14578: Karshan: Haitian 200th Anniversary Celebration Launched (TBWT) (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: MKarshan@aol.com

The Black World Today

Haitian 200th Anniversary Celebration Launched

By Herb  Boyd
TBWT National Editor
Article Dated 1/8/2003

"We are Haiti and Haiti is us," Danny Glover boomed to an enthusiastic crowd
at the National Action Network in Harlem Sunday evening. The actor/activist
was among dignitaries assembled to support the Haiti Support Project's
"Cruising into History," as part of the bicentennial celebration of Haiti's
independence.

Glover told the jammed packed House of Justice that no one can tell them who
and what to celebrate. "Haiti has paid dearly for reinventing our reality,"
he added, noting the gallant struggle the people of the island nation to
achieve its freedom from colonial tyranny.

Ron Daniels, executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights,
whose tireless efforts have been without equal in spearheading the
recognition of Haiti's contribution to world culture, noted that there have
been three great revolutions. "The American Revolution, the French
Revolution, and the Haitian Revolution," he explained. For him the third was
the most significant since "it shattered the myth of white supremacy."

But it took the exhortations of the Rev. Al Sharpton to put the evening into
practical and financial perspective. "We need to take the cruise," he began,
"because they brought us over on slave ships, but we're going back, not in
the bottom, not chained to each other, but celebrating... standing up for
justice."

Once more the auditorium rocked and roared with approval, and this only
continued the festive mood established earlier by the poet Antoine Toure and
the singers and musicians of Djarara, who twice marched through the audience
with its carnival-like parade and sounds.

Earlier Daniels met with reporters to underscore the importance of the cruise
and his hope to pack a couple of ocean liners with celebrants for the
"fantastic voyage" to Haiti. "We would like to get at least 500 people to
comprise the core of this initiative," he said, and that would mean a
contribution of $500 to become a charter member of the Toussaint L'Overture
VIP Circle, named after the great Haitian leader of the revolution. "Another
circle of supporters could weigh in at $285," he added, "which would be their
initial payment for the voyage." This money, he said, would be held in escrow
until the cruise ships are actually chartered for the trip in 2004.

When Sharpton began his fund raising action at the rally he left all the
"circle" matters to Daniels. "What I want to raise now is money for them to
continue this initiative as they plan to do to other cities across the
country," Sharpton said. "They need money to pay for this tour and saying
they support Haitian independence will not get them a ticket to Boston or
Miami."

Others at the rally, which was one of the largest ever convened outside of
Sharpton's own events, included Mary France Daniels, who moderated the forum;
Kermit Eady, president and CEO of the Black United Fund of NY, who was
celebrating his birthday; Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields;
Marc Morial, former mayor of New Orleans; the Honorable Leslie Voltaire,
Minister of Haitian Living Abroad; flutist Bobbi Humphrey; and Councilmen
Charles Barron and Bill Perkins.

"Harlem is the Mecca of the Diaspora in New York," Perkins said, "and we are
here to show our support to the people of Haiti and all they've meant to the
advancement of Western culture and civilization."

These sentiments were shared by the crowd, many of whom had to stand around
the periphery of the room, hoping for a chance to sit down through the long
festivities.

"I haven't seen a turnout like this for Haiti in a long time," commented one
bystander. "Maybe Danny Glover is right. Ron Daniels is on to something and
we'd better hurry and get on board the cruise ship before there's no more
room."

Daniels and some of his associates are slated to appear in a number of cities
in the coming days to inform the nation of the Cruise into History.