Dear Editor,
As we mark Emancipation Day, we should reflect on our history of perseverance and struggle through those years. It is a time to honour our ancestors for their fortitude, their forbearance and their indomitable spirit. Their determination was not just to survive but to build a better world for future generations.
Today there continue to be numerous fetters to the evolution of a just society. There exist many dimensions in which people remain enslaved; gender and race prejudice and discrimination, violence and the abuse of defenceless people. We should add to these, poverty, unemployment and criminal activity, all of which result from the failure to recognise that individual and group advancement are best realized within a framework of appreciation and respect for the rights of all. The struggle continues.
Let us commit to understanding our ancestry and our heritage. This knowledge will empower us. The dreams of our ancestors remain our challenges today and an essential attribute for success in meeting these challenges is the willingness to fully engage – to be involved in the making of our society. We have the opportunity to pass down our positive images and attitudes to our children. We have success stories. The more we share them with each other, the more we create an energy of positivity which surrounds and affects our lives. It affects the opportunities that are afforded to us and how we respond to these.
We as Afro-Guyanese must know and celebrate the legacy of Cuffy and Damon, crying out against injustice. We celebrate the League of Coloured People, African Cultural Development Association, Tom Dalgety and those who have struggled relentlessly to teach us about our history and to be proud of our accomplishments as a people, which is so vital to our progress.
We celebrate Viola Burnham, Winifred Gaskin, Jane Phillips-Gay – women who persevered and fought a good fight making a name for women in politics.
We celebrate Clive Lloyd, Lance Gibbs, Roy Fredericks, whose talents gave us many celebratory moments in West Indies cricket. We celebrate the academic genius of Dr Walter Rodney, Professor Ewart Thomas, Professor Nigel Harris, all of whom have excelled in their respective fields. We celebrate the political activism of Forbes Burnham, Martin Carter, Rory Westmaas, Eusi Kwayana, who fought the colonial masters and changed the path of our history. We celebrate the Denbows and those blessed with healing hands.
We celebrate JOF Haynes, Keith Massiah, Aubrey Bishop, Kenneth George and Desiree Bernard, those legal luminaries who rose to the top of the judiciary.
We celebrate Fred Wills, Rex McKay, Miles Fitzpatrick, Peter Britton, Ashton Chase, Clarence Hughes – brilliant legal minds.
We celebrate Eddy Grant, the Yoruba Singers, the Rhythmaires and those who touched our lives with their music.
We celebrate Brigadier Clarence Price, Brigadier David Granger, Colonel Carl Morgan, Colonel Ulric Pilgrim and all those sons of the soil tasked with protecting this country.
We celebrate all the men and women whose struggles, contribution and achievements in all areas of endeavour have been significant in this country’s development.
Once we are empowered by this knowledge, we are no longer at the mercy of negativity with which we are constantly being bombarded. We need to take responsibility for our lives and the lives of our children and others in the community. We need to take control of our negative thought processes and do whatever we need to do to turn them around. Then we can experience the bright and glorious abundance of this great country to which we are entitled and which is our birthright.
“Emancipate yourself from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds.” Happy Emancipation Day.
Yours faithfully,
Dawn A. Holder
