Dr. Julius Garvey, the special guest of the Antigua and Barbuda Reparation Support Commission for tonight’s (Thursday) Watchnight celebration to mark the 191 anniversary of the Emancipation of slavery in the British West Indies, says he is ‘full of emotions’ ahead of the celebrations taking place at Botanical Gardens.
Speaking at the VC Bird International Airport moments after he arrived for the celebration where he will deliver the feature address, Dr. Garvey, the son of Black Nationalist, Marcus Garvey, said he is happy to be in Antigua and Barbuda to participate in this important event.
“I certainly look forward to the visit and the occasion of celebrating Emancipation, which is always a positive emotional lift, recognizing the history and suffering that we have gone through; so its therefore good to celebrate on this occasion,” he noted.
On the question of the importance of celebrating Emancipation, Dr. Garvey explained that it is a celebration ‘of the release of our own spirits’ and being able to ‘manifest our own destiny’ in terms of liberation and ‘who we are as a people’.
He further explained that it is also a representation of how the descendants of enslaved people now see the world and configure the world instead of being told what to do and how to do things that are in someone else’s interest.
“It’s a great occasion and in some sense, every day is Emancipation Day but this has a special flavour as it recognizes our ancestors and what they have gone through and what we have had to go through to be where we are; so it’s full of emotions but it is something that gives us the strength to shape our future,” he declared.
During this visit, Dr. Garvey will be the special guest at a cocktail reception in his honour and he will also participate in an event at the Bust of Father of the Nation, Sir Vere Cornwall Bird on Friday morning.
