The Blackwash
Making cultural & historical commentary on social issues. Laundry is the only thing that should be separated by colour!
The Blackwash
Squatters Whites: colonial privilege on a Caribbean Island
This episode delves into the intriguing history of Guiana Island (Antigua), exploring the concept of "Squatter's Whites" as a reflection on colonial privilege and exploitation. We investigate the legacy of the Codrington family, the stories of Major Hole, the Tanners, and the Buftons, and the ongoing implications of their actions on contemporary society.
• Introduction to the concept of Squatter's Whites
• Historical context of Guyana Island and the Codrington family
• Examination of overseers and their roles in maintaining exploitation
• Insights on Major Hole and the Planter's Paradise
• Discussion of the Tanners and their colonial legacy
• The Bufftons and the complexities of squatter rights
• The evolving narrative of tourism and development on the island
• Legal repercussions of Taffy Bufton's confrontation
• Final thoughts on colonialism's impacts on contemporary identity
If you enjoyed this episode, please make sure you help me beat the algorithm and comment, like, share to people that you think would care. Equally, if you want a short-form version, I've done a short reel that exists on IG and TikTok. Thank you so much for tuning in.
Good day. My name's Ken Kawasaki and welcome to the Black Wash. This is the first episode of 2025 and, in the words of the late great Aaliyah and Timberland, it's been a long time. I shouldn't have left you without the Black Wash to listen to. Hey, who knows that one? Today, we are going to be exploring something that I have coined called Squatter's Whites, which is a play on the term squatter's rights. To do so, we are going to be heading to Antigua and looking at an offshore island called Guyana Island, which is spelled G-U-I-A-N-A.
Speaker 1:I first brought this topic to my TikTok and IG live audience, and I started by simply asking have you heard of Guyana Island, yes or no? And it probably won't surprise you that nobody said that they had heard of Guyana Island. You that nobody said that they had heard of Guyana Island. Similarly, until I had visited Antigua in 2025, earlier this year I too had not heard of Guyana Island. So let's start with some geographical context. Guyana Island is 460 acres and it's separated from the mainland of Antigua by something called the Narrows, which essentially, is a slim body of water. According to research, there are several Amerindian sites that are located on Guyana Island and, interestingly, the word Guyana is actually an indigenous Amerindian word which means land of many waters, which means land of many waters. So let's just sit right here for a moment and give a thought and a thanks for the indigenous people who often go undiscussed and not acknowledged. Thankfully, when we say the name Guyana Island, unlike some other islands, we're not just merely repeating an enslaver's name. With Guyana Island, we are actually saying what they saw, what they recognised, what they experienced, and similarly, fast forward to today. If we go and visit the area, we too can see what they experienced the land of many waters. So now you have the context.
Speaker 1:Let's start to explore Squatter's whites and to do so, we're going to start by looking at the planter and we're going to start at 1812. In 1812, sir William Codrington purchased Guyana Island for £4,000 and it remained within the Codrington family until 1929. Yes, the family owned a plantation for over a hundred years and, yes, the family owned the plantation within living memory, that's some 94 years ago. So when naysayers say slavery was so long ago, no one living today was enslaved. You can use the example of the codringtons and guiana island. Not only guiana island, but also barbuda. You may have heard of Antigua and Barbuda. Barbuda is a separate island and their main settlement is called Codrington. Not only that, they also owned a plantation in Antigua called Betty's Hope. With the revenue from enslavement, they built a grand estate in the UK called Doddington Park, which they sold in the 1980s. So although no one presently in Antigua is enslaved by the British Empire, we can very easily see where that blood money went.
Speaker 1:Now I don't want to labour too much on this episode on the planter. To be honest, the Codringtons could have their own full 30 minute plus episode in and itself. The main focus that I want to look at is those beneath the planters. During enslavement they were called the Overseer, but from then onwards they don't really have an official title. What I would like to call them for the purpose of Squatter's Whites is the pimp, the pimper. Now you may be thinking Kane, how did we go from a planter to a pimp? Now, this is based off a quote that I'm going to be reading later on from a book, but equally, it was also inspired by the Bob Marley and the Wailers song Pimper's Paradise. Now, the context of that song sits within what we think of most pimps A man who takes control takes a percentage of earnings. Or, if you think of the TV show Pimp my Bride, it's to beautify, to make it your own, to fancify.
