00:00 Well tonight, Khafre Kambon, Director of Regional and Pan-African Affairs of the Emancipation
00:06 Support Committee joins us. Good evening Mr. Kambon.
00:09 Yes, good evening.
00:11 Mr. Kambon.
00:12 Thank you for having me.
00:15 Thank you for joining us. Mr. Kambon, how do you view the Prime Minister's announcement
00:18 that Emancipation Day is to be called African Emancipation Day?
00:23 Okay, well it is something that we heard was in the works. We ourselves, as the Emancipation
00:36 Support Committee, had not requested it. But you know, it is the Prime Minister's prerogative
00:46 to do that. But there's a reason why we have not, for all the years, the decades that we
00:56 have been organizing the Emancipation Commemoration, we followed in the footsteps of those of our
01:06 ancestors from way back in 1838, who were first able to commemorate and celebrate their
01:17 emancipation. And we also follow in the footsteps of early pioneers in the 21st century, in
01:31 the 20th century, people like Muzumbo Laza, he was one of the main figures. He's a person
01:37 because he is the one who brought that commemoration into the 20th century. And that was, so in
01:54 a sense, we did not feel any need to have anything attached to the name because it was
02:01 very, very clear to everybody, based on the whole history behind it, and based on all
02:07 the education that went with it, that what we were talking about was the emancipation
02:14 of Africans based on a declaration in 1834, which came into effect in 1838, you know,
02:27 because you had a four-year period of what was called apprenticeship for the six years,
02:33 in some cases. And as a result, we did not see the need to talk about African Emancipation
02:45 Day, even though the day is about the emancipation of Africans. And I don't think there has been
02:56 any confusion in the society about it. You look at what happens on Emancipation Day,
03:03 and you see most of the people by far who come out for the commemoration are people
03:12 of, you know, people who are Africans from the society. And like all national holidays,
03:20 because whether it is Indian Arrival Day, and you have Africans participating, you have
03:25 Emancipation Day, and people of Indian descent, other people in the society, wherever they
03:32 come from, you see them participating. But everybody is very conscious that they are
03:38 there because of the historic event of the emancipation of Africans. There has never
03:47 been a doubt, so there has not been a need to come and say, well, African Emancipation
03:54 Day. I'm sure as a journalist, you have been to the activities before Emancipation
04:02 Day, that lead up to Emancipation Day. You have been to Emancipation commemorations on
04:09 the day itself, and you see the response to it, and you realize that the people who are
04:16 into it heart and soul, the people for whom it is part of their DNA, are the people, are
04:25 African people.
04:26 So do you think that this change will make any difference at all, whether, you know,
04:31 in the psyche of the people of African descent or the population at large?
04:36 Well, any change of name raises questions in people's minds. Why the change?
04:48 The Prime Minister said it was to ensure that there was no confusion, as has been seen in
04:55 other countries, where there is, you know, blurring. So it was just to ensure that there
05:01 was no confusion.
05:02 Well, I have been involved in this for several decades. And from the very beginning, even
05:09 before there was an Emancipation Support Committee, and the emancipation became a major celebration
05:19 in Trinidad and Tobago, this is from the 19th century, right to now. And there has been
05:24 never any confusion that I am aware of, in terms of what the day represents. It represents
05:32 a day to commemorate the freedom that Africans achieved back in 1838, you know, on August
05:45 1st, 1838. And I stress 1838, because even though the declaration was made in 1834, you
05:57 know, but it gave another period of what was obnoxiously called indentureship. It means
06:08 that they just really extended our servitude under apprenticeship, sorry, I said indentureship,
06:18 apprenticeship, sorry. So they just extended a period of servitude under a different name,
06:26 you know, and therefore, we don't recognize, just as our ancestors did not recognize Emancipation
06:34 Day until 1838, when that, what was called apprenticeship, which was the extension of
06:41 enslavement, ended. So from August 1st, 1838, it was called, you know, it was recognized
06:51 by us for the first time as Emancipation Day. And from then until now, you have had it commemorated
07:02 as Emancipation Day. There was no need then to say, well, African Emancipation Day, and
07:08 you go back through the records, and you would see that it was never identified as African
07:16 Emancipation Day, simply because there was absolutely no reason to identify it as such.
07:23 It was quite clear who was emancipated. It was quite clear who was taken. And that's
07:29 why we have stuck to what our ancestors did before us, and we continue in that tradition.
07:37 Well, thank you very much, Mr. Kambon, for sharing your thoughts with us as it relates
07:41 to this name change. Thank you. Okay. Thank you.
07:46 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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