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.
[Teresa Heinz Kerry] shared the stage with two Haitian women, Aderadle Jules, 56, who had one family member to die in the floods and is missing seven, and Desita Fevrier, 52, who lost all eight of her family members in the Gonaives flood. Heinz Kerry first addressed the audience in French, which the predominately Creole speaking audience responded to favorably. Heinz Kerry said she did not know how the Haitian community was set up to handle disasters of the magnitude of Tropical Storm Jeanne. After acknowledging that she was not familiar with every Haitian issue, Heinz Kerry expressed concern about the United States' repatriation policy regarding Haitians. "I don't honestly know what the policy is for Haitians and Cubans when they come by boat to this country. What I don't understand is why do Haitians once they land have a different kind of treatment where they are held up for so long," Heinz Kerry pondered, as she drew applause from the audience.
Caribbean lIterary production is being redefined in the wake of recent cahanges in the larger publishing houses that have traditionally published Caribbean literature. Macmillan Caribbean Writers, Launched in 2003 at the Calabash Literary festival in Jamaica, has opened its series with an impressive list of plubblications including new editions of Caribbean fiction from established writers, the Caribbean Classics series, which includes unplublished fiction and autobiograph7y from the nineteeth and early twentieth century, and new writting from as yet unplublished writers. Other very small Caribbean publishers such as Arawak and Twin Guinep continue to plublish reference works and some literary criticism, and the plublications lists of the University of the West Indies Press continues to grow; Introduction to Caribbean literary production.
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.
In the current crisis, the voice of Black America has been inconsistent or hushed. While the Congressional Black Caucus has been outspoken in challenging the [Bush] administration on its entire attitude toward Haiti, there has not been a widespread outcry in our communities. Our voices need to be heard insisting that, one, U.S. and French troops be immediately withdrawn and replaced by soldiers from neutral countries, that is, countries that were not involved in destabilizing the [Aristide] presidency; two, the thugs of the armed opposition need to be immediately disarmed and the convicted criminals among them must be imprisoned; and three, The Caribbean Community or CARICOM should be used as a vehicle to move a national reconciliation program that ultimately results in free and fair elections.
Although the program has a long, academic-sounding formal tide, "Sugar, Slavery and Imperialism: How Sugar Drove the Forced Migration of Africans to the Caribbean and the Impact of the Haitian Revolution," it is an informal presentation aimed at general audiences. This is a rare opportunity to learn more about Haiti's former status, as the richest, rather than the poorest, country in the hemisphere; about Haitian participation in the American Revolutionary War and aid to other independence struggles; about the brilliant diplomatic and military leadership of Toussaint L'Ouverture, Dessalines, Petion and others, who defeated the forces of Napoleon, Britain and Spain together; about how the Haitian victory caused Napoleon to sell the vast Louisiana territory to the United States, and about the great heroism of ordinary Haitians that was required for victory to be won. (The Louisiana Purchase, which will be commemorated on specially minted nickel coins in 2004, also opened the way for an expanded domestic "slave trade" within the United States, which was even larger than the former Atlantic trade).
Human Rights in Haiti: A Work in Progress" is a 22-minute abridged Cliffs Notes version of the history of Haitian unrest. Though it is beautifully edited and has some rather moving imagery, the film ends suddenly, which quite frankly took the audience off guard. During the Q&A session following the films, the un-packed audience of 10 people (which included the filmmakers) had a few burning questions, some of which were not completely answered. "Who's the opponent? Who's the evil person here?" "It doesn't make that clear," "There are things that aren't really clear here" were just a few questions the audience members asked.