Speaker 1:Keeping those definitions in mind, let's explore three examples from Guyana Island of former overseers who have created their own pimpers paradise. Our first example takes place in 1945, when we're introduced to a gentleman called Major Hole, h-o-l-e. His story is brought to you from the book To Shoot Hard Labour the Life of Samuel Smith, an Antiguan Working man 1877-1982, on page 109. It says, and I quote a retired Englishman by the name of Major Hull. He was the one supposed to know a lot about slavery time, but it Major Hull was on the council and he appeared to have sympathy for the union when it first started. He and Luther George, one of the founding members of the union, was good friends.
Speaker 1:This is the important part. Except for the servants. No N-word could go on Guyana Island, for it was a planter's paradise Sidebar. Remember when I said earlier that there was a quote that inspired this work. This is the quote. Back to the story.
Speaker 1:It reads the place where they would go and have most of their picnics. It get to be called Nude Island by people because the planters and their women and wives used to carry on gleeful nudeness there. In fact, a planter wasn't allowed to join the spree if he didn't get naked. The place also get called GI for Girl Island. I used to go there with the Godwins when I was needed. My duties would keep me away from the action action, but my job didn't keep me from seeing some of it from time to time. End quote. Now you see the island being called nude island. I get it, I know it's not a thing for black caribbean people, but as long as you're abiding by the laws of the land, of course, there's nude beaches across the world. It is what it is. But you see it being called GI Girl Island. It makes you think why wasn't it called Women Island? Why does it have to be Girl Island?
Speaker 1:Next, it makes me think of present day examples like Jeffrey Epstein and how, when you look at history and Major Hall and Guyana Island the fact that that's been happening since 1945, we really shouldn't be shocked. Because, ultimately, why would you need your own offshore island? Why can't you live and have a villa on the main island? I understand, if you're well known, it may be an element of privacy, but if you're not well known, why do you need your own offshore island and essentially is to create your own pimpers paradise ie something you can make up, beautify, fancify that suits your desires, your needs and, in addition, something you can make money from ie inviting people to come and experience your pimpers paradise In this example, girls essentially exercising their squatters, whites ie who's going to check me? Because you know they can't be getting on with them things there in their own country.
Speaker 1:And the saddest part is that when the planter rapture happened what I like to call the planter rapture ie the emancipation of slavery happened 1833, 1834, ie the emancipation of slavery happened 1833, 1834, when a lot of the planters either removed themselves or removed their investments away from the Caribbean. You know, the idea of rapture is that something is left behind. When the planters left, of course they left behind their colonial names. They left behind a lot of decaying industry. But one thing that's never really discussed Is that they left behind their paupers, who have now come up in the hierarchy. So they've gone from paupers to now pimpers. They've gone from overseers to pimpers and because they've been on the island for a little little piece of time, they're now able to exercise their squatters whites ie naturally in society because of colonization, the transatlantic slave trade, chattel slavery. They're viewed higher up on the hierarchy. So now, plant a rapture has happened. They're now occupying that space, happened. They're now occupying that space and that's why they're able to occupy lands like Guyana Island and do certain things like what we've just been discussing.
Speaker 1:But let me bring another example for you, because it wasn't just that one example on Guyana Island. No, we have more, have two more to cover, and this one is even more wild than the last. This one occurred in 1958 and there, once again, it's a british couple, an english couple called jack and mary tanner. This is a first-hand account called vestiges of an empire by john ogden, who was on us navy dutyigua, and it reads Jack Tanner was the overseer of a West Indian sugar cane plantation. Yes, in 1958. It continues. Together with his sister, he managed that isolated hot subtropic spot on Guyana Island under very difficult conditions for an absentee landlord who lived in London and had not yet stepped foot on the island which he owned. Remember I mentioned earlier plant a rapture. That's an example. Jack Tanner was around 50, his sister, mary, maybe 45. They planted cane for more than 20 years and had sent home a good enough return upon investment. They were friendly in a proper sort of way.
