Emancipation for what?

EMANCIPATION for what? It would be useful, we think, if every citizen of our country, particularly Afro-Trinis at this time, think seriously and deeply about this question. The fact is that emancipation, when considered in its historical context, was not simply a particular event or development however important in itself; rather, it was the beginning of a new social reality for a young country in the ferment of change. Yes, the slaves brought to TT to work on the sugar planations were given their freedom over a period of time, but for what? Historians may differ in ascribing the reasons for emancipation and in assessing the levels of harshness and deprivation that slavery imposed, but such a debate, in our view, can have little more than academic importance now, having regard to the institution’s distance in the past and the country’s eventful evolution since then.

However, it is only from this perspective that we can truthfully and meaningfully answer the question; emancipation was, for all those who benefited from it, the opportunity not only to begin shaping their own personal destiny in the limited social circumstances that existed then, but also to participate in the long, painful process of creating a national society totally different to the homeland from which they were violently wrested. Emancipation, in whatever form it took, and regardless of the specific community it liberated, was for the grasping of  those two opportunities. In the case of African slavery, the conditions may have been more brutal and the dislocation more traumatic, but history would show that members of that community were able to seize the opportunities to become prominent professionals on their own and leaders in every facet and sector of the emerging society.

Indeed, having gained their personal freedom, they proceeded eventually to play a decisive part in the vital process of freeing the country from the “bondage” of colonialism and building the foundations for a truly democratic nation. Emancipation for what? The purpose should now be quite obvious. So while it may have some emotional value for us in commemorating our links with the distant past and remembering the way so many of our different communities obtained their freedom from various forms of coercion, it is far more vital now for Afro-Trinidadians and Tobagonians and the rest of our citizenry to regard our emancipation in a different light. The freedom we now enjoy, more than ever before, is for taking advantage of opportunities, for building on our achievements, for advancing our development.

Emancipation would have no meaning for us now if it is not for meeting and overcoming the challenges that we face both in terms of our personal enhancement and our national aspirations. Supremely, this is a lesson for our young people who now have amazing opportunities to make their lives productive and satisfying and, at the same time, to promote the interest and future welfare of their country. Generations since emancipation have toiled to create this progressive environment and these open opportunities and a failure to grasp them would amount to a betrayal of our freedom, a mockery of the ancestral effort and a reversal to a more underprivileged age. It seems unfortunate that, after all this progress, the significance of emancipation for our time appears to be lost on a considerable section of our youthful population who are lapsing into retrograde thinking and anti-social behaviour. All in all, however, we have done well with our freedom over a century and a half and we must press on.