The Tribune

By Alicia 

Wallace

After seeing Entou Pearl Springer’s “Freedom Morning Come” on Emancipation Day in Trinidad, I posed its central question to people I know through friendships, scholarship, and activism. What you gonna do with your freedom? Everyone was intrigued by the question, where it came from, and where it would take them as they explored it. It seemed to be clear to every person I asked that there is no simple answer to the question. It is received with the weight of responsibility that is difficult to ignore. The question itself imposes a directive of sorts, and it is for us to determine what we are called to do with the freedom we have today. This week, I am sharing more of the responses I received to the question.

Freedom, privilege, and responsibility

One respondent pointed to the privilege that is inherent in certain versions freedom, and the fact that there is a division between people with varying degrees of freedom and privilege that leads people to act only in their own best interest, ignoring the plights of others.

They said: “A privilege that may come with freedom is the ability to turn your head away from other people, but true freedom comes with knowing that what you do in community matters. Colonisers used their freedom to oppress others to get more, but true freedom comes with responsibility to others, lifting each other up.”

Freedom to experience pleasure

Reflecting on this reality and their own freedom, they added, “I am using freedom to live my life with as much authenticity as possible—to love, to experience joy and pleasure, and to exist, even in the same space as bigotry and deliberate misinterpretation and abuse of the Word of God and abuse of other people. I am living with the determination to discover and harness pleasure and not apologise for it. I demand the freedom to exist within this duality and not expecting it to come with shame or an ax to drop at any moment. The freedom to see a slow-falling ax and still live as though it will never drop.”

Dawn Demeritte shared that she sees freedom as “a blessing to be able to do things that [her] ancestors had to fight to do”. She said: “I absolutely do not give in to capitalism if I can help it.”

Freedom, to Ms. Demeritte, is a way of life. She said: “When I wake up every morning, instead of rushing to get into the grind, I have a slow morning. I move at a ridiculously slow pace. I read a chapter of a book, I drink my herbal blend or matcha, I do my spiritual work, sometimes I sit on the balcony and just enjoy nature and then I slowly start my day. I rest when my body tells me to. I make time for joy, constantly filling the cup of my inner child. I let my senses guide my day.”

This is, of course, far from the reality of many. The freedom most of us have now is not absolutely or limitless, and it takes strategy, commitment, and specific action to build a life within which freedom can take this shape. There are still the everyday demands that come with living here, under the existing circumstances and with the specific needs and desires we have.

“I don’t restrict myself to certain experiences because that’s how it’s always been done. What’s good for a white person is good enough for me too. Don’t get me wrong I have responsibilities but I don’t let capitalism tell me how to live my life. I rest like it’s my birthright because it is. I work but when I’ve been sitting down for too long I close up and I go and live my life because I only have one shot to do it,” Ms Demeritte said.

Education as a path to freedom

Living as though we are free is a skill we need to build. It is one we have to practice. Freedom and lives of freedom look and feel differently from one person to another. We do not have all the same dreams. We do not all have the same responsibilities. There are places where our dreams and responsibilities intersect, giving us opportunities to work together, and there are places where we need to create what we want. This becomes more difficult as we get older and learn the ways of the world in rigid ways, believing they cannot change. It is important that children are equipped with the tools to imagine, to create, and to use their skills and ideas for themselves and one another.

Shara Goldsmith said: “With my freedom, I create diverse and equitable spaces where all children are respected, valued, and protected. With my freedom I advocate for the transformation of education and mental health institutions into holistic spaces of compassion and dignity. I am free, and so, I carve a path of acceptance, safety, and belonging, upon which others may trod together in community. With my freedom, I cultivate a life of purpose, peace, and play.”

Freedom to create change

As we gain greater access to education beyond the classroom, we receive information that is not a part of the national programming of citizens. It becomes more clear to us that the school curriculum is insufficient preparation for life anywhere, especially if we intend to do anything more than be cogs in the wheels of capitalism and colonialism. While everyone does not have the time and energy to challenge systems of inequality, there are people who are making intentional decisions in their study, work, and social networking to understand the world we are in what it takes to change it.

Ashawnté Russell said: “With my freedom, I’m fighting for justice, and not only the kind that lives in history books but the kind we must still claim today. I use it to push for climate justice in a world where those least responsible for the crisis bear the heaviest burdens. My freedom allows me to raise my voice for not just The Bahamas but the Caribbean, for the young end young at heart, for islands on the frontlines, for the communities whose struggles are too often ignored.”

“I walk in the footsteps of ancestors who couldn’t speak freely or with conviction,” she continued. “Now I sit at tables, organise across borders, and demand action from governments and global leaders. My freedom fuels this work, not just as a right I’ve inherited but as a responsibility I carry. True emancipation means not just surviving systems of oppression, but transforming them.”

Amber Turner said, “I am using my freedom to challenge systems that continue to deny freedom to others. Freedom, to me, is not just the absence of chains, but the presence of access to clean air, safe water, stable land, and a future you can plan for. I have committed my freedom to climate work, because the same colonial-era exploitation used to justify slavery is alive today in the exploitation of people and ecosystems.”

“I conduct research, communicate, and advocate for policies that address the needs of communities most affected by the climate crisis and who have contributed the least to it. I use my freedom to amplify the voices of those still fighting for theirs including marginalised youth, whose lives are impacted by environmental precarity. What am I doing with my freedom? I’m trying to make sure it’s not just mine,” Ms. Turner said.

Aneesah Abdullah said, “With my freedom, I will continue working to ensure that the rights, dignity, and voices of those on the margins—particularly religious minorities and underrepresented communities in The Bahamas (and on an international level). To the degree possible, I hope to continue to use my freedom to create/support the creation of space for all to be able to fully realize their human rights.”

Freedom to forge new paths

The freedom of our ancestors who were enslaved is different from the freedom we have now, and this means that we can and must use ours in new ways. Every generation has had to face daily challenges, look to the work of people before them for guidance, and envision a better, more equitable world. Every step forward requires acknowledgement of the past, respect for the people who struggled before and for us, and understanding the tactics used.

Tanicia Pratt said: “I’ve been using my freedom to connect with my ancestors, and do what they couldn’t. I don’t deny myself rest, joy, and self-expression. I dream about the world I want to live in and find ways of making that a small possibility now.”

Marjahn Finlayson said: “I’d go far as I can. See all I can see. My freedom looks different from my ancestors, but I’m building on the foundation that they laid out. Freedom from oppression in the form of slavery and physical labour to oppression in the form of white supremacist patriarchal capitalism. If I was free from the system, I would rest on the beach. I would teach.”

In the context that we live in, I imagine how it feels to fly while climbing a mountain,” Ms Finalyson continued. “Trying to live without fear and accepting consequences as they come when I do the right thing in my heart. The circumstances have changed but hundreds of years later, when I think about my enslaved ancestors, I think about prominent movements and leaders. Freedom comes from freeing others and ourselves.”