13306: Karshan: President Aristide on September 11th, 2002 (English) (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: MKarshan@aol.com

Speech of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, on the occasion of the
commemorative ceremony for the 14th anniversary of the September 11, 1988
massacre at St. Jean-Bosco, the assassination of Antoine Izmery, and the
terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 in the United States.

National Palace.

Ohahem! We will bless the name of God while we give our greetings to all who
are here. The First Lady puts her voice with mine to greet the presence of:

The Prime Minister,

All members of Government,

The President of the National Assembly,

The President of the Court of Cassation,

All members of the Court of Cassation,

All deputies who are here,

All State Authorities,

All Ministers of God who are here,

Priests, Protestant Pastors, Vodouists,

All citizens across the country,

All Haitians living abroad.

We are happy to be praying together, to meditate in the name of God on the
deadly disasters of September 11, 1988, September 11, 1993, September 11,
2001. I invite you to stand up for a minute of silence in the memory of all
the people who are no longer with us. (Silence) Thank you.

Bohogahem! We bless the name of God. Why do we talk of death while we bless
the name of God? It seems to be a contradiction.

There was a great theologian who wrote an important book. The title is: "God
is Black." Some people were shocked to see such a book, because according to
them, God cannot be Black. The author of this book believes that if God is in
the middle of two groups of people, one group being the persecutor and the
other group being the victim, God will take the victims' side because God is
love, God is justice.

It happened when God was caught in the middle of Jews and Egyptians. Since
Egyptians were persecuting Jews then, God took the Jews' side. If God was
there to take sides on September 11, 1988, He would have taken the victims'
side. If He was there on September 11, 1993, He would have taken Antoine
Izmery's side and all other victims' sides. If He was there on September 11,
2001, He would have taken the side of all Americans and other nations who
were victims.

Does that mean that God hates persecutors? He doesn't hate them because God
is love. He loves all his children, the ones who behave well and the ones who
don't. If some of the victims are still waiting for justice to be done, it is
because some people don't take their responsibilities seriously and they
don't do everything that needs to be done. Today, on this September 11, 2002,
as we think about the victims, we invite all those who have responsibilities
to do a little bit more. Everyone at your own level, so together we can make
the light of justice shine brighter.

Some people believe that God does not exist. Others say that if God existed,
there wouldn't be so much misery on earth, there wouldn't be so many victims
who suffer, who ask for justice but can't get it, while some people say God
is justice. What I went through on September 11, 1988 helped me understand
that yes, God does exist. I don't need to look for Him in the sky, I don't
need to look for Him in the clouds so I can touch Him and see the color of
His skin, the color of His clothes, see if He is tall or big to believe that
He exists. I discovered that in my own experience. For example, when I look
at the way the Head Father of the Salesians who is here, Father Nault, didn't
run away to leave me alone on September 11, 1988, I can see how God showed
Himself through this solidarity in a tragic moment. And I can say I saw God
in many other Fathers who are here, I don't need to name them all, whether
they were there in St. Jean-Bosco on that day, or outside the church, tending
to activities to help us go through the hell we lived on September 11, 1988.

Many victims who were present on that day, September 11, 1988, are here
today. If God hadn't been alive in them, I probably wouldn't be standing here
today, I would have died on that same day, on September 11, 1988. God showed
His presence, He manifested Himself in those victims who are here, those who
now live abroad, those who are still in St. Jean-Bosco or across the country,
and who were able to challenge the red armbands. So for myself and others who
are here, that day was hell, but it was also heaven in the way we saw
solidarity to prevent more people from dying in the fire in the church.

That was fourteen years ago. In the Catholic Church, the Stations of the
Cross don't stop at number 14, they continue up to number 15, which
represents the Resurrection. Just the same, for myself, 14 years after
September 11 , 1988, a light of resurrection needs to shine brighter in the
country. Then the concerned authorities in particular, together with all
citizens without distinction can make a big chain of solidarity so there is
less impunity, more justice, more social justice so everyone can eat, can go
to school, can work so the country can come back to life while there is more
solidarity between the sons and daughters of the country.

There would have been one more victim on September 11, 2001 if that same
power of God hadn't been present in a special way through the clear
sightedness and good thinking of a person whose brother is here today. Father
Yvon Joseph is here with us today. His sister Jacqueline was inside one of
the two buildings on September 11, 2001. If Jacqueline hadn't been guided by
a light of intelligence to show her a way out when the fire started inside
the buildings, Father Yvon would be very sad today because he would be
thinking of his sister who died. That's the expression of God's power. It is
expressed through intelligence, through light, through solidarity, and I just
heard its voice in the prayer said by the Protestant Pastor. I hear it in the
great testimonies from priests, Vodouists, in what your presence here means
for those who understand.

Nobody had the obligation to come to this meeting this morning. You came on
your own will. So your presence here is an expression of God. We welcome your
presence with great respect, just like we respect God.

Like many of you, I see how money can make people work together. Today, I
invite all the Haitian people to think a bit more about the great solidarity
that is the reason why we are alive, and compare the solidarity caused by
money with the solidarity we will experience later. For example:

In 1998, the heads of many big companies, called multinationals, which means
a company that has many nationalities, got together and they invested 664
billion American dollars in businesses all around the world. To get that
amount of money, they needed to really work together. Each year, since they
make profit, they put more money together. Last year, they put 4 billion
dollars together so they can make more profit. Unfortunately, the more money
they put together to make big profits, the more unemployment there is because
with technology comes sophisticated machines that can make more money and
that replace people's jobs.

