‘Liberate your minds’

Prime Minister Patrick Manning said that the new shackles that confront the people of Trinidad and Tobago were not the whips and chains associated with African slavery but the psychological inhibitions that had been imbibed from that age.

In an Emancipation message, Manning said it didn’t matter whether one was of African descent or not. “Among our most important challenges remains the liberation of our minds to relate more appropriately to our experiences,” he said. He added that one of the main legacies concerning Emancipation must be to “inspire us to further evolve into a society in which the legitimate aspirations of our people of all walks of life can be realised.” Manning said that after Emancipation, the struggle for meaningful participation in society by various groups remained long and hard. Only persistence and perseverance brought brighter moments along the way. “There are valuable lessons in all of this for each and every one of us. Indeed, similar challenges are still with us, and will always face us, albeit in new or different forms,” the Prime Minister said.

Manning said there could be no letting up in the commitment to match the quest for individual freedoms and opportunities with the desire and commitment to duty and responsibility. “Similarly, it is important for us to strive unceasingly after a society characterised by the elimination of fetters and prejudices of the kind that stood in the way of our ancestors and forefathers,” he said. “In that way, as historic and momentous as Emancipation Day would be, its real significance will be premised on what the future should hold in preference to what the past has been,” he said.