HAPPY FREEDOM DAY: Happy Freedom Day to all Guyanese who are descendants of African slaves and all other Guyanese who have inherited the fruits of their struggles and sacrifices on this auspicious national holiday.
I join with our Afro-Guyanese sisters and brothers in their celebration of freedom and ask that they take courage from the example of their foreparents in advancing the fight for social justice, equality and ethnic/cultural respect.
I also support the efforts for reparation from the colonial powers for the inhuman system of slavery and for the establishment of a cultural fund to help repair the many scars of that dreaded past by restoring self-esteem and forging Guyanese pride.
We have come a long way since Emancipation and we have since been forging a Guyanese identity so that, whatever our ancestral roots, we all - as one people - must now build a strong and United Guyana.
We must never forget the struggle and the sacrifice. We must today resolve to stand up for Guyana against those who are determined to conquer us, to capture us and impose a new slavery upon us!
Sita and I have just finished our cook-up and will soon head out to join in today's festivities. Happy freedom day!