Commenting on the sanctity of the family, the president delivers a clear message in the song, "Pap Divoce," for which his cabinet has already delivered an entertaining video. [Mickey] has taken note of the disposition of the nation's young in regard to Haiti's current state and delivered a very club friendly response in the melodious "Non, non, non". Presidential advisor Wyclef Jean makes a bullet-riddled entrance in "Men nou" that should have dedicated supporters either rushing for shelter or the nearest ballot box. Djazz La Vol. 5 is probably the very best effort this talented drummer/producer has ever released.
State Rep. Marie St. Fleur, lauded by Haitians across the U.S. for her pioneering role as the nation's first Haitian-American lawmaker, gained further strides in the Massachusetts Legislature in 2003. A key lieutenant to powerful House Speaker Tom Finneran, St. Fleur was once again elevated to a leadership position, this time as chairwoman of the Legislature's Committee on Education.
The last week of January 2005, the Fifth Annual World Social Forum was held in Porto Alegre, Brazil, bringing together 150,000 grassroots leaders, intellectuals and activists to discuss how the world can be made more free and more just. The conference's theme was "Another World Is Possible," and the speakers and participants showed that another, more fair treatment of Haiti is possible. The conference's keynote speaker, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, discussed the debt that the world owes Haiti in a press conference. He acknowledged that Haiti's Constitutional President had been kidnapped, and declared that he and other Latin American Presidents understood that there could be no solution to Haiti's crisis without President Aristide. At a workshop in Porto Alegre, called "Haiti, the International Community's Dictatorship," speakers from Haiti, the U.S. and the Caribbean led a discussion of the human rights crisis in Haiti, and explored ways that people from outside Haiti could promote the country's sovereignty and the return of its democracy.
Boston First Baptist Church and Mattapan's Saint Angela's Catholic Church choirs uplifted the service with songs. Rev. Father Charles Gabriel of Dorchester's St Matthew Catholic Church gave thanks to God for the country's blessings. Rev. Gary Theodat of Golgotha Seventh Day Adventist of Roslindale asked for deliverance for Haiti, while Reverend Nicholas Homicile of the Baptist Tabernacle of the Evangelical Voice prayed for unity. The President of the Association-of Haitian Pastors of New England, Rev. Pastor Paul Daniel of Evangelical Baptist Church of the North Coast, closed the worship with a prayer of consecration and the final blessings. The reflection part of the gathering ended with a series of short and precise messages.
On Saturday, February 24, at Artisan's World Art Gallery in Cambridge, Professor Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban of the University of Rhode Island, presented on Haitian anthropologist Anténor [Firmin]'s book, De l'Egalité des Races Humaines (Anthropologie positive) (Paris, Librairie Cotillon, 1885), a powerful refutation of the work of prominent 19th century French anthropologist Arthur de Gobineau, who had argued the "natural" inferiority of the black race in the The Inequality of Human Race.
"We select one or two villages to host cultural activities which conclude at the end of October with the grand celebration of the International Creole Day," said George Alphonse, poet, historian, F.R.C. board member, and the chairperson of St. Lucia Creole Heritage Month Committee. "This year, the committee had chosen four villages to hold those activities for the month: Anse-La-Ray, Dennery, Laborie, and Monchy. This is to contribute to the social-economic development of these villages."
Throughout the year, UNESCO had organized many commemorative events in close cooperation with its member states" and governmental and non-governmental organizations, such as the launching of the research and information program "the Forgotten Slaves," an exhibit at the UNESCO's headquarters in Stockholm Sweden entitled "Lest We Forget: Triumph on Slavery," the Ceremony of the Award of Toussaint Louverture Prize, the International Conference on the theme "Issues of Memory: Coming to terms with the Slave Trade and Slavery," and the International Symposium on the Slave Trade Archives Project in Havana, Cuba, and so on. The worldwide, yearlong commemoration of the 200th Anniversary of the Haitian Slave Revolution Victory was very important for Haitians and Blacks all over the world. The 1791 revolution, which took place during the 18th Century, beside the American Revolution of 1774 and the French Revolution of 1789, was excluded for years from the pages of world history textbooks, despite its contribution to the abolition of slavery in the world.
