Dear Editor,
I read the leader of Opposition's Emancipation Message and must confess my disappointment. I find it extremely disheartening to learn that one who had at one time served this country as minister of education and later prime minister — albeit briefly — one who at this very moment is asking Jamaicans to consider him as the next prime minister, it would appear, has very little functional knowledge of the country's history.
Andrew Holness's message attempted to provide a historical framing of his political dissertation only to end up dismally failing the history component. To begin with, Emancipation Day was August 1, 1834 and would have been 181 years ago and not 177 years as he indicated. On August 1, 1834 the Emancipation Proclamation was read that legally ended the system of negro slavery in the British colonies in the West Indies. The proclamation outlined a four-year period of Apprenticeship for the former slaves to their existing sugar estates to expire at midnight on July 31, 1838. During this apprenticeship, the former slaves would be paid for their labour and, in the process, prepared for the world of full freedom.
Holness then stated in his piece: "Let us recall with respect, pride and veneration, Sam Sharpe, Paul Bogle and George William Gordon, whose struggle, blood, and ultimate sacrifice led to the reading of the Emancipation Proclamation." The problem with his comment is that, while Sam Sharpe was an active participant in the 1831 Christmas Rebellion in the parish of St James, Paul Bogle and George William Gordon would have been 13 or 14 year old in 1834 when the Emancipation Proclamation was read. The history does not place either as active players involved in any type of rebellious activities up to and including the 1834-1838 period of time. Bogle and Gordon would later lead the St Thomas Rebellions of 1865 and then hanged by Governor Eyre for their roles.
Andrew Holness may be entitled to his own political opinion, but not to his own facts. At the very least, whether he wrote this himself or not, by presenting these as his words he takes responsibility for any inaccuracies.
Richard Hugh Blackford
Coral Springs, Florida
richardhblackford@gmail.com
Holness fails at history
-->
I read the leader of Opposition's Emancipation Message and must confess my disappointment. I find it extremely disheartening to learn that one who had at one time served this country as minister of education and later prime minister — albeit briefly — one who at this very moment is asking Jamaicans to consider him as the next prime minister, it would appear, has very little functional knowledge of the country's history.
Andrew Holness's message attempted to provide a historical framing of his political dissertation only to end up dismally failing the history component. To begin with, Emancipation Day was August 1, 1834 and would have been 181 years ago and not 177 years as he indicated. On August 1, 1834 the Emancipation Proclamation was read that legally ended the system of negro slavery in the British colonies in the West Indies. The proclamation outlined a four-year period of Apprenticeship for the former slaves to their existing sugar estates to expire at midnight on July 31, 1838. During this apprenticeship, the former slaves would be paid for their labour and, in the process, prepared for the world of full freedom.
Holness then stated in his piece: "Let us recall with respect, pride and veneration, Sam Sharpe, Paul Bogle and George William Gordon, whose struggle, blood, and ultimate sacrifice led to the reading of the Emancipation Proclamation." The problem with his comment is that, while Sam Sharpe was an active participant in the 1831 Christmas Rebellion in the parish of St James, Paul Bogle and George William Gordon would have been 13 or 14 year old in 1834 when the Emancipation Proclamation was read. The history does not place either as active players involved in any type of rebellious activities up to and including the 1834-1838 period of time. Bogle and Gordon would later lead the St Thomas Rebellions of 1865 and then hanged by Governor Eyre for their roles.
Andrew Holness may be entitled to his own political opinion, but not to his own facts. At the very least, whether he wrote this himself or not, by presenting these as his words he takes responsibility for any inaccuracies.
Richard Hugh Blackford
Coral Springs, Florida
richardhblackford@gmail.com
Holness fails at history
-->