GREAT BAY – Ralph Cantave celebrated Emancipation Day with a book launch, presenting “21 & Savage” at the SXM Hospitality Educational Institute on Sunday. Art pieces created by Leola Cotton (artist and tattooist) were on display, and the night was graced with speeches and poetry – highlighting the author, his book, Emancipation and the importance of supporting “our own”.
“One of the things that I want to highlight, which is the core of the work I do, the two books I wrote, and every other book I plan to write, is that we have to support our own,” Cantave explained, “With this book and with many of the projects I plan to do, I always try to put other people on as well.”
“One of the things that we’ve always heard, and personally I’m getting tired of hearing, is that St. Maarten has talent. And I’m only tired of hearing it, because we’re not doing what we can to support, harness, and make sure all the talent that we’ve had for at least the past twenty years is able to make it on a major scale.”
“It’s not so often we see one of our own make it when that person comes from a poor family with a not so ideal last name, or probably even (which is historically correct as well), the “wrong” skin color.” “Let me be the first to tell you that, that cannot work no longer for us, especially our generation.”
“For too long, we have allowed ourselves to fall into the trap of thinking that we can get out of the barrel by ourselves”, but “I believe that the only way it’s possible is through unity.”
Photo Caption: Author Ralph Cantave presented his latest book “21 & Savage” to Minister of Tourism and Economic Affairs Mellissa Arrindell-Doncher on Monday. The Minister extended her appreciation to the author and urged him to keep writing and working on new literary projects and to keep being a good example for his peers and St. Maarten’s youth. Photo contributed
Source: TODAY http://today.sx/news/cantave-launches-book/
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