Regarding Haiti's educational history, two visionaries Elie Dubois and Louis Joseph Janvier are worth mentioning. [Fabre Geffrard] chose Dubois as Minister of Education in 1859 who established a national school structure at all levels, with a focus on solid foundation at the elementary level by opening Ecole Normale Primaire et Ecole Normale Supérieure. Louis Joseph Janvier (1855-1919) a respected Haitian scholar, trained in medicine, a diplomat in London and Paris, envisioned mandatory elementary schools in urban and rural areas as well as in Masonic temples. Educating the girls and empowering women through voting and having them teach Haitian values were his priorities also.
Rep. St. Fleur and the panelists also called for a change in the Bush administration's policy denying safe harbor to Haitians fleeing Haiti for the shores of Florida by boat. In a strong show of support for St. Fleur's resolutions, representatives of presidential hopeful [John Kerry] circulated a statement from the candidate supporting the presence of a multinational police force in Haiti including police from the United States, OAS and CARICOM. The statement also called for U.S. funded training and support for Haiti's police force, the lifting current sanctions on aid to Haitians for health and education programs, and renewed pressure on international financial institutions to assist the Haitian government in confronting these issues. Kerry's statement went on to state, "If we hope to lead the nations of the world toward a more democratic future, we must act now to protect a fragile democracy in our own backyard."
On January 7, the Haitian Americans United, Inc. (H.A.U.) will hold its fifth Annual Haitian Independence Day Gala in Lombado's in Randolph starting at 7 p.m. The gala will honor Haiti's Founding Fathers, especially the General-Emperor Jean Jacques Dessalines, on the occasion, this year, of the 200th anniversary of his assassination in Port-au-Prince. The gala will also commemorate 202 years of the proclamation of Haiti's independence. In Providence, Rhode Island, the Haitian Independence Day was to be celebrated at the new Haitian Bicentennial Memorial Plaza in Roger Williams Park starting at 9 a.m. H.A.U., in collaboration with several other Haitian organizations, was to lay a memorial wreath at the foot of the second Haitian memorial in the United States.
Just as dance forms originating from Saint-Domingue made their way into southern culture, religion also left its indelible marks. It is well documented that the Vodou religion in New Orleans began to blossom around 1800 with Sanite Dede, a free woman of color who arrived from Saint-Domingue. The Saint-Domingan Vodou priestess was replaced in 1820 by New Orleans's native Marie Laveau, who became legendary. Haitians were for the most part Catholic; their presence in the various U.S. cities where they settled gave rise to the establishment of a number of biracial congregations. In Baltimore, in 1829, four colored Saint-Domingan women--Elizabeth Lange, Marie Magdelene Baas, Marie Rose Boegue, and Marie Therese Duchemin--established the Oblate Sisters of Providence, the world's first Black religious community, and founded the School for Colored Girls.
Black nationalist Marcus Garvey, founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), emphasized the relevance of Haiti's historical past because Haiti was the land where the Negroes repelled the Whites and established an independent republic. In the same vein, writers of the Harlem Renaissance embraced Haiti's history and culture. Claude McKay's work, for example, is replete with tales of Haiti's heroic past. [Langston Hughes], perhaps the most central figure of the Harlem Renaissance movement, having read of "Toussaint L'Ouverture, Dessalines, King Christophe, proud Black names," made a pilgrimage to Haiti.
[Paul, Franck Laraque], Franck's brother and co-author, was not present in Boston for the event, but his spirit was represented by Lesly René, Laforèt Petit-Frère and [Jacques Antoine Jean] who read his poems from the bilingual, English-Creole anthology Open Gate: An Anthology of Haitian Creole Poetry (Curbstone Press, 2002) which Paul Laraque edited and other volumes (see Boston Haitian Reporter of May 2002). A revolutionary poet, he once corresponded with the celebrated French Surrealist guru André Breton, and was among the entourage of poets and intellectuals (René Depestre, Jacques Stephen Alexis, Théodore Baker, Gérald Bloncourt, Gérard Chenet, Pierre Mabile, etc.) who welcomed Breton in Port-au-Prince during the latter's famous visit to Haiti in December 1945.
