Panel kicks off common digital sequence by The Haitian Times and neighborhood companions
By Sam Bojarski A person bears the Haitian flag at a June 2020 Black Lives Matter protest in Brooklyn. Photo by Vania Andre
For greater than 200 years, Haiti’s independence story has impressed African-Americans, from Frederick Douglas to Langston Hughes and the Rev. Al Sharpton.
“The Haitian Revolution is the original Black Lives Matter movement,” Marlene Daut, a University of Virginia African Diaspora Studies professor, stated throughout a digital discussion board on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, organized by The Haitian Times and Fonkoze. “This past summer when we saw Black Lives Matter protests, this was the display of the revolutionary movement coming alive,” Daut stated.
During the Jan. 18 discussion board, titled “1804: Haiti’s Independence and its Relevance Today,” Daut and different individuals drew parallels between the Haitian Revolution and the present actions to eradicate social injustice and systemic inequality. It was the primary in a sequence of free digital boards The Haitian Times plans to host in 2021.
Haiti’s first structure, printed in 1805, took the revolutionary step of abolishing slavery, Daut famous. Yet the nation has confronted a persistent battle for true empowerment, because of components like social inequality and neocolonialism, she stated.
Also on the panel was Carine Roenen, govt director of the Fonkoze Foundation, a nonprofit “bank for the poor” based in 1994. The basis has labored to empower disenfranchised rural Haitians, giving them the monetary and coaching providers they should overcome poverty.
Fighting systemic inequality in Haiti, as King did within the United States, entails overcoming the structural components that result in poverty, Roenen stated. Fonkoze pursues such options as offering the funding and coaching rural residents must rebuild their properties and ship kids to highschool.
To restore religion in Haiti’s future could require a social motion just like the civil rights motion.
“The way Dr. King managed to create that movement, really mobilizing a whole range of people from a wide variety of backgrounds, we would need something like that,” Roenen stated.
The panel additionally touched on the visibility of Haitian symbols at Black Lives Matter protests as inspiration for demonstrators and the potential for Haitian-American representation within the Biden administration to raise Haitian issues.
“The Haitian Revolution really is a movement that has captured the imagination of freedom seekers, activists, advocates for liberation and certainly writers, authors and historians all over the globe,” stated Macollvie J. Neel, managing editor of The Haitian Times, who moderated the panel.
Going ahead, the Revolution “will inspire continued service to our communities worldwide,” Neel stated after the panel.
Stay tuned for details about future panels on The Haitian Times Facebook and Twitter pages.
Nicole Alcindor contributed to this report.
Sam Bojarski
Sam Bojarski has been masking Haiti and its diaspora for The Haitian Times since 2018. He is at present masking New York’s Haitian neighborhood as a Report for America corps member.
