by Prince Court
Just as Labour Day in Antigua and Barbuda is celebrated on the first Monday in
May, instead of the first of May, Carnival Monday is the day that represents the
first of August, which is Emancipation Day. The Labour unions hold activities
on Labour Day, and the day has been officially recognized here for about two-
thirds of a century.
But what about Carnival and Emancipation? Well, for the last decade, a few
people have been trying to remind this society that August 1 st is the day in 1834
when slavery was abolished in this country, and our ancestors celebrated with
iron bands. It’s not the first time, nor the first set of people, but we didn’t have a
calendar of Emancipation activities before. Certainly, we had no established
Emancipation Watch Night on July 31 st .
Iron Band
So, for the last decade, the Antigua and Barbuda Reparations Support
Commission, established by the government as part of a Caricom Reparations
Support Commission, has been organizing Emancipation Week activities,
culminating in the July 31 st Watch Night event, with artistic expressions, audio-
visual presentations, mini-lectures, and the midnight iron band jam session.
Without official recognition, and in obscure locations like the historical Betty’s
Hope, a tiny handful of faithful folks have gathered, and in the most recent
years, in the St John’s Botanical Gardens, or Park, as it has been most
commonly known. But who takes note, with a major carnival show at the
Antigua Recreation Grounds always eclipsing the Emancipation Watch Night?
Lodge
Last year, however, the government declared the Emancipation Week activities
part of the annual carnival celebrations. Great. Yet, for the second time such
declaration, with the carnival shows now spread over an extended period, it was
still not seen fit to dedicate the night of July 31 st to the theme of Emancipation.
The Eurocentric Caribbean Queen Show could easily have been held on another
night. There can be absolutely no excuse for placing in on July 31 st ,
Emancipation Watch Night, once more leaving a few people to huddle under a
tree in the Botanical Gardens, like the meagre remnants of the Grand United
Order of Odd Fellows, or some other vanishing lodge.
Mockery
There, in the Botanical Gardens, while the rest of the country is focused on the
Queen Show, the few faithful do our best to feel good about ourselves, while
suffering what is known in theatre or cinema as cosmic indifference. That is the
world around us couldn’t care less about a few miserable creatures in a little
side-alley show. It is a mockery of our ancestors, and of ourselves, to declare the
activities official and then disregard them.
The group of Nigerian artists should have been coming for Emancipation
celebrations. Instead, there’s official cosmic indifference.
Again Next Year?
Within official promotions, people dress up in madras cloth each year, looking
like maids and butlers in Massa’s house. But one could count the number of
persons in any African-inspired clothing on African Dress Day on Friday, July
28 th . What official promotion was there?
But, with official promotions, massive crowds went out almost naked onto the
street for so-called T-shirt mas. Will we do this official disregard again next year
to leave our young people clueless about who they come from and what they
should become?
