by Christopher Famous

As we look around our beloved Caribbean region, we see many things that have changed due to Covid 19. Less tourists, less work, hotels closed, all leading to mass unemployment, as never seen before in recent times.

Indeed, some may say we are in the worst of times, economic times to be precise.

However, let us, today, be proud that we are the descendants of those millions of people of the Sun that survived being captured in our motherland of Africa.

We are the descendants of those tens of millions of souls that survived the Middle Passage journey from Africa to the Americas, that lasted months, on often harrowing and unforgiving seas.

We are the descendants of those that survived centuries of unspeakable brutalities of; rape, mutilation, starvation and near genocide, on plantations throughout; North America, South America Central America and the Atlantic / Caribbean region.

We are the decendants of those who survived the indignation of; segregation, racial discrimination, unequal pay, denied job and education opportunities post 1834.

We are the descendants of those who ventured far from home to places such as America, Canada, the United Kingdom and Europe who faced; racism, colourism, and sexism far from our Caribbean homelands.

So, today, despite the economic downturns and challenges that we face throughout the region, be proud, be very proud, for we are the collective offspring of those who stood up and never bowed down.

We are the survivors of centuries of the worst that humanity has produced, European Colonialism.

We are the Black Survivors.

This week, across the region, we will celebrate less than 200 years of Freedom, minus festivals, minus carnivals, minus cropovers and minus fetes.

Let us take this time to reflect on what liberation truly means to those that lost their lives in the most horrific ways, whose blood soaks the very same soil and sand on which we walk daily.

This week, please take yourselves and or your families, to visit those monuments to those who resisted the evils of slavery, in your respective islands.

Blessed Emancipation Day.

Blessed Mary Prince Day

Thomas Christopher Famous is a government Member of Parliament in Bermuda. He is the Bermuda government representative for Caribbean Relations and Caricom and writes weekly columns for various Caribbean news sites. Famous can be reached via WhatsApp at (441)-599-0901 or via email atcarib_pro@yahoo.com.

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Bermudian MP sends Emancipation Day message to the Caribbean - Loop News Cayman