PRIME Minister Samuel Hinds Monday evening joined hundreds of residents of West Bank Demerara at the Bagotville Community Centre for the community’s annual Libation and Cultural ceremony in celebration of Emancipation Day. Prime Minister Hinds, addressing the celebrants, said that since the end of slavery, people of African descent have been working hard and struggling to regain their position amongst all the people of the world, and “when we think of slavery we not only think of African slaves, for slavery has been a very wide institution in all human lives and society”.
Since the abolition of slavery, he said, people of African descent have been doing a great job in developing themselves, despite the many challenges they faced.
He also noted that Africans, like every other ethnic group in Guyana, have contributed to nation building.
The Prime Minister also said that the enslavement of Africans was one of the most despicable things that mankind ever did to fellow mankind, and “similar things were also being done to other people of different ethnicities”.
He said, “As we celebrate Emancipation Day, let us all recall our ancestors and all those who fought to end slavery and regain the full respect for people of African descent…and we are challenged today to continue and justify our ancestors who struggled to end slavery, so that Africans can stand shoulder to shoulder with all the other peoples of the world,”.
The Prime Minister enjoyed the entertainment provided by youths and adults from Bagotville and neighbouring communities, including cultural performances depicting the various aspects of African culture, fashion, food, music and language.
Bagotville was bought by ex-plantation slaves shortly after they were freed.
Emancipation Day in Guyana commemorates the August 1, 1838, end to slavery. (GINA)