Chair­man of the Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress Jack Warn­er says Eman­ci­pa­tion Day should be used to teach young peo­ple of the price paid for their free­dom, and for them to en­joy op­por­tu­ni­ties and lux­u­ries tak­en for grant­ed to­day. In his mes­sage, Warn­er said there were too many re­ports of young men spilling blood and too many high school drop-outs.

"Too many are al­low­ing them­selves to slip in­to the mire of de­pen­dence," said Warn­er. He said de­spite many in­spir­ing achieve­ments, in many places, the de­scen­dants of peo­ple who top­pled the colo­nial eco­nom­ic sys­tem in the strug­gle for free­dom and pros­per­i­ty are on a de­struc­tive path to­day.

Warn­er's mes­sage high­light­ed the fact that to­day, the chil­dren of for­mer slaves could cel­e­brate their con­tri­bu­tion to every field and facet of life. "We can stand proud as achiev­ers. There is not a sin­gle area in which their mark has not been made." He said, to­day, 178 years since the end of chat­tel slav­ery, peo­ple need­ed to teach the youths about those who came be­fore them and how they tri­umphed over the ad­ver­si­ties from cen­tu­ry to cen­tu­ry.

"To the cred­it of the glob­al pop­u­la­tion, we to­day recog­nise all men and women as equal, none su­pe­ri­or or in­fe­ri­or to the oth­er, whether by di­vine right or oth­er­wise. "By and large, it is recog­nised that every­one has the right to as­pire. Dis­crim­i­na­tion is con­sid­ered a scourge wher­ev­er it shows its head. Brick by brick, the walls that have been erect­ed against the op­pressed have been and are be­ing torn down."