When you see how money, how economic profits can make people work together to
gather a bigger amount of money, we say that we, who represent more than
money, can make the light of justice shine in our country when we will have
more solidarity. Every time the September 30 Foundation gets together on
Wednesdays just across from here, it is an expression of solidarity. These
are people who live in poverty because they don't have money, they don't have
jobs, but each Wednesday, they are so rich with humanness, spirituality,
strength, human values, transcendental values. They go beyond their economic
problems to give that great testimony.

Throughout the country, there are other people who give great testimonies
without being known, without being seen. They are anonymous heroes who work
in silence, in humility. No matter what their religion is, they work together
to make the light of justice shine brighter. Today, we give them our
greetings, for their courage, we thank them for what they do, because it is
such solidarity that can bring more justice for 2004.

Looking at the number of children who don't go to school in the country, the
day before yesterday, the Council of Ministers said, "In order to have social
justice in 2004, there needs to be one school in each township." And the
Minister of Education says it is possible. There isn't quite enough money,
but it is possible. We say that in 2004, all children who are not going to
school now can go then. That is pure social justice, because it's been 200
years and there are still some children who can't go to school. In 2004, the
literacy campaign must be a success.

And in order to do that, each day we need to stand more united, to get
together more so the light of justice can shine brighter after 200 years of
our history. That's what the victims from St. Jean-Bosco want. That's why
during the mass in St. Jean-Bosco, some people came to read the Bible, to
show they learned to read, to write their names, and that is the expression
of God's miracles in which He made the blind see. God is you, God is each
victim, God is each Haitian, each person who has a great light inside of them
and puts it together with the light of others to make the country more
beautiful.

It is the same thing in other countries. There are 250 million children under
14 years old who work as slaves across the world. To put all those children
to school, we only need 6 billion dollars. Those 6 billion dollars represent
only 2% of the amount of money spent to buy weapons. If there was more
solidarity, more understanding, there would be more children in school. That
is called justice throughout the world. Finally, allow me to thank God in a
special way for helping me understand that I don't need to look for Him
above, but I can look for Him inside you.

When I see Father Rene Mesidor, I see the presence of God. When I see a
victim, I see the presence of God. It is not that I don't want to name
everyone, but there are many people here in front of me, like there were many
in the church St. Jean-Bosco on September 11, who didn't run away even when
bullets were flying around. There was a great solidarity, they preferred to
die together instead of leaving one of us alone with criminals. That's the
expression of God. That's what they call in theology eschatological tension,
the already and the not yet, between the already and the not yet. You are
already saved in front of God, but you are not saved completely yet. You are
already in the sky, but you are not quite saved to get there yet.

When I remember this deadly experience, when flames were all over the church,
I saw the expression of God in the way Father Jacques Mesidor and many other
people stood together despite the hell created by the fire. I see how 8
million Haitians beat water to get butter, they suffer greatly, they are
angry because there is no justice, no justice being done for all those
criminals. Despite all that, they don't commit suicide, they are not
completely discouraged and that is the expression of God. God is in our
people and the joy of God is not only in receiving, but it is also in
struggling.

Jesus struggled and He was killed, but a great joy comes out of that despite
the contradictory way it looks. The joy to struggle, the joy to have
brothers, sisters to struggle together, is a source that feeds the man and
woman who has faith. We believe that this strength of life is inside us,
Haitian people. We are convinced that despite the difficulties, this strength
will lead to the rebirth of great patriotic values, to the rebirth of this
Earth.

On October 11, 1492, on the 11th like today, when Christopher Columbus
described what he saw on these grounds, he could only say he sees people
naked. And unfortunately, he wasn't smart enough to understand that because
people have no clothes doesn't mean they have no inner value. Columbus was
shocked to see people naked. In his writings, the word naked comes back many
times, as if to show that their nakedness was inside those people as well as
on their bodies, that there was nothing good, nothing great inside them. We
can see the consequences of prejudices that bring terrorism across the world,
we see how that pushes some people to act with violence even when they say
they are fighting terrorism.

Today, we who are as God, don't tell us that we are better than anyone. If
God is Black, He is also White. If God's work is seen through victims, it is
also seen through persecutors to help them understand better and change their
attitude. God is here, He is everywhere. God is visible, He is invisible. God
is not at opposite extremes with people who believe they can do good things
with politics. For us, politics is a place to serve.

And the more we believe in this service of God, the more it will help us not
turn power into a chair we just sit on and enjoy it. But we will turn it into
a road where we can walk with people who serve. Then everyone can feel that
nobody in politics fights with people who believe in God. In respect for each
other's faith, respect for differences, we work together to accomplish great
things because there are no prejudices that lead us to believe that because a
person is poor he or she is not great. It is not because a person doesn't
wear nice clothes that he or she is not great. Only colonialists believed
that because Indians were naked, they were not great.

We believe, like people who believe in God, that all people are people,
everyone carries God's seed inside them. That's why we have no desire for
revenge in our hearts, despite all our persecution, despite everything we
went through, despite the events of December 17 that added to September 11.
In the name of all victims, of all heroes who are alive, we will continue to
walk together so that, like 3 days after Jesus died, the light of
resurrection can shine in 2002, when we talk about the God of life, about
solidarity between the people who believe in Him. That's how today, we choose
not to let our work in the state make us forget our faith in God that allowed
the nation and the people who believe in Him to get together on September 11,
1988. When God said He will take poor people instead of the rich, take the
small to bring them up, I believe He did it in Haiti's history. I am not
among the rich, I am not talking about myself. I am talking about the people,
the poor, Yavhe people.

Why are we in the Palace today? Why is there no more army in Haiti? Why can't
power help us get more justice today? We will put our hands together for God,
for what He has done and what He will continue to do in our lives. And that
is why I will conclude with a truth from the Bible: Tekhogar! Arihoulelohim
bekolrina! Open your heart, applaud for God! Thank you!

President Jean-Bertrand Aristide

Port-au-Prince

09-11-2002