A
alexk
Guest
Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar is rallying the nation to come together to make T&T “better, stronger and safer,” in her Emancipation Day message.
She said the crime situation had severely reduced the quality of life of all citizens.
Persad-Bissessar recalled the “determination and spirit,” of those who fought for and won their freedom from slavery.
She said the “incredibly brutal conditions under which slaves lived and the indignities they suffered are inconceivable, and their strength, sheer will and capacity to hope are enduring reminders of the power of the human instinct to survive and thrive.”
Persad-Bissessar said, “those who endured the Atlantic Slave Trade retained their spirit, dared to struggle against their bondage, and yearned for freedom for themselves and their families.”
In resisting and rising up against the cruelty meted out to them, she said, “they showed strength, courage and perseverance, and demonstrated that they would no longer accept being treated as property to be bought and sold by colonial masters.”
Centuries later, Persad-Bissessar said, “the steadfastness and resolve in standing against their subjugation, as well as their hope for a better future, inspire awe and deep respect and appreciation for their struggle.
Today, while the descendants of the former slaves have cast off the chains, the trauma inflicted has reverberated through generations, and many are yet to be entirely free of the scourge of man’s greatest indignity to man,” Persad-Bissessar said.
The country, she said, “is richer because of the culture and values that the slaves held on to, and which they reconstructed and passed on in the post-emancipation period. We are all able to admire and share in the cultural traditions, the food, the music of the people who made Trinidad and Tobago their home after their liberation.”