Speaker 1:John speaks a little bit about the journey. He says after driving five or maybe six hard miles along a dusty, rock and gravel road wide enough for just one car, between 10 foot high fields of sugar cane, you would come to the muddy, tidal ferry slip that gave access to jack and mary tanner's place at risk. You would drive onto a wooden platform with several dozen dented and rusting 50 gallon drums and, in the old way, pull yourself across a hundred yards or so of open water with one person to a side. Someone said Jesus, I don't know if that could be me, I don't know if I could do it guys, could you guys do it? He then speaks about the accommodation. He says on Guyana Island, and he's spelling it G-U-A-N-A.
Speaker 1:Jack and Mary Tanner occupied a cut stone bungalow dating from Lord Nelson's time, a modest dwelling. He says that the place was without electricity and fuel oil, lamps and or candles would be used, john says. Beyond the house stood quite a number of small huts, structures you'd dignify to call them shanties wood on blocks, tin roofs, one or two shuttered windows, a single door, the hut's house, jack Tanner's filled hand. Vestiges of empire and little more than modern slaves toiling in the sun for a dollar, british West Indian currency and rum Jumping in here. This is another example of when people say oh, get over it, it was so long ago. No, no, no, no, no, up until 1958,. We've got white american navy soldiers giving their accounts of the living conditions and the standards of living, and he compares those people little more than modern slaves.
Speaker 1:He adds that slavery was never a topic you would discuss with the tanners. Equally, not trade monopoly, not political economics. He did say, however, that they did play bridge once again. A pimpers paradise. You think pimpers want to be talking about trade monopoly? You think they want to be talking about slavery? No, sir, that's not a part of the pimpers paradise. So I know what you're thinking, kane.
Speaker 1:What are jack and mary tanner doing here? Don't worry, I'm getting there, I'm getting there, he adds, and he says that you know they're very modest people. He speaks about their clothing and how their clothing was redolent of sweat, meaning that you know it had that little stench. He said you know that they did like a little bit of scotch every now and again, a little bit of a merriment, but not too much. He also says that jack tanner had an obe, but he didn't, you know, discuss details or go into you know how or who, what, why, when, where, and I couldn't find anything online. He said that it was customary for them to raise and lower every single day the union jack flag, essentially showing fundamental pride, and he also said that it was customary for them to go every three years or so to the uk and stay there for six months at a time.
Speaker 1:This is where it gets interesting, he says. When jack and mary tanner were gone on holiday, you might get one of the islanders who had had too much pink gin in the strictest confidence, of course, and certainly not wanting to talk behind their backs to say that Jack and Mary Tanner practiced incest, meaning that the brother and sister were in an eros sexual relationship, and that's why they found themselves on Guyana Island, so they could live without reproof. So we've looked at Major Hole, we've looked at the Tanners, so we've gone from the 40s to the 50s and now we're going to look at the 60s and once again this title is called Squatters Whites, and you can see that there tends to be a churning moving cycle every decade or so there's a new white, british English person on Guyana Island and, as I've spoken about, it's for own personal gain and it's for them to get away with things that they would not be able to get away with living in Britain. And unfortunately we still see it today where a lot of Brits when they holiday, they tend to go on holiday to do things that they would not be able to get away with in their home country and we should not be shocked by that, because that is informed by history.
Speaker 1:The third and final case study, and this, this, this story is explosive and we're moving to the 1960s and we're looking at a gentleman called taffy. His wife was called bonnie and they are known as the Buffdens. So they are originally from Wales but originally they were working on a cotton farm in Zambia, africa, when they saw a job ad to take care of Guyana Island for a London lawyer by the name of Alex Hamilton Hill. So already we have to acknowledge the vestiges of empire, because they're working on a cotton farm and they're moving from a cotton farm in Africa to now a cotton farm in the Caribbean. So you know that difference between, like an expat and an immigrant, similar here. You'll probably refer to them now, as you know, nomadic squatters, whites.
Speaker 1:They arrived in the 1960s when guiana island was, as I mentioned, still growing cotton and they oversaw 120 paid cotton pickers annually. They lived in the quote-unquote great house, which had been there since 1727, and that's where they first lived until the second. Mrs Hamilton Hill would often visit alone and she was very fond of her scotch, allegedly, and she would strip naked and become weepy and she would say things such as I wanted it all and now that I have it, I don't want it no more. And that's when the bufftons decided to move out of the great house on guiana island and move to a smaller cottage nearby, still on guiana island, but not with the mad woman. And what's funny is that once again her drinking her scotch and stripping naked. It rings back to major hole and girl island and nude island, but still we've moved into the 60s, some 20 years later, and that progressive spirit is still present on the land.
