Gerard Etienne,
An Associate of DiversiPro
Gerard Etienne is a proud Canadian of Haitian origin. He says he may have left Haiti, but Haiti never left him. Following the 2010 earthquake in that country, he, along with other public service colleagues, helped to support nearly 700 Haitian families seeking refuge. His “Canadian spirit” motivates him to extend grace to his American brethren.
“In Springfield, they are eating the dogs… [Haitians] are eating the pets of the people that live there.” – Donald Trump
Before we address the culinary habits of my Kin, I wanted to begin by raising the illustrious feat of winning a war without the trappings of conventional warfare, as Haitians are poised, once again, to fight in the war for democracy in the U.S. without any act of violence. This time our sheer migrant presence might be the weapon. Once done, we can then argue about whether dogs taste like chicken, or vice versa! Oh…the inhumanity of it.
History books will inform you that Haiti is the only country in the history of the world to conduct the first and only successful slave revolution that liberated itself from white oppression. This singular feat was achieved by largely illiterate, beaten, “inferior” and dehumanized Black women and men.
In my youth, my mother Gladys Roumer often talked about Dédée Bazile, known for her heroic deeds during and after the Haitian Revolution (1791-1804). Then there was Cecile Fatiman, who famously presided over the Bois-Caiman ceremony that ignited the Haitian Revolution. To have survived the atrocities thrust upon them, these Black women and their descendants are beyond common words. Their words are still to be invented.
Kamala Harris shares their DNA. As so many before her, the vice president now shoulders the responsibility of winning a war being waged against basic humanity. Her win may lead to the consecration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s epic dream…judge me by the content of my character.
Haiti cemented peace, liberty and the doctrine that all men are created equal. It contributed to America establishing its republic. What Haiti did was so profound that the emancipation of slaves was viewed as an example of liberty, not only for America, but for other parts of the world.
Georges Danton would write… “until now our decrees of liberty have been selfish, and only for ourselves. But today we proclaim it to the universe, and generations to come will glory in this decree; we are proclaiming universal liberty”.
At a critical juncture of South American history, Haiti provided ships, soldiers, money and arms to support Simon Bolivar’s efforts to obtain the independence of South American countries.
In strengthening democracy, the Haitian Revolution inspired uprisings and established Black-governed cities and towns in Brazil, Cuba, Jamaica, Mexico and the U.S. among others. Haiti supported countries like Greece and Jamaica and took a stand against Nazi Germany by issuing life-saving visas to Jewish refugees during WWII.
In essence we Haitians helped build and save democracy.
Jean Eddy Saint Paul states that the U.S. would not be what it is today without Haiti. The Louisiana Purchase evolved from the success of the Haitian Revolution and its impact on the French economy.
We fought alongside Americans during their Revolutionary War. Les Chasseurs-Volontaires constituted the largest contingent of troops of African descent to fight in the American Revolution. Our blood still marks the terrain of our heroism on American soil.
WELL, AMERICA, YOU ARE WELCOME!
We gave you the largest fortress on the American continent, la Citadelle La Ferrière, a 204-year-old engineering marvel, especially considering it was built by “uneducated slaves”. We gave you griot, compas, voodoo, douce makos, and the Fugees. And in return, what did we get?
Well, you supported a head tax in 1804 equivalent to the amount of$22 billion USD in current dollars, for our arrogance in defeating France. You occupied us in 1915. As part of your conditions for leaving the country, you negotiated deals for U.S. timber companies which greatly contributed to Haiti’s deforestation.
Under your hypocritical definition of democracy, you facilitated coup d’états at free will. You killed all our local pigs (cochon kréyol) on account of their being supposedly diseased animals, forcing us to buy your overblown white pigs that eat specialized grain in one sitting that is the equivalent of a month of food for an entire family.
You told the world AIDS came from us. You forced us to lower our tariffs on U.S. rice which led to the demise of Haiti’s rice industry. You made us, when convenient, your enemy and your boat people. You incarcerated and deported, as a strategy to help your fellow Americans forget your internal strife and made us a convenient target to mask your inadequate and corrupt morals.
You did all that because you can and somehow it makes you feel good. If punching down is what works for you, we were always unwilling participants, yet always there for you from our “shithole” country. And, if that made democracy better, and made your government more rational, we were ready to comply.
WELL, AMERICA, YOU ARE WELCOME!
AND NOW, your illiterate Orange Buffoon and his surrogates have made the most vile, asinine and insane statement by declaring the public menace we represent by “eating cats and dogs”. We know his strategy; this is how he obfuscates. From his white world, nothing more is needed. With a few words on Haitian migrants, he no longer must argue his policy decisions; he can easily stoke the fear and disgust of his base to once again prove their superiority, ergo our inferiority.
The Orange Clown in front of 67 million people brought us back to ugly tropes of anti-Black racism, brought us back to being savages. In being linked to disappearing pets, we can’t even argue that the proposition is nonsensical. Every time it is mentioned, it reinforces in someone’s warped mind that it must be true, because, as you know so well, where there is smoke, there is fire. And yet, it is too gut-wrenching for me not to let a visceral and guttural scream echo in my empty silence. As was done by so many Haitians in our history, let me give voice to your voiceless.
This is a fight for humanity with unconventional weapons. When, as I hope, Vice President Kamala Harris becomes President, she will not have it on her mind to thank Haitians in the U.S. Yet, we know that the U.S. election is decided by a sliver of people in swing states, and that sliver may have grown larger and turned in her favour after the Orange Genius let the dogs out, so to speak, and showed his ingrained racism, his stupidity, and the mind of an imbecile raised by Archie Bunker and Laura Loomer.
I am absolutely convinced that more than any other statement, Haitian migrants eating cats and dogs is likely to become the catchphrase of this election cycle. I hope that for the Undecided – struggling to know what Kamala Harris stands for, or whether she is Black or Indian, or whether she is truly a DEI hire – for those so-called Christian, misogynistic men still unwilling to accept a woman president, or those praying at the feet of his Orange Majesty in search of their father figure … maybe all of them can come to terms with their own humanity and find their internal fortitude to let Orange Julius know his assertion that my Kin are eating Springfield’s dogs is a bridge too far. That decency does matter, empathy is still a core human value, and demonizing your neighbour is anathema to the teaching of ALL deities, and your mama.
When Harris wins, it will be because Haitians called on their ancestors, including Baron Samedi, to open the doors of history for her. It was pre-ordained that the Maleficent Orange would reveal a core of the American soul steeped in hate and that this epiphany would help the country change course and remember its place in world history, as the proverbially shining city on a hill.
Haitians are being called once again to rescue American democracy and we have accepted the challenge.
WELL, AMERICA, YOU ARE WELCOME!
I will now have my cat with some plantain.
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