Very few people have ever heard of the war between the Blacks and Mulattoes in Haiti. This was a war between light-skinned Blacks and dark skinned Blacks. Interestingly, outsiders who had a stake in dividing Haiti's victorious army engineered this war. The old adage of divide and conquer that was used and is still used. If the students at Howard University who devised the paper bag test had only read of the war between mulattoes and black in Haiti they would have been ashamed of their actions. Other African Americans immigrated to Haiti, stayed, and became prominent members of Haitian society. Hezekiah Grice was an Afro American leader, and a supporter of emigration by Blacks to Haiti. He was convinced that there would never be full emancipation for Blacks in this country. Outraged at the treatment of his people in America, he immigrated to Haiti, and became the director of Public Works in Port-Au-Prince.
The news media showed pictures of the immediate family and family friends. What I found amazing is that it appears that only light-skinned Cubans are trying to escape from their homeland. I saw the Cuban basketball team in the late Olympics. I have also seen pictures of Cubans in a television special one by Harry Belafonte. What I saw were dark-skinned Cubans having the time of their lives. It made me wonder, in light of what I have been told by African people living in Florida, that the light-skinned Cubans are more racist that some southerners. What is really going on in Cuba, and what is this Elian Gonzales issue about? The more I got into thinking this way, the more questions were raised. Why are most of the people trying to escape from Cuba light-skinned? Why are the majority of the athletics in the Olympics dark-skinned? The women's basketball team and the volleyballs teams were the bomb. They were some big, pretty sisters. I also thought of the Haitians. Why are Haitians sent back to Haiti and Cubans allowed to stay in America? They are both supposedly oppressed people. The Haitians are dark and the Cubans, who are trying to escape, light. Is there something more than meets the eye?
CIN TV, the only Caribbean TV network in the US, in association with Harlem Week 2004, is proud to announce the launching of the annual CIN Caribbean Lecture Series. The event takes place this year on Sunday, September 19 at the Schomburg Center, 515 Malcolm X Blvd., New York starting at 3 p.m. sharp. Hill's lecture will focus attention on the strategic role that Harlem and New York played in the making of the modern Caribbean, culturally, politically, and economically and the importance that Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) occupies in the history of this relationship. Garvey and the UNIA are a window through which to view the whole New York-Caribbean axis. Hill will also explore some intriguing aspects of this story that have been overlooked in asking - Why Garvey? Why Harlem? Why New York?
On August 11th, the Mayor will march in New York City's largest Dominican parade in Manhattan, which will celebrate the anniversary of The Restoration of the Dominican Constitution on August 16, 1863, when a group of patriots led by Santiago Rodriguez crossed the Dominican border from Haiti and raised the Dominican flag. The other two Dominican parades were held in the Bronx and in Brooklyn earlier in July. The reception included music by "king" of the merengue sound Oro Solido, children performing traditional folk dancing, and was attended by elected officials and representatives of the Dominican community.
