PJ Patterson
ex Prime Minister PJ Patterson has claimed that the “criminal atrocities” of slavery must not be forgotten and is insisting that repentance from people whose ancestors benefited from the slave trade “must be tangible and not limited to pious acknowledgments of sorry”.
Patterson, who served as Jamaica’s sixth and longest-serving head of government from 1992 to 2006, issued the very strong views in a statement to mark tomorrow’s Emancipation Day celebration.
Speaking in his capacity as Statesman in Residence at the PJ Patterson Institute for African and Caribbean Advocacy, the former prime minister said reparative justice for slavery remains a remedy to which the descendants of the enslaved are entitled, “even as we explore new dimensions of our Emancipation and we continue to push the limits of excellence and achievements within the spheres of our sovereignty”.
Below is the full text of Patterson’s statement.
“On this Emancipation Day we solemnly celebrate and remember emancipation from slavery, the most enduring and barbaric violation of human rights in human history. For centuries enslaved Africans paid the price of emancipation with their blood, sweat and tears. Even after the Abolition Act was promulgated, they had to pay the slave owners through forced labor.
There are those who would like us to forget these criminal atrocities as they seek to deny their complicity in a global system of greed-driven inequality. Their atonement must be tangible and not limited to pious admissions of regret.
Restorative justice for these crimes against humanity remains a remedy to which we, the descendants of the enslaved, are entitled, even as we explore new dimensions of our emancipation and continue to push the boundaries of excellence and achievement within the realms of our sovereignty.
The process of emancipation over hundreds of years is indelibly etched in the psyche of the descendants of people who passed from slavery to formal freedom. Emancipation was an unforgettably profound change in their circumstances, but it was the first step because we the people of Africa, the Caribbean and the Diaspora have yet to fully realize the dream of true freedom.
The PJ Patterson Institute for African and Caribbean Advocacy is convinced that full human emancipation requires freedom from all forms of discrimination and subjugation that delay the achievement of the developmental potential of African people and descendants.
The movement towards that full emancipation is a work in progress which must involve both the perpetrator and the victim. It is we, so heavily exploited, who must find the strength and ingenuity to lead this task without rest.
The PJ Patterson Institute for African and Caribbean Advocacy calls for urgent attention to remain focused on the unfulfilled mission of dismantling the remnants of systemic discrimination that have persisted in the post-Emancipation era through various entrenched forms of political, social exclusion and economic. .
From unequal access to land, housing, health and education to unfair labor wages, restrictive practices have been systematically embedded in national and international agreements since Emancipation nearly two centuries ago. Today, they continue to be reflected in global power configurations that serve to limit the ability of our people to achieve their legitimate right to global decision-making and economic development.
Entire nations and disadvantaged people groups in Africa, the Caribbean and their diaspora remain trapped in long-standing universal structural inequalities.
So, Emancipation Day is not only an occasion for reflection, but more importantly, a moment to call for determined action coordinated internationally by Africans everywhere to complete the process of liberation by promoting our true heritage and playing a leading role in the drafting of a political, social and social right and right. international economic order for all people.
Emancipation requires complete freedom from the bonds of mental imprisonment. It requires fully emancipated minds to unleash the creative potential to dream, to aspire, to build and to excel. Building the social, cultural, economic and political bridges that span the Middle Passage and connect people in Africa and its diaspora with their past, present and future is a mission that still calls for our collective and active participation.
The PJ Patterson Institute for African-Caribbean Advocacy is committed to this task and will engage in building alliances to create the global consensus required to achieve this mission. In pursuit of these constructive tasks, we invite global cooperation between nations and races.
May 2022 be an unforgettable emancipation day.”
