and Cuba these colonies were already strapped for slaves themselves and were unwilling to sell any to Danish planters. As a result when the 11th Danish Slave Revolt of 1866 struck the Danes knew that their usual tactics of massacring the rebels would no longer worked and thus resigned themselves to granting the slaves their freedom.
With the slaves of the Danish Virgin Islands now free Denmark now saw the colony as nothing more than a liability and offered to sell the islands off to the highest bidder. With the US having recently emancipated their slaves and searching for new territories to ship off the freedmen to, the purchase of the Virgin Islands was secured in 1867, thus making it another black territory like Santo Domingo.
In another similarity to Santo Domingo, this overwhelmingly black territory would soon grow racist and nationalistic views. Marcus Garvey, a infamous black nationalist while born in Jamaica would soon grow in popularity after giving a speech in Charlotte Amalie, attracting the inhabitants with his dream of returning to Africa and forming a thousand year empire which put the white devils to shame. While many black intellectuals would ostracize Garvey after he appeared at a KKK rally, praising the Klan for funding his ships to send blacks to Africa, the people of the US Virgin Islands, who had never known of the KKK dismissed such criticism and praised Garvey for "telling it like it is."
As such in 1922 the Negro Improvement Association was founded as a vehicle to advocate for Garveyism. One of the most controversial founding tenets of the NIA was the idea that capitalism and monarchism would bring about the salvation of the African people while communism and democracy were a Western concept founded by racist white men. Although the party would receive some success in the 20s once the Great Depression showed the people of the world the failures of capitalism the party collapsed.
Nevertheless, with the Conservative Revolution of 1972 mandating proportional representation in all state and territorial lower legislatures the NIA would soon be refounded among black capitalists who dominated the island's rum industry. Now promoting the idea of an independent Virgin Islands free from American white rule they grew in popularity among the conservative and nationalistic elements of the islands.
While the National Union had always polled well above the right wing Negro Improvement Association everything changed when hurricanes Airam and Amri hit. With the two category five hurricanes slamming the islands one after another in September of 2017 the islands were devastated with tens of thousands of people left with a roof over their head. With the federal response to the island having been slow as they prioritized helping Puerto Rico, Santo Domingo, and other US states over the territory the people of the Virgin Islands were furious.
In the 2018 election season the NIA seized on this anger by claiming that the high taxes which the US government were placing on the islands should only go towards helping Virgin Islanders, and not Puerto Ricans or Dominicans. Tensions were driven even higher when American tourists piloting a small airplane crash landed into Tutu valley, killing a black grandmother who had been sleeping in her home. This lead to outrage among the NIA, who called for a ban on white American tourists, claiming that when America sends its people they're not sending their best.
As a result the election of 2018 cost the National Union seven seats leaving them with only 26 of the 51 seats in the House. On the island of Saint Thomas the NIA won their first mayorship, which when combined with gains in the functional constituencies of Leisure and Transport led the NIA to gain three seats in the Virgin Islands Council.
While the Virgin Islander National Union party is glad that they did not follow the fate of the sister parties in Kiribati or the Canal Zone their loss is still too close for comfort and with riots already breaking out the streets of Saint Thomas many are worried about how much longer they can keep the Virgin Islands as part of the Union.
Government:
National Union - The imperialist, welfarist, and multiracial party of American territories they have long since been the natural ruling party of the Virgin Islands with widespread support among non-blacks and the working class. While their support from the non-black population has remained as solid as ever in a territory which is 76% black that is little reassurance and the party is worried that if trends continue they will kicked out of power in 2020.
Opposition:
Negro Improvement Association - The right wing opposition in the US Virgin Islands, they adhere to Garveyism and believe that capitalism and monarchism will save the black people from the white devils. As such they have proven to be very popular among the rum manufacturing barons. The party also has appealed to working class blacks by stoking anti-white sentiment and blaming all the islands' problems on the National Unionists and the federal government. However this black nationalist party is often even more critical of the Black Panther Party, which the NIA elites portray as communist queers and thieving criminals.
Black Panther Party - Another black nationalist party, only on the opposite side of the spectrum, and they are not as popular in the socially conservative territory of the Virgin Islands. Nevertheless, their protests against the hostility which both the NU and NIA show towards gay rights has gained them support among the LGBT community of the Virgin Islands.