Speaker 1:By 1968 they had to stop growing cotton because they were unable to get anyone to pick it. So then they changed and concentrated on sheep and had as many as 500 at one time. As well as the sheep they also had wild deer, the European follow, which I'm going to talk about a little bit later. And they also had wild ducks known as the Antigua Whistler. Both the deer and the ducks were on the endangered species list.
Speaker 1:They tended to the animals and they lived very simply, some may say, like squatters. Bonnie, for example, made their own clothes. For water, they collected the water off the roof for electricity. They had a 12 volt plant which dated back to 1929. They used candles, kerosene lamps, they used a kerosene refrigerator. It's even said that Taffy the man never bought a pair of shoes. He would just pick up odd shoes that washed up on the shore and may do, even though they didn't match.
Speaker 1:So essentially, they're living their pimpers paradise which, from what I've read, is, you know, to live very isolated, to live alone, to live off the fat of the land, to care and tend for animals. It's even said that the bufftons didn't welcome any visitors or any unwelcome guests and they were often chased off the land with taffy and his shotgun. It's also said that if a helicopter went over, taffy would be aiming with his gun and let off shots. So guiana island was perfect for the way that they wanted to live because, remember earlier I mentioned that narrows the fact that it's separated by water, so not just anyone and anyone can come across. So the Buffetons are living their pimpers paradise until, in the mid-1970s, hamilton Hill passed away.
Speaker 1:The estate moved to his wife and the Hamilton Hills attempted to make sure that the Buffetons were taken care of. They started with a five-year job contract, which was drawn up in 1970, that stated that the Buftons should receive five acres of the 460 acre Guyana land for a 99 year lease at peppercorn prices. However, unfortunately they never formally took title. This type of story is not unique to the Buftons or Guyana Island. Unfortunately, this type of twisted ownership is typical of former British colonies of the Caribbean where colonial era characters quote unquote own land without titles. We saw it in Ballasol, st Vincent, for example. If you're unaware of Ballasol, you can check out that video on my youtube channel.
Speaker 1:Back to the bufftons by 1976 their monthly payment checks had stopped and they began living off their modest savings. At this point, john and jimmy fuller claim they spent three years negotiating with the hamilton widow before borrowing $277,000 to buy Guyana Island and 15 other neighbouring islands. When I read that I was like, hey, why couldn't I be around in the 70s? Because $277,000 for 15 islands, hey. Eventually the Fullers became the new owners of Guyana Island and they repeatedly tried to get the Buffdens to leave, even offering them monetary compensation, which they rejected, but for whatever reason, they left them alone. Eventually the Fullers got tired and they decided to sell the island back to the government. In 1983, vierberg Jr, as the head of the Ministry of Public Works, engineered a $700 monthly salary for the Buftons as wildlife officers of Guyana Island. So right now they're winning. Not only that, but they also received a white Suzuki Jeep to patrol the land and to protect the deer. Side note the deer also appears on the national crest of Antigua. In 1988, so five years later, the Buftons must have knew that their time was nigh, because they filed a squatter's rights claim to Guyana Island, which failed, as it was ruled that they lived on the island as employees and not squatters.
Speaker 1:Then, in 1998-2000, along came a Malaysian billionaire with a project to build an Asian village. Yes, that's right, pimper's Paradise isn't exclusive to British colonial powers. Now a Malaysian billionaire has entered the chat, and he offered up six million for Guyana Island and four neighbouring islands, which was supposedly less than the amount paid to the fullers to obtain the land in the first place to the fullers to obtain the land in the first place. However, what I will say is that it came with a 300 to 600 million dollar investment. They planned to build a hotel with over a thousand rooms, which in turn, would have created 4,000 jobs.
Speaker 1:So I pose this question to you Are you going with the Asian village or are you going with the squatters? White animal conservation? Now, they're both different types of tourism, right? You've got leisure tourism or you've got eco-tourism. What are you going for? Are there any animal lovers listening?
Speaker 1:Because I want to know if you went to Antigua, would you be interested in seeing European deer, not native deer, european deer that can be found on every corner of the globe can literally be found in Richmond Park. So when you go to Antigua, would you be interested in seeing European deer? Me personally, it's a no, but when I was in Antigua, I saw that they had certain excursions. Stingray, you know stingrays, you know tropical. You don't see it every day. So I understand the sting rating. The reason why the sting rating wasn't for me is because it can sting. Therefore, it's not going to see me.
