Looking at members of the audience during Mr. [Noel Alexander]'s delivery (in English), their disgust was clearly evident, as if to say..."how dare he come before this commission into our future country, Quebec and deliver a prepared speech in English." As if to underline this, a Bloc Quebecois member of parliament recently said that "...the future of Quebec should be decided only by 'Quebecois de souche...'" That was the right thing to do. (Notwithstanding the fact that some French-speaking Jewish people who support Quebec independence say that the Canadian Jewish Congress "don't speak for all Jews.)"
In fact, whenever I am accused of "playing the Race Card ", I always let folk know that I didn't deal die hand. It has been my experience that if you ask "why?" long enough eventually it will come down to race. And if it is between or amongst people of the same color, Class becomes the issue. But we can argue about that in another post at another time. With instances such as these it's tough to holler "race" because Black folk make it easy for White folk to say, "Forget it". I have heard Black folk say, "Who do they think they are? How are White folks going to raise Black children? They have no idea what it's like to be Black"! And maybe they don't . . . but they don't know what it's like to be Asian, Indian, Haitian or African either. Now I am sure there will be those who will read this and say, "My family adopts ... in fact, they adopted me!" and they will go down a list that reads like that fifth chapter of Genesis in the Bible inserting "adopt" for every "begat". And while that is good for that particular family, that family and those like it are the exception and not the rule.
"There was no trial. No formal accusations. They just dumped all of the prisoners like animals into a cage," [Jan Mapou] recalls. "they stripped us and then crammed 14 of us into a small cell. We had no idea if we would ever see our families again. We had no idea if we would even be alive from one second to the next." Tell no one "When I first started working with Jan Mapou and the Sosyete Koukouy, I knew very little about the meanings of the daces I was performing," says Nancy St. Leger, who is now the dance troupe's choreographer. "Mapou opened me up to the significance of each dance. He didn't want the dance troupe to perform anything we didn't understand." "What Mapou is promoting through his work is not just Haitian culture but what Haitian culture represents," says [Yves Colon]. "He keeps alive those ideas of beauty, harmony and black pride which are all a part of what Mapou believes is Haitian culture.
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).
Attorney Michael Etienne, Irvence St. Jean, President of United for Haiti, Sandra JeanPierre, owner of WOW Factor Weddings and Events and the Fernande Saint Jean, the host for United for Haiti Gala, enjoy a night of celebration at the United for Haiti First Annual Black Tie Gala at FIU.
"All kinds of relief funds have been raised for Haiti and I asked him [[Joe Biden]] where is all the money going," [Jacques Despinosse] said. "What I saw with my own eyes was far worse than what we have seen on television. There are over one million people living on the streets, hungry and with no proper facilities to use the bathroom. We don't need to keep sending rice to farmers or meat to fishermen. They need grain and tools, boats and fishing nets, so they can provide for their families on a regular basis."
Today Haiti is looked at as a struggling island filled with poverty and conflict. It truly gets labeled with the "Third World" stereotype. Actually, the history of Haiti is rich and shows that it was actually the home of some of the greatest heroes in the fight to end western hemisphere slavery. Haiti caused the break up of the worst form of slavery in the history of the world. This island with the largest Black population in the Caribbean has immense economic challenges. This adventure taught the Haitian survivors a great lesson: The European military machines are vulnerable and can be defeated with proper planning. When they returned to Haiti, they spread that information amongst the slave populace and the planning began. In 1791, the historical slave revolt in Haiti began. It lasted until 1804. The rebellions caused Britain to give up on the slave trade in 1807 and the rest of Europe started their withdrawal of this evil practice. Many white French settlers left Louisiana and Haiti and moved to what are now Cuba, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. Many of the free Haitians moved to New Orleans and those ties still exist. Haiti was the catalyst in the abolishment of slavery. Thank you my brother Haitians.
On March 1st and 2nd, The Riverside Church will open its doors to metropolitan New Yorkers for a Haiti Festival - a cultural and spiritual celebration of Haiti. The "Haiti Festival" will kick off Friday, March 1st with a workship service and live performances by Haitian folk and roots musicians. The Festival will continue on Saturday as Riverside Church is transformed into a traditional Caribbean marketplace alive with the rhythms and folklore of Haiti.
