Always a Chief Servant, Makandal Daaga, passed away on Monday August 8th.
The man who raised the level of black consciousness in Trinidad and Tobago through political activism since his days as a student of the University of the West Indies had been ailing for sometime.
He formed the National Joint Actuon Committee (NJAC) in 1969 and it became pivotal of the Black Power Movement of the 70’s, during which Daaga’s sense of nationalism showed itself in the historic March to Caroni on March 12th, 1970 under the banner “Indians and Africans unite.”
Daaga and NJAC led thousands of people who demonstrated continuously from February to April demanding fundamental changes as well as the unity of Africans and the Indians, whom he saw as victims of the divide and rule.
He was arrested under a State of Emergency, as a result of his activism.
Daaga also campaigned heavily for August 1st to be declared a national holiday as "Emancipation Day."
He was born Geddes Granger in Laventille and lived there, on Laventille Road, at the end of Quarry Street, until he passed away on Monday.
He leaves to mourn, his wife, Liselli Daaga, their four children and many grand children and his legacy which cannot be told in just a few paragraphs.
