When I read and listen to what has been said about the local sugar industry, my mind wanders to its dark origins. The history of how sugar emerged in this part of the world, is no secret. The sweet poison killed the dreams of those forced into the cultivation of sugarcane, its harvesting and processing, but made wealthy the oppressors and many who followed.
When I think about sugar, I think of the scarred hands, sun-burnt and weary bodies of our ancestors. It was for sugar that many were kidnapped and enslaved. It was for sugar that many indentured labourers arrived on boats of dreams when those once enslaved were set free and many left the plantations.