17382: Leiderman: questioning the value of a one-day Haitian convention (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Stuart M Leiderman <leidermn@cisunix.unh.edu>


open letter to Joseph Alfred, colleagues and readers:

I appreciate but cannot support your call for a Haitian convention in
Atlanta at the end of June next year.  please reconsider the wisdom of
your plans for the following reasons:

--in my opinion, you are asking for too much of an investment in money
for people to come for a vaguely-structured one-day program.  assuming
up to $1000 expenditure per out-of-town person for travel, lodging and
meals, that would be one-tenth of a million dollars for just one hundred
attendees.  if you had a thousand attendees, that would be one million
dollars to the tourist industry, with no guarantee that a single
dollar would go to materially benefit Haitians anywhere in the world
would improve -- not one new job would be created, not one new forest
planted, not one new water filtration system installed, not one new
schoolbook purchased.  I believe that is not the kind of example to make
in next year's important independence bicentennial year.

for very much less money, you can provide a day-long computerized
conference that would link thousands of people online and not require
them to travel to Atlanta.

--in my opinion, there is nothing in your convention program that
promises it to be a memorable occasion.  these days, it is just not
appropriate to invoke laudable social and cultural goals, reserve a
conference room, and then have an open-ended day of activities where
people mingle and listen politely to each other talk about favorite
theories and anecdotes.  I believe you need a focused and strategic
reason to gather Haitians and Haiti supporters.  for example:

a fundraising convention -- you could propose a convention to establish a
a fund of ten million dollars for a variety of Haiti support projects.
if so, then you need to directly invite a large number of wealthy
individuals who will attend a professionally-conducted auction of Haitian
arts and crafts and bid a total amount equal to the ten million dollars
you seek.

a democracy convention -- if you want to galvanize the Haitian vote in
the next U.S. Presidential election, you need to directly invite Haitian
leaders throughout the country who will attend on behalf of their voting
constituency to attend a set of debates among Presidential candidates.
for best effect, however, you would want to wait until after the
Republican and Democratic national conventions, so end-June is too early
to do much good politically.  before that, you will be talking to mostly
losers.

a cultural convention -- if you wanted to make an Oscar-winning
documentary about Haitians and Haitian-Americans and their decisive role
in American history and progress through the years, then you would have
to directly invite the most illustrious personalities you can find, bring
them together in Atlanta for a series of filmed interviews, panel
discussions, illustrated talks, readings, etc. and then in real-time,
splice together a rough version of the documentary to show everyone for
their comments and advice before returning home.

instead, what your are proposing for the end of June is more similar to
the "happenings" of the 1960's and 1970's where the take-home message is
"I had a good time."  this may still have a purpose in society but the
proper place for that is local, not national or international.  only the
extremely wealthy and those who have no sense of urgency can afford to
attend transcontinental happenings just for the sake of getting together.
I do not mean to undercut the value of genuine personal interaction among
strangers, but that can just as easily occur in neighborhoods, in an art
gallery, a theatre or weekend picnic back home.

--in my opinion, one day does not make a convention.  if you want to
contribute to improved social, political, educational, economic and
environmental change, you have to give people time to discover each
other's strengths and weaknesses, and time to build trust through a
variety of group exercises.  you have to be especially mindful of
infiltrators whose job is to disrupt group progress.  you have to provide
a temporary refuge for attendees to leave their worries behind while they
are making new friends and coalitions and considering each other's
struggles and realities.  simply said, that does not happen in a single
day.  it takes two days minimum, at least three, guided by skilled
session leaders, accompanied by intense and faithful followup with
attendees.

--in my opinion, you have not yet given a good reason why Atlanta is a
good place for Haitians to meet.  it is not sufficient that Haitians
lilve there; let them have an Atlanta Haitian convention.  to my
knowledge, Atlanta has no national historical significance to Haitians,
the city is not particularly enthusiastic about Haitians, there are no
high-profile Haitians working at CNN television or other Atlanta-based
industries.  compared to Atlanta, I'd say that even Jamaica or Bermuda
would be a more Haitian-relevant place to meet.  certainly, Savannah
is more relevant than Atlanta and has already made a great commitment to
placing a War of Independence memorial there.

--in my opinion, it is not proper for an individual to call for a
national convention of Haitians unless that person has already
distinguished himself or herself as a national leader of Haitian causes
or Haitian artistic expression.  to my knowledge, there is no one like
that yet in America (there are, however, outstanding individual Haitians
who are ready to become national leaders, some of whom I have been having
the pleasure to listen to, learn from and work with in New England --
this would be another reason for a convention).

instead, a call for a convention should come from an organization that
has a productive network of individuals and chapters throughout
the country, who has written and published a comprehensive manifesto or
call for action based on its day-to-day experiences, where it must
finally call everyone together to address a specific set of grievances
that requires mass action of critical timing and purpose.

in this, the purpose of a convention is not to acknowledge anyone's
personal interest or interpretation of events and conditions but to
respond to the common plight.  the way I see it, the common plight of
Haitians in America is invisibility.  Haitians now want to ascend to
respectable, credible and demonstrable visibility as a distinct group of
immigrants who want to put their freedom to work -- here, in Haiti and
worldwide.  I support that goal.

years ago, the traditional folksinger, Arlo Guthrie, said something like,
"If it's just one person calling for change, they'll think you're a nut
and ignore you.  If it's two people, they'll think it's a conspiracy and
they'll try to contain you.  But if it's three people, they'll think it's
a movement; nothing can stop you then."

best wishes,

Stuart Leiderman