Bon Nouvel, Haiti's largest publication and oldest Creole magazine presented a historical overview of Haiti's flag in its May 2003 issue. To my surprise, there wasn't a so- called "creation" of the flag on May 18. There was rather a presentation that occurred during the month of May in a congress held in Arcahaie. Like Thomas Madiou, Haiti's renowned historian, Bon Nouvel did not write May 18 as the date of the presentation of the flag.
As I reflect on last year's political, social, and ecological events in Haiti and observing a future that looks dim for the younger generation, I want to take the same position that Dr. Rosalvo Bobo (1873-1929), a political leader, a physician, a researcher on herbal medicine, took at the eve of Haiti's centennial. I am not celebrating. Since January 1st is also a World Day of Peace, I would rather peacefully reflect on the following translation of Dr. Bobo's centennial speech addressed circa the end of 1903.
Who is it that speaks for our private face? Those of us who take communion at Mass on Sunday morning still intoxicated with the echoes of beating drums from the Vodun ceremony the night before. You know the saying: We are 95% Roman Catholic and 95% percent Vodun. What is it that makes a former Catholic priest more apt to run a country than say, a Vodun priest, a Hougan? To most of us, this would be an atrocity. The country would certainly fall into the wrath of hell if this were to take place. We are trying to move forward not backward, the voices of decency would say. And besides, you would not find a well-educated, well-traveled Vodun priest in the mountains of Ayiti. Ayiti's vision is found in Vodun. Not the religion that it has become, but the very essence of the spirituality. It is the essence of the Ayitian people. After all, these were the conditions under which Ayiti gained its independence. Our country was formed in a ritual - a ritual that called on the guidance and protection of our ancestors who survived the journey from Guinea, as they say in Vodun, and those who were indigenous to the land. The essence of Vodun is to give honor to those whose shoulders we stand on. It is a reverence to the unseen forces that truly determine our fate as a country and it is a time-tested method handed down to us to ensure a successful life.
Mr. [Kevin Murray] explained that one of the best ways to help the people of Haiti is to buy pigs for them. This is what the money they raised will be used for. The students learned that not too long ago in Haiti all the pigs were lost due to a flu outbreak. He told the students that in Haiti these new pigs would be bred. Some of the animals would be used for food and others would be sold to help them pay for shelter and clothing. He thanked them for their help.
Pierre Toussaint, considered the first American Black saint, is also of Saint-Domingan origin. He was born in 1778 of Haitian slaves in Saint-Domingue, and was owned by a well-educated French family, the Bérards, who brought him to New York with them in 1797 when they fled the slave uprising. While living with the family as a domestic slave, Toussaint learned to read and write and also learned how to be a hairstylist. It is said that he developed a devoted clientele among the city's social elite and was allowed to keep his earnings. Mrs. Bérard freed Toussaint before she died in 1807. Upon Mrs. Bérard's death, Toussaint married a woman from Haiti and, since they had no children of their own, they took in orphans, refugees, and other unfortunate people. In fact, he co-founded with Elizabeth Seton one of the first orphanages in New York City, and helped with fundraising for the city's first cathedral.
"Lakou Trankil" is the work of an artist quietly reflecting on the personal, the political, the light and heavy sides of Haitian life. The album's lead song, "Lakou", blends a soulfully acoustic reggae with thoughtful metaphors that borrow from the wisdom of Haiti's country folk. Belo's strong baritone seems fashioned after Bob Marley's own and this distinct quality is definitely heard when he wails "dread natty dread..." in that song's plaintive chorus. The R&B-styled "Tenza", a song about love gone bad, displays the artist's consistent ability to lend complex melodic verses into simple chord progressions. The playful "Luv to luv" features the kind of vocal precision and acrobatics that have made a star of Jamaican artist Buju Banton and is backed by a masterful blend of acoustic guitars and percussion.
Wyclef Jean - the trailblazing hip-hop artist and Haiti's answer to Jamaica's Bob Marley and Ireland's Bono - last month unveiled an ambitious new philanthropic effort aimed at bringing the power and wealth of his own celebrity - and the collective muscle of the Haitian Diaspora - to bear to help his native land. Wyclef christened the emerging non-profit "Yéle Haiti" during a tour of Haiti last month, in which he announced plans to help fund the reconstruction of schoolhouses and a vast scholarship program, among other initiatives.
