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#6566: A spoken word piece on Creative Survivalism--Reply to judejb (fwd)
From: Gina Ulysse <gulysse@bates.edu>
Since, I haven't been following this discussion, I don't know Poincy's
point, to which Judejb was responding. Nonetheless, I could barely keep
silent. I felt compelled to respond to him after reading his comment on
the lack of immagination amongst Haitians "from the elite down to the
masses." Once I was got out of the abyss, I came up with the
following(tough draft).....
i know that we live in a dot.com age
where the "logic" and "rationality"
of markets and numbers
DRIVE everything
Drive EVERYTHING
However
we need to be careful
not to underrate the creativity
that is necessary for everyday survival
the creativity
the imagination
the creative imagination
necessary to make it through
a country
this country
my country
our country where daily worries
are about seeing tomorrow
That creativity may not be
quantifiable
it may not be
translateable
it may not be
measureable
by graphs
by scales
by charts
but that don't mean it don't exist
that doesn't mean it doesn't exist
coz if you think
coz if you think fer real
coz if you think real hard
you might see it
you'll come to see it
you'll come to see
that without it there would be no WE
NOU LA WI
NOU LA
without it where would we really be
without it there would have been no august 11th
without it there would have been no january 4th
without it there would have been no citadelle
without it there would have been no cacos
without it there would have been no tap-taps
without it there would have been no duri a pwa Kongo
without it there would have been no survival
NOU LA
in this Haiti
that despite two centuries
of continuous exploitation
from inside and outside
keeps going
NOU LA WI
in this Haiti
that despite odds that favor superpowers
keeps going
NAP TOUJOU LA
in this Haiti that keeps going and keeps going and keeps going
RED IS THE COLOR OF THE BLOOD SPILLING OVER IN THE CARIBBEAN SEA
And who are we to...
should WE speak for others
Can we speak for others
can we speak for lives we haven't lived
can we speak for lives we haven't known
lives we will never know
Especially if we won't take time
take the time to reflect
take the time to reflect
on us
take the time to reflect
on our positions
How do you speak for people
whose everyday treshold of tolerance
you couldn't possibly even begin to know
Let's not berrate others
because we can't see the way
we should not berrate others
because we can't see another way
Let's not judge them by our standards
Let's not judge them because
we know we'd have to give
we know we'd have to give something
we can't give just anything
Let's not judge them because
we don't want to give
we don't want to give
for fear of losing our positions
That is
has always
and always will be
what is wrong with development
the benevolence of development
It is hypocritical of us
in our cushy worlds
despite all of its madness
to even think for a moment
that we can say
that we can say when
that we can say why
someone
someone other than we
in Haiti
should or should not
risk their lives on the Caribbean sea
It's trippy to me too
what it costs to escape
from our country
we all know that
this money
this money couldn't have come easy
It was borrowed
or earned under extremeties
that money is an investment in itself
It has to have returns
it has to have returns
it has to have quick returns
and it has to be paid back
it has to be paid back
it has to be paid back
RED IS THE COLOR OF THE BLOOD SPILLING OVER IN THE CARIBBEAN SEA
Since we all know how things
REALLY
function in our beloved country
we should just admit that
NOT everyone
can make the initial investment
not EVERYONE
will have the return on their investments
not everyone
can afford to wait for them to materialize
not everyone can get access to the 2000
not everyone can turn it into100,000
To make certain profits
you have to the capital
you have to have differtent kinds of CAPITAL
you have to have the right connections.
And I'll bet that the people
who do have access to
those dead presidents,
don't get on makeshift boats
no! they get on planes
Dem take cruise ships or dem get on planes
All of us
do not have
never have
and never will have
the same access to resources
Indeed, until things change,
people will keep risking their lives
indeed until things really change
people will keep risking their breaths
in ways that we couldn't possibly begin
to imagine
both in and out of the country
Class privilege is class privilege
no matter how you look at it
or what you want to call it
Not all of us can go to school
not all of us can become doctors
not all of us can be investors
and wait for funds to turn over
when the need is immediate
when the need is desperate
when the need is
when you need the fix
what do you do?
what can you do?
what should you do?
you can't go on the dole
there is no welfare system
there is no welfare system
so we keep recreating the myth
the greatest of all myths
the myth
that there is actually a way out
for over 70% of an entire nation
where the structures that be
remain intact
is there a way out without
changes
and I don't mean
structural adjustment
It is virtually impossible
to make this myth reality
unless things change
not just for some people but for all people
So let us stop
Please let us stop blaming the victims
and pause
and pause for a moment to look
at ourselves
and the role we ALL play
in recreating
the lack of opportunities
that others suffer from daily
This is why
this is why they risk everything
for a chance out
out of Haiti and its surrounding waters
This is why
RED IS THE COLOR OF THE BLOOD SPILLING OVER IN THE CARIBBEAN SEA
peace
gu
P.S. Soon, the list will receive announcement for a three-day symposium
that we are organizing here, at Bates College, early this fall. The
title of the conference is Haiti: Exploding the Myths. Leading Haitian
scholars, professionals and activists are being brought together to
create a forum where we can break silences and have honest and indepth
dialogues about the role of history in Haiti's plight, and what of the
future?.
--
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Dr. Gina Ulysse
African-American Studies
Bates College "CONSCIOUSNESS IS ILLEGAL"
Lewiston ME 04240 -PETER
TOSH
Ph: (207) 786-6436
Fx: (207) 786 8338
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