Op­po­si­tion Leader Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar has said that the en­slave­ment of Africans through­out the Caribbean and the Amer­i­c­as, via the Trans-At­lantic Slave Trade, is per­haps the great­est crime against hu­man­i­ty in the his­to­ry of mankind.

The for­mer prime min­is­ter said to­day the de­scen­dants of Africans have con­tributed sig­nif­i­cant­ly to na­tion­al de­vel­op­ment and on this spe­cial day, it is im­por­tant that “we recog­nise and ap­pre­ci­ate their out­stand­ing con­tri­bu­tions. “

Her state­ment formed part of her Eman­ci­pa­tion Day mes­sage.

Fol­low­ing is her mes­sage

To­day our na­tion cel­e­brates Eman­ci­pa­tion Day, a day that marks the abo­li­tion of the vile prac­tice of chat­tel slav­ery. It is a day for both cel­e­bra­tion of the lib­er­a­tion of en­slaved Africans and an op­por­tu­ni­ty to re­flect on, and learn from, the lessons of this dark pe­ri­od in our his­to­ry.

The en­slave­ment of Africans through­out the Caribbean and the Amer­i­c­as, via the Trans-At­lantic Slave Trade, is per­haps the great­est crime against hu­man­i­ty in the his­to­ry of mankind.

Though this part of our his­to­ry is dif­fi­cult and painful, it is im­por­tant that younger gen­er­a­tions are made aware of the un­speak­able hor­rors of slav­ery that thou­sands who were cap­tured and brought to this coun­try were forced to en­dure.

Even as we re­flect on the atroc­i­ties im­posed up­on en­slaved Africans, we al­so see a peo­ple who re­fused to be de­feat­ed. A peo­ple who would nev­er stop fight­ing for the free­dom that was their birthright. It is the his­to­ry of a proud African cul­ture whose spir­it could not be shack­led or bro­ken. It is the his­to­ry of an eman­ci­pat­ed peo­ple forg­ing a new na­tion in the fires of hope and prayer to chart their own des­tiny.

It is those qual­i­ties of fierce de­ter­mi­na­tion to re­main un­yield­ing in the face of un­speak­able op­pres­sion that we must repli­cate to­day as we face the mas­sive bur­dens caused by the Pan­dem­ic.

To­day, the de­scen­dants of Africans have con­tributed sig­nif­i­cant­ly to na­tion­al de­vel­op­ment and on this spe­cial day, it is im­por­tant that we rec­og­nize and ap­pre­ci­ate their out­stand­ing con­tri­bu­tions.

As we mark the 187th an­niver­sary of the com­ing in­to ef­fect of the Eman­ci­pa­tion Procla­ma­tion, I join the na­tion in cel­e­brat­ing the in­cred­i­ble jour­ney of our African broth­ers and sis­ters, draw­ing in­spi­ra­tion from the coura­geous fight for eman­ci­pa­tion, and the free­doms which we are all able to en­joy to­day.

We join in uni­son to cel­e­brate and pay our re­spects to those who fought for lib­er­a­tion, and in the im­mor­tal words of Dr Mar­tin Luther King Jr we say re­sound­ing­ly “Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty we’re free at last.”