17613: Lemieux: The Journal News: Marchers hail Haiti's bicentennial (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: JD Lemieux <lxhaiti@yahoo.com>

Marchers hail Haiti's bicentennial
By SUZAN CLARKE
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: January 1, 2004)

SPRING VALLEY — With lighted candles and singing patriotic
songs, local Haitians marched joyously down Main Street
last night, their flags snapping in the wind as they
celebrated the eve of their homeland's 200th anniversary of
independence.

Shouting "200 years!" and "Haiti! Haiti!" the 60 or so
marchers danced to upbeat Caribbean music as passing
motorists honked their horns and pedestrians echoed their
shouts of greeting.

"It's very, very easy to remember the bad things, the
negative things about the country," said Judith LaFleur, a
Spring Valley resident. "The small sacrifice to being here
in the cold is nothing compared to what the ancestors went
through to bring us here today."

The column of celebrants — including Haitian Consul General
Harry Fouche — walked to the Caribbean Village restaurant,
where village and county elected officials and other
community members awaited them.

Inside the restaurant, Louis Harry Toto, pastor of Pilgrim
Wesleyan Church in South Nyack, prayed fervently for peace
in Haiti and thanked God for freeing Haitians from slavery.


Then Fouche reminded people that Haiti had a proud history
that had benefited many nations. Speaking in Creole and
English, he said Haitians must build on the foundation laid
by their courageous forefathers who led the successful
slave rebellion that produced an independent Haiti.

"We cannot be divided. We are the same people, the same
blood flows through our veins," Fouche said, adding, "in
order for us to do right, in order for us to come together,
we need to learn to disagree without being disagreeable."

Haiti gained its independence Jan. 1, 1804. Toussaint
L'Ouverture's army of former slaves crushed Napoleon's
troops, making Haiti the first black republic and the first
country in the Western Hemisphere to abolish slavery, which
still flourished in parts of the United States.

Haitians in their homeland are gearing up for a yearlong
commemoration. But the mood for today's lavish celebrations
there has been overshadowed by increasing poverty and
tension.

Local Haitians' celebrations will include church services,
telephone calls to loved ones in their homeland, gatherings
with friends and family, and sharing the traditional New
Year's dish called "soup joumou," or squash soup.

The local celebration was sponsored by the Haitian-American
Parents Association Inc.; Haitian-American Cultural and
Social Organization Inc.; IFG Productions Inc., which
organizes the annual Parade of Unity to celebrate Haitian
Flag Day; and Konbit Neg Lakay Inc., a community service
agency.


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