Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar in her Emancipation Day message said that the joy of the emancipation came after a long, hard and torturous struggle against inhuman treatment, stark inequality and cruelty. The Prime Minister noted the many accounts given by historians generally converge on the fact that "slavery represented one of our lowest points in human history, a period when human beings were treated without compassion and where social tolerance was almost completely absent from the daily lives of the ruling class of that time."
She added: "For many, it is a bittersweet moment; the joy of the emancipation came after a long, hard and torturous struggle against inhuman treatment, stark inequality and cruelty. Then many accounts given by historians generally converge on the fact that slavery represented one of our lowest points in human history, a period when human beings were treated without compassion and where social tolerance was almost completely absent from the daily lives of the ruling class of that time."
Persad-Bissessar said she was deeply honoured to bring greetings to the national community to commemorate Emancipation Day 2012. She reiterated that Trinidad and Tobago became the first nation in the world to declare Emancipation Day an official public holiday 27 years ago.
"On this day, our citizens gather in celebration and remembrance of the centuries of slavery brought to an end by sheer fortitude and faith that liberty would one day triumph. As we celebrate Emancipation Day therefore, we must never forget the pain borne by our ancestors for the freedom that we live today. It is only through our commitment to the appreciation of diversity, and our dedication to protect liberty at all costs that those who come after us will experience the free will that our forefathers delivered to us," the Prime Minister also said.
