Tourism, Entertainment and Culture minister Aloun Assamba has asked journalists to help in reinforcing the public awareness in the Transatlantic Trade of Africans (TTA), better known as the slave trade, which took place nearly 200 years ago.

Assamba took her message last week to media representatives at a briefing to inform the press on plans to mark Emancipation and the 200th anniversary of the TTA, at the Jamaica National Heritage Trust (JNHT) headquarters on Duke Street in Kingston.

She urged the media to play a major role in emphasising the importance of “black freedom” to young persons who were taking their freedom for granted.

“The year 2007 is a very significant year for the people of African ancestry all across the globe. It not only marks the 200th anniversary of the TTA (but) it is also the 120th anniversary of the birth of one of our own Jamaican sons, Marcus Garvey,” she said.

“We need to find a way that we can reach our young people, particularly those who are now behaving in such a way to destroy our country. We can find a way to get them to understand how our ancestors fought for our freedom… what our heroes did to allow us the freedom that we are now taking for granted, because we are killing each other.”

Assamba warned journalists that if the media neglected to showcase the events of the 200th anniversary of the TTA, they would be playing a silent role in condemning the African ancestors.

“I hope that the media will give them (ancestors) the attention they clearly deserve (because) if we do not take them on, we would be tacit participants in an ongoing process of the denigration of our people, which began more than 300 years ago with the forcible removal of our African ancestors to build another civilisation,” she added.

Chairperson of the JNHT and Jamaica National Bicentenary Committee, Professor Verene Shepherd also emphasised the importance of the 200th anniversary. The Transatlantic Trade was abolished in 1807 after bringing an estimated 15 to 18 million enslaved Africans to the western world.

The events to mark Emancipation include: the inaugural JNHT Emancipation Lecture at the St Ann Parish Library in St Ann on July 30; the National Emancipation Vigil and Emancipation Jubilee at St Ann on July 31, in collaboration with the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC), and the unveiling of the St James Freedom Monument at St James on August 1, which marks the first of a series of historical monuments that the JNHT will mount in Jamaica.