LIKE the average St. Lucian, ‘anything for a holiday from work’, but the purpose has to be clearly defined and should not always be about food and rum. There are and should be significant days on our calendar and the reason why and reason for, should be accepted and acknowledged by all.
I refer to the new advent of celebrating the culmination of slavery, or better still our liberation from our colonial masters and that period of oppression, but for some reason, the history or purpose has not been articulated or digested by the population.
From times past, there has been scant information on that era in our lives and our country, either at the schools or at the community level, as we have not educated or enlightened or made known the fundamentals of that aspect of our history.
We know little and have little or no education about what transpired or what our people endured or were subjected to. We do not know or understand our past and that makes it difficult for us to under-stand our present, far less our future.
We cannot keep the truth away indefinitely and give scant information as well as have a low-keyed promotion and want us to participate in the purpose or festivity with any form of conviction, almost no promotion and no sensitization done, and yet we expect our people to be responsive.
If we do not participate or do not feel the need to be part of the celebration it is because the powers that be have not done enough to enlighten us, so we behave like we are ashamed of our past and it should remain forgotten.
We hear of reparations and repatriation, or being compensated, but don’t understand the reasons why. We praise the Motherland, we see the support from Europe, but fail to know or understand their exploitation of our people and country through the years.
We fail to explain how and why we were colonized and all the atrocities and dehumanizing that took place, and in some cases are still going on. In fact, we think all our people should be grateful for not working in chains, but not aware that now it’s our minds that are enslaved.
We progress only because of the will to live, not from opportunities handed or given to us because we deserve it.
But, be it because of our horrid past, or because we were and are not supposed to know, because we may become rebellious once again and act hostile to our visitors, especially if they are from the coun-tries that enslaved us.
So, we are told we need to be nice, always charming, polite and not confrontational, be the best we can be and display our best behaviour because failing to do so will disturb our economic means and tarnish our reputation and we will be known and seen as hostile, even savage.
In other words, the truth will not set us free, but make us less hospitable. Well, what has not been told or taught will continue to haunt us; and because we do not know our history, we will forever be feel-ing and treated like second class citizens in our own country, keeping the ‘Massa’ concept alive. It will always be ‘Yes Sir’ or ‘Yes Madam, or ‘Thank you for small mercies…’
I hope our leaders and educators and elite sons of the soil will one day summon, build and have to courage to tell us how it really was and all the pain and anguish that we have endured from that time, even to this present day; and why we should have a different outlook on life; and how and why we should shape our destiny.
Emancipation Month celebrations continue for another year and I hope that, with time, the date and the cause will resonate in our minds and our hearts, because of this new-found knowledge and that it will therefore make us a more resilient people.
The key to redemption is knowledge and that can only be achieved through the education of the masses.