Op­po­si­tion Leader Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar has said that Eman­ci­pa­tion Day al­so serves to re­mind “us that the hor­rors of the Trans-At­lantic Slave Trade must not be for­got­ten.”

She said Eman­ci­pa­tion Day is a sig­nif­i­cant day “for all of us, as it cel­e­brates the wis­dom, in­no­va­tion, friend­ship, de­vel­op­ment, kind­ness and en­light­en­ment the world has re­ceived from our African broth­ers and sis­ters.”

The fol­low­ing his her mes­sage to the na­tion­al com­mu­ni­ty:

To­day, I join with the na­tion­al com­mu­ni­ty in cel­e­brat­ing the 188th an­niver­sary of Eman­ci­pa­tion.

To­day, as we re­mem­ber one of the dark­est events in hu­man­i­ty, we ac­knowl­edge the strength of a peo­ple to de­feat what can on­ly be de­scribed as grave evil to be­come an in­valu­able pil­lar of courage as well as en­rich­ment to our glob­al com­mu­ni­ty.

This day is not on­ly a spe­cial one for our broth­ers and sis­ters of African her­itage, as it serves as a re­minder of the proud achieve­ments and last­ing lega­cy those of African de­scent con­tin­ue to make in our na­tion post-eman­ci­pa­tion.

It is a sig­nif­i­cant day for all of us, as it cel­e­brates the wis­dom, in­no­va­tion, friend­ship, de­vel­op­ment, kind­ness and en­light­en­ment the world has re­ceived from our African broth­ers and sis­ters.

To­day, we ho­n­our, thank and cel­e­brate the courage of a peo­ple to rise from the great­est in­jus­tice and crime of hu­man­i­ty to be­come cor­ner­stones of our so­ci­ety.

Eman­ci­pa­tion Day al­so serves to re­mind us that the hor­rors of the Trans-At­lantic Slave Trade must not be for­got­ten.

Though it may be dif­fi­cult and painful, it is im­per­a­tive that younger gen­er­a­tions learn of the full scale of in­jus­tice, abuse and racism on which the im­moral sys­tem of chat­tel slav­ery was built.

This is the on­ly way to en­sure that the evil ide­ol­o­gy which views one race as su­pe­ri­or to an­oth­er is per­ma­nent­ly con­signed to the dust­bin.

The par­ty I lead, the Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress, will al­ways seek to ho­n­our the lega­cy of those Africans who fought for lib­er­a­tion by con­tin­u­ing to help make Trinidad and To­ba­go a place where op­por­tu­ni­ty, progress and so­cial mo­bil­i­ty are open to all, not a cho­sen few.

The UNC joins with the glob­al com­mu­ni­ty to de­clare Nev­er Again Slav­ery.

Hap­py Eman­ci­pa­tion Day every­one!