Speaker 1:Next, we did see on the other side of the island. They had swimming pigs. Now, I know, just a normal pig maybe not, but swimming pig maybe. And I saw that was an excursion that a lot of people was going to. But you see, as for me, nasa, because if I get in the water and the pig then does bite me, and then then then what? So, as for me, no pig, no stingray, no deer. How about you? Are you going to see the deer?
Speaker 1:The Antiguan government was clearly thinking like me, because they chose the leisure tourism. So what they decided to do was offer Taffy and Bonnie Bufton half a million dollars to resettle onto the mainland of Antigua. What would you have done? Would you have taken the half a million dollars? Next question what do you think the Buftons did? Do you think they accepted it and moved on to the main island? No, sir, squatters, whites, they're not going nowhere.
Speaker 1:So at this point there are two sides of the story. So the Buftons were served an eviction notice, and one side of the story goes that Tffy buffton then got in his car, crossed the narrows, went onto the mainland of antigua and went looking for his lawyer, who was veered bird jr, who is the brother of the antiguan prime minister. But he didn't come alone. And I know what you're thinking. Maybe he brought his wife. No, sir, he didn't bring his wife. Instead, he brought with him his 58 caliber pistol.
Speaker 1:Taffy entered the office of veerbird jr and at that time vibra junior's brother saw that taffy had a gun, so he attempted to grab and disable the gun from taffy's hand. As a a result, the gun went off. Someone's hand got injured, but the person who was injured the most was Veard Bird Jr, as the bullet entered his mouth and took out two of his teeth. Immediately both men were rushed to hospital and, according to Bonnie Taffy's wife, she was called and told to come to the hospital Now, allegedly when she then left the island. That's when the Antiguan government took control of Guyana Island and allegedly killed the deer. The other side of the story is that the government don't know what happened to the deer.
Speaker 1:Now, taffy did this because he was disillusioned with the fact that Vierdberg Jr was his lawyer and was supposed to be fighting for his rights to squat as whites. However, he feels that he was in cahoots because, as I mentioned, vierdberg Jr, his brother was the prime minister. So essentially, there was a conflict of interest and that riled up Taffy. Essentially, there was a conflict of interest and that riled up Taffy. Now, I understand being riled up. However, taking a .38 pistol caliber is a whole nother
Speaker 1:level. Now, you would think that this would mean that Taffy Bufton would receive jail time a sentence prison time. Jail time, a sentence, prison time. However, that was not the case, as the jury sided with Taffy Bufton's defense lawyer, who said it was accidental and that he blacked out, which, for argument's sake, may have been the case. However, there needs to be some kind of repercussion,
Speaker 1:right. But apparently the Bird family had dominated politically for a number of years and this was said to have played a contributing factor, and this, for me, is a perfect example of squatters, whites and the pimpers paradise, because, unfortunately, they are just seen in a different light. There is no way a local person could have done those things and got away with it. There's no way that a black person in the UK could do all of them things there and get away with that because. So the government ended up compensating them anyway. So they received a seafront five acre home, they received monetary compensation and they lived on the mainland until their death in 2014. And I couldn't find any subsequent information regarding what happened to that property their assets. The biggest joketing of it all is that the deal with the malaysian developer actually ended up falling through and, to present day, guiana island still remains undeveloped. Yes, they went through the bufftons and the birds and the government went through the Buftons and the Byrds, and the government went through all of that for
Speaker 1:nothing. To conclude, the Pimper's Paradise is a place for old colonial thinkers to go and exercise lawlessness, and that's why I called this podcast episode Squatter's Whites. Because Squatter's rights, because squatter's rights is bounded by law, but squatter's rights is bounded by privilege. Thank you for listening to this podcast episode. If you enjoyed it, please make sure you help me beat the algorithm and comment like share to people that you think would care Equally. If you want a short form version, I've done a short reel that exists on IG and TikTok and it speaks to the story of the Buftons within 90 seconds. So if you've got people that prefer short term content, you can check out that video and send it to them as well. Thank you so much for tuning in. You've been listening to the Black Wash.