Former Prime Minister PJ Patterson has asserted that the “criminal atrocities” of slavery should not be forgotten and is insisting that penance by people whose ancestors benefited from the slave trade “must be tangible and not limited merely to pious admissions of regret”.

Patterson, who served as Jamaica’s sixth and longest-serving head of Government, from 1992 to 2006, issued the very forceful views in a statement to mark tomorrow’s observation of Emancipation Day.

Speaking in his capacity as statesman in residence at the PJ Patterson Institute for Africa-Caribbean Advocacy, the former prime minister said that reparative justice for slavery remains a remedy to which the descendants of the enslaved are entitled, “even as we explore new dimensions of our Emancipation and continue to push the boundaries of excellence and achievement within the realms of our sovereignty”.

Following is the full text of Patterson’s statement.

“On this Emancipation Day we celebrate and solemnly recall emancipation from chattel slavery, the most sustained and barbaric violation of human rights in the history of mankind. For centuries enslaved Africans paid the price of Emancipation with their blood, sweat, and tears. Even after the promulgation of the Abolition Act, they had to pay the slave owners through forced labour.

There are those who would have us forget these criminal atrocities as they seek to deny their complicity in a global system of greed-driven inequities. Their atonement must be tangible and not limited merely to pious admissions of regret.

Reparative justice for these crimes against humanity remain a remedy to which we, the descendants of the enslaved, are entitled, even as we explore new dimensions of our Emancipation and continue to push the boundaries of excellence and achievement within the realms of our sovereignty.

The process of liberation over hundreds of years is indelibly etched in the psyche as descendants of the people who transitioned from slavery to formal freedom. Emancipation was an unforgettably profound change in their circumstances, but it was a first step because we the people of Africa, the Caribbean, and the Diaspora are yet to realise in full the dream of true freedom.

The PJ Patterson Institute for Africa-Caribbean Advocacy is convinced that full human emancipation requires freedom from all forms of discrimination and subjugation which retard the attainment of the development potential of the African and descendant people.

The movement towards that full emancipation is a work in progress which must involve the wrongdoer and the victim. It is we, so grievously exploited, who must find the strength and ingenuity to lead this charge relentlessly.

The PJ Patterson Institute for Africa-Caribbean Advocacy appeals for urgent attention to remain steadfastly focused on the unfulfilled mission of dismantling the remaining vestiges of systemic discrimination that have persisted in the post-Emancipation era through various entrenched forms of political, social, and economic exclusion.

From inequitable access to land, shelter, health, and education to unfair wages for labour, restrictive practices have been systemically embedded in national and international arrangements since Emancipation nearly two centuries ago. Today, they continue to be reflected in global power configurations that serve to constrain the ability of our people to achieve their legitimate right to global decision-making and economic development.

Entire nations and disadvantaged groups of people in Africa, the Caribbean, and their diaspora remain trapped in universal structural inequalities that have persisted for far too long.

So Emancipation Day is not only an occasion for reflection, but more importantly, a moment to summon resolute internationally coordinated actions by Africans everywhere to complete the liberation process by promoting our true heritage and playing a leading role in designing a just political, social, and economic international order for all people.

Emancipation requires total freedom from the bonds of mental incarceration. It demands fully emancipated minds to release the creative potential to dream, to aspire, to build, and to excel. Constructing social, cultural, economic, and political bridges that span the Middle Passage and connect people in Africa and its diaspora with their past, present, and future is a mission that still beckons our collective and active participation.

The PJ Patterson Institute for Africa-Caribbean Advocacy is committed to this task and will engage in building alliances to forge the global consensus required for the achievement of this mission. In the pursuit of these constructive tasks, we invite global collaboration across nationalities and races.

May it be a memorable Emancipation Day 2022.”