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Celebrating Emancipation Day
Today is Emancipation Day. It is a day set aside by the Guyana Government for the people of this country to observe the abolition of slavery way back in 1834. There are many stories about the slaves in the different parts of the world where slavery existed, none of them pleasant.
Most of us relate to slavery through the movies that portray slavery from the eyes of the slave master. We have seen the cruelty, the debauchery, the measures to put slaves against slaves and we saw the importance of colour, something that prevails to this day.
The more practical among us have taken a look at the infrastructure. We have seen the conservancies that were dug by hand. These are nothing but masterpieces. As we fly over the countryside, see the conservancies stretching for miles as straight as an arrow and wonder how long it took the slaves with their spades and shovels to move thousands of tons of earth.
In the process, they have left waterways that exist to our benefit to this day. We have the canals and above all, the villages that spawned a permanent family life.
But there is much more to slavery, a system that erased the names of the freed Africans and giving them the names of the slave master. That is why people of African ancestry throughout the world do not have their original names.
The language they speak is not their natural tongue and their culture is not theirs. The way they dress reflects the slave master and their religion is not even theirs. That is why when people talk about the attitude of the Afro-Guyanese, they must take a lot of things into consideration. They have nothing to which they could , except the cruelty that was their life and which seems to be a part of their genes.
The common belief is that the white man walked into Africa and picked up the slaves, killing many as they transported them across the Atlantic. But slavery is as much a case of Africa as it is a case of the Europeans. The Africans caught their own and sold them to the Europeans.
From our perspective, with the removal of the whip and the chains and the noose for the most trivial issue, we believe that we have done well for ourselves. We pride ourselves in our achievements. Many of us have been transformed into doctors, teachers, engineers and computer experts.
We continue the indoctrination of our children to be like the colonial masters. Such is the indoctrination that our women at one stage of their lives wanted straight hair and to dress like the Europeans, high heels and all.
Of course, there are foods that we have kept over the decades and today, many of these would be on display. However, these foods are only for special occasions because with all the fast food joints, there is none offering African-oriented foods except for some locations that offer meals made from ground provisions.
When all is said and done one must work with the tools one is provided. Guyanese have been presented with a history that has removed them from Africa. They must make the best use of what they now have. They must recover the parenting skills that made their fore parents among the best. One of them even became the President of the United States. Many of them have become leaders of Guyana. Since there are weak people among us, we should create the opportunity for community efforts.
This would minimize the criminal activities that have marked us as the most likely to be criminals. After all, in unity there is strength.
Happy Emancipation
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