To the eternal credit of former Prime Minister P J Patterson, in 1997 he led the way in reviving the August 1 celebration, which today marks the 187th anniversary of the emancipation of slaves in the British Empire.

By doing so Mr Patterson corrected the wrong-headed move by national leaders in 1962 to terminate August 1, ‘fus a August’, as a stand-alone public holiday celebrating the collapse of that most barbaric activity — slavery.

Today, Jamaicans are on pause from work and their usual routine.

It’s imperative that they recognise this day not just as another public holiday, but as an opportunity to honour our ancestors who suffered and struggled against great odds to eventually overcome.

We applaud the example of the people of Maidstone in the scenic, rolling hills of north-western Manchester who, as they have done for decades, are marking their freedom day with a cultural, gastronomic and musical extravaganza.

Maidstone is among the free villages that sprung up shortly after slavery ended. The people there proudly proclaim and trace their ancestry to men and women who finally gained their freedom in 1838.

Over centuries, and for profit, our forebears were kidnapped in Africa, chained, and shipped across the Atlantic in unspeakably unhealthy holds of slow-moving ships to be enslaved and ruthlessly exploited in the Caribbean and wider Americas by Europeans.

Only the fittest and strongest survived.

Many victims of disease were thrown to a watery grave. Some jumped overboard to their deaths. We will never know for sure how many displaced Africans succumbed on the so-called Middle Passage.

What we do know is that the horrendous socio-economic consequences of what’s among the very worst examples of man’s inhumanity to man remains with us to this day, not just in the Caribbean, but also in Africa.

By contrast, the economies of leading European countries, including Jamaica’s former coloniser Britain, prospered immeasurably as a result of slavery and the slave trade.

Those realities drive the just and unrelenting calls from the descendants of enslaved people for reparation.

The only positive response available to the enslaved in the 16th, 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries was to resist as best they could.

Mr Patterson reminds us in his August 1 message that, “Emancipation did not come easily. It certainly was not a favour or a gift. It was achieved through revolts, rebellions, defiance, marronage, and the daily struggle it took just to live with hope. Our proud ancestors gave their lives so that all future generations could live in freedom.”

The former prime minister is on point in also reminding us that, while the physical shackles were broken, the struggle to free our minds of mental slavery continues and must continue.

It’s an aspect that must not be pushed to the back burner as we draw ever closer to parliamentary general elections.

In that regard, we applaud the positive messages of our two political party leaders on this day urging everyone to act together, unified, in building a brighter future in honour of our forebears.

It’s a message they should also take with them to political platforms and every nook and cranny of the campaign trail, even as they compete for the power and the glory.