PLAIN TALK  Emancipation Celebration across the region

Fri, Aug 08, 2025

‘Hide nothing from the people. Tell no lies. Expose lies whenever they are told. Mask no difficulties, mistakes or failures and most of all claim no easy victories.’ — Amílcar Cabral, the revolutionary leader from Guinea-Bissau, assassinated by French agents in 1973.

In August 1834, when the Emancipation Proclamation was issued, there were an estimated 22,786 enslaved Africans in St. Vincent. 757 compensation claims were made, and £759,300 were paid to the colonial enslavers. Our ancestors, whose toil created millions of pounds in wealth, did not receive a single cent. A clear reminder that freedom ain’t free. Because of the heroic resistance of our ancestors, St. Vincent and the Grenadines experienced the shortest period of slavery (1797 to 1838) in the English-speaking Caribbean.

Scholars have estimated that in addition to the £20 million paid to the slave-holding class, the four years of free labour termed “apprenticeship” (1834 to 1838) generated another £27 million across the region.

Our people must also understand that the brutal enslavement of our forebears did not end with emancipation. The British continued their colonial conquest, domination, and exploitation of our island for another 141 years until independence in 1979. During this sordid period, our people were taught to hate themselves, to reject their Africanness, and to look up to Europeans for notions of ethics, morals, beauty, and culture.

It is this history—this trail of torture and tears, this story of resilience and accomplishment against the odds—that Emancipation Day celebrations are supposed to memorialise and commemorate. It is the moment we take stock of from whence we came and commit to remembering not to forget.

And so it has been for many years, with marches and demonstrations, lectures and cultural events with drumming and dancing, poetry and consciousness-raising speeches. All of this is slowly receding now. Glitz and glamour, jive and laughter have taken centre stage. Reflection and remembrance have given way to power lust and the wastage of scarce national resources.

The only meaningful Emancipation celebrations in our country this year were the annual July 31 to August 1 Wake at Diamond, Daniel Cummings’ Emancipation Day celebration on August 1 in Kingstown, and another small event in Georgetown. All of these events featured lectures on slavery, history, emancipation, and reparations.

Contrast those consciousness-raising events with Gonsalves’ back-of-the-envelope $750,000 cricket extravaganza. Remove the prop, mascot-like appearance of some of the champions of the 1975 Cricket World Cup—Lloyd, Greenidge, Kallicharran, Collis King, and Deryk Murray—and Gonsalves is exposed for the political grifter he is. Notably absent from the four-day profligate folly at Arnos Vale was the iconic Vivian Richards, universally regarded as the best and most destructive batsman of his era.

We can only hope that Richards’ absence was more than a scheduling conflict, and more fittingly in the tradition in which he rejected a bland cheque offer from Ali Bacher, the Apartheid South African cricket administrator who tried to lure him to play in racist South Africa.

We know that Gonsalves has a silver tongue. Still, one cannot help but wonder why the legendary Clive Lloyd, Gordon Greenidge, et al, jumped at Gonsalves’ short-notice invitation to honour them in a situation where Cricket West Indies officials were conspicuously absent. Kallicharran, we know, bit into the apartheid dollar and journeyed to South Africa as an “honorary white,” earning himself a life ban from ever playing again for the West Indies team. But Lloyd? Greenidge? Ah well, clear signs that the conscious fervour that drove us to dominate world cricket has evaporated.

Contrast what happened here to events in sister isles across the region. From Jamaica to Guyana, meaningful events were held to mark this significant date in world history.

Across Jamaica, the government lent its support and state resources to a multiplicity of events intended to remind, reflect, and celebrate the Jamaican reality.

Among the events were:
Emancipation Jubilee – featuring performances that blend the influences of Taino, African, Spanish, and English cultures, showcasing music, dance, and art.
Cultural Exhibitions – The Independence Village at the National Stadium Complex showcased Jamaican creativity through cuisine, art, and concerts from August 2 to 6.
Speeches and Reflections – National leaders delivered speeches emphasizing unity and the legacy of those who fought for freedom.

In Antigua, with full government support, the Antigua and Barbuda Reparations Support Commission led the celebrations with:

Africa Dress Day: A national call to wear African-inspired attire on July 25, 2025.

Emancipation Sunday: A day of collective worship and reflection on July 27, 2025.

Uhuru Spiritual Awaken: A digital production showcasing spoken word, African fashion, music, and dance on July 28, 2025.

17th Annual Watchnight Gathering: A cultural and spiritual tradition at the Botanical Gardens on July 31, 2025, with music, libations, drumming, and performances.


During the Emancipation celebration in Trinidad and Tobago, PM Kamla Persad-Bissessar unveiled her country’s reparations plan aimed at deepening cultural recognition, economic empowerment, and reparatory justice for descendants of enslaved Africans.

PM Persad-Bissessar pledged to re-empower the National Reparations Committee, stating, “This is a lawful debt, forged in centuries of unpaid labour and stolen futures. I commit every ounce of political capital to move reparations from aspiration to achievement—so the next generation inherits not just the memory of freedom but the means to flourish in its fullness.”

She called for collective mobilisation across village councils, civil society networks, CARICOM, and the Commonwealth until “former empires pay their moral debt.”

While governments and civil society leaders across the region were instilling cultural pride and raising African consciousness, at home, our government chose to turn Emancipation Day into a divisive, expensive, and political con-game directed at an audacious Black son of the soil.

All patriotic Vincentians should reject and condemn Gonsalves and his clansmen, and demand a complete and transparent accounting of every cent spent to hold his cricket festival—which had more to do with state capture than with emancipation.

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