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Protests are planned in The Bahamas ahead of Prince William & Kate’s arrival

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Today is the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s last day in Jamaica. I think they’re flying out today, but I bet the three days they spend in Jamaica will feel like a lifetime, and not in a good way. Even if you argue that William and Kate were perhaps unprepared for protests and criticism for the tour and during the tour, can we also argue that they should have been able to move things around and try to change up some of their events and their speeches to better reflect the situation? But they’re incapable. Because this family’s whole thing is Big Ostrich Energy. If they ignore it, maybe it’s not really happening.

There were protests in Jamaica before they even flew out of Belize, and reportedly, there were also protests on Wednesday, although I’m not sure if the protests were staged somewhere close to Will and Kate’s events (as in, I don’t know if they saw anything). They didn’t acknowledge the protests at all. When they leave Jamaica, they’ll be heading to The Bahamas. My guess is that they hope to have a better reception in The Bahamas. Welp:

Protests planned for The Bahamas ahead of royal visit. #RoyalTourCaribbean

— Nadine White (@Nadine_Writes) March 24, 2022

This is in association with Bahamas National Reparations Committee, which already issued an open letter to Will and Kate saying in part:

“We, the members of the Bahamas National Reparations Committee (BNRC), recognise that the people of the Bahamas have been left holding the bag for much of the cost of this extravagant trip. Why are we footing the bill for the benefit of a regime whose rise to ‘greatness’ was fuelled by the extinction, enslavement, colonisation, and degradation of the people of this land? Why are we being made to pay again?

“The visit commemorates 70 years since Queen Elizabeth’s accession to the throne of imperialism – more years than the Bahamas has been a sovereign nation. The BNRC asserts that we as Bahamians must have a clear understanding of what this trip truly means. We are not beholden to the British monarchy in any way and we do not owe them a debt of gratitude for anything – not for our culture, religion, or system of governance. Instead, the monarchy has looted and pillaged our land and our people for centuries, leaving us struggling with under development, left to pick up the pieces.

[Via Hello]

So… protests planned in The Bahamas, Two (non-consecutive) days of protests in Jamaica. Protests in Belize before they even arrived. The royal reporters are saying “well, there were only fifty or one hundred people at this protest or that protest.” Like it makes a difference? Will and Kate are still having their asses handed to them in every country they visit, and instead of acknowledging the well-deserved criticism and actually meeting with the people who have a lot to say, Will and Kate are just ostrich-ing their way through the tour. And what’s worse is that Salt Island seems to believe that Will and Kate are doing exactly the right thing?

Photos courtesy of Instar, Backgrid.