Guyana consulate's Emancipation observance in New York shadowed by ferry tragedy
Diplomats and legislators honoured the ancestors' struggle, as UN envoy Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett renewed the Caribbean's call for reparations.
NEW YORK, United States. This year's Emancipation observance hosted by Guyana's Consulate General in New York was more sombre than usual following the loss of life in the MV Barima ferry disaster.
Consul General Ambassador Michael E. Brotherson led a moment of silence at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn on July 30. "Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with them during this difficult time," he said.
Resistance and resilience
Brotherson recalled how enslaved Africans resisted, "whether through open rebellions, such as the Berbice Revolt of 1763 under the leadership of Cuffy, or through the quiet preservation of their faith, language, traditions, and culture". He also reflected on the Village Movement established by the newly emancipated.
Marking Guyana's Diamond Jubilee of independence, he said the country's greatest strength lay "in the resilience, diversity, and unity of its people".
He said the government had launched initiatives supporting organisations representing people of African descent, and that the Guyana Development Bank would soon offer eligible citizens interest-free loans of up to G$3 million.
Call for reparations
Ambassador Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, Guyana's Permanent Representative to the UN, said she stood in solidarity with families mourning the ferry victims.
She called slavery "a great crime against humanity" and urged that reparations be addressed. "It's not about money, it's about seeking justice," she said, noting that 123 UN member states had voted for a Caribbean-sponsored resolution on reparatory justice.
'Proud to be of Guyanese descent'
State Senator Jabari Brisport, whose father is Guyanese, said: "Who would have thought when our ancestors were fighting for our emancipation against viciousness, and evil of slavery, that their descendants would be inheriting the greatest economic engine of the Caribbean."
Guyanese American Brandon Willabus, a young intern of US Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, said: "Emancipation teaches us that no obstacle is too great when people stand in solidarity against injustice."
The evening featured a libation by drummer Winston Jeggae Hoppie, dance performances by the Eclectic Dance Youth and Jermain Victor, and the US and Guyanese national anthems sung by Anthony Alleyne.
