It was a beautiful
evening on the plantations across Jamaica on July 31, 1834, the sun was setting in the west and the
slaves were singing, singing songs like “Amazing
Grace”, “Freedom is coming tomorrow”, “Swing Low Sweet Chariot”, and "Song of the Free".
As the slaves
continued to sing these songs way into the night, the drums were beating the
fires were burning and at last it was midnight. It was August 1, 1934…..
…..On
that day many slaves were said to have walked up hills and climbed trees so as
to clearly witness the literal dawning of their freedom. Around the island
thousands attended "Divine Services" to give thanks and praise. August 1, 1834, marked the
emancipation of all slaves in British colonies but it was a case of freedom
with conditions. Although the Abolition Act stated that
slavery shall be and is hereby utterly abolished and unlawful, the only slaves
truly freed were those not yet born and those under six years of age. All other
slaves were to enter a six-year 'apprenticeship' during which they were to be
'apprenticed' to the plantations.
It was July 31, 1838, and again freedom songs were bellowing across
the island, this time full emancipation from chattel slavery was at hand. The
slaves dance with jubilation as the day was finally at hand I can just imagine
how happy my ancestors were and echoing the phrase “We
Free, We Finally Free”….with great pride many slaves journeyed
to the hilltops to greet the sunrise of Friday, August 1, 1838
that symbolized a new beginning in their lives. When morning broke, large
congregations joined in thanksgiving services held in several chapels and
churches across the island
William
Knibb, non-conformist Baptist preacher and
abolitionist, at the dawning of Aug. 1, 1838 said: "The hour is at hand, the Monster is dying...the
winds of freedom appeared to have been set loose, the very building shook at
the strange yet sacred joy."
According
to Sherlock and Bennett in "The Story of the Jamaican People" (1998):
“Emancipation
did not mean the beginning of good times. Emancipation gave them the right to
free movement, the right to choose where and when they wished to work, but
without basic education and training many were compelled to remain on the
plantation as field hands and tenants-at-will under conditions determined by
the landlord, and for wages set by him."
Fast forward to Nova Scotia, Canada October 1937, Marcus Garvey
in his speech said: “We are going to emancipate ourselves from mental slavery
because whilst others might free the body, none but ourselves can free the
mind. Mind is your only ruler, sovereign. The man who is not able to develop
and use his mind is bound to be the slave of the other man who uses his mind….”
July 31, 2013 on
the eve of the anniversary of Emancipation day, I sit and wonder how far we
have come…are we truly emancipated?
According to http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/
Emancipation is
defined as “freeing someone from the control of another; especially a parent's
relinquishing authority and control over a minor child”.
Are we as a nation
really free from our parent/parents?
Bob Marley borrowed
the words from Marcus Garvey and used in his Redemption song, “Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free
our minds.”
After all the
historical reflections earlier, I’m pretty sure the well thinking among us will
argue that many of us still remain mental enslaved.
We have allowed our
colonial past to haunt us and dictate our future. Maybe we feel safe holding on
to that and fear the future but I could be wrong.
Nevertheless, mental
slavery is more insidious than physical slavery.
Physical slavery is
imposed by force from outside the person, while mental comes from within.
A mental slave is a
person who suspends his intellectual ability and suppresses himself/herself to
the will and beliefs and attitudes of another person or group. This leads to
the inability to view events, or one's self, objectively, this will not apply
his/her brain to evaluate what he/she is being told, to determine what is true
and lucid.
They are in the
habit of accepting and believing what is told to them, whether it logical or
not, they do not even stop to ask themselves whether what is being said makes
sense or not; what is important is that my side said it.
And then if the
other side says something, the mental slave is conditioned to rebuff it as
being nonsense.
No we’ve seen this
being ever present in our interesting political history. We see where the
masses have their judgment clouded by their political ideologies that they seem
to forget what’s important and what’s factual.
The sad truth, this
trend looks to continue for years to come. As we look forward to another “Emancipation Day” let’s learn from the
lessons of the past, make changes in the present and build towards a better and brighter future.
Jamaica, the place of choice to live, work, raise families
and do business!!!
S.B.
Stanberry
