22515: anonymous: RE: 22491: JHudicourt: On color in Corbett's list of heads of state -- Corbett adds (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

Please post this from an anonymous Doctoral Candidate:

The issue of skin color in the executive branches of Haitian government was
documented by no other than our stellar scholar Dr. Jean Price Mars. In I
believe La Vocation De L'Elite he tried to document the caste system that
existed in Ayiti. It was truly remarkable how like the India system it
seemed. In fact, I was appalled at the similarities. At the same time he
showed that the presidency has been held by Haitians of all hues in almost
equal numbers. However, he did not address class and gender or sexuality. I
was most impressed by your decision to categorize the information on the
Haitian presidents, King and Emperors as you did. I learned a lot from that
site and I plan to use it to educate my children about their history.
Furthermore, those in the Haitian community who refuse to deal or confront
the issue of color within our midst are in for a rude awakening. I remember
once approaching a reputable Haitian scholar with the initials PBS just to
remind him that I had met him a decade earlier. He said to me a few
sentences into our conversation that he was not concerned with color and he
felt that (as a Marxist you know, that highly monitored intellectual
position of pc academics) some of us held on to that issue too strongly. I
had not in any way mentioned that issue to him during that particular
conversation which was about an entirely different matter and neither was
that issue brought up when I met him about a decade before. I felt truly
saddened by his assumed position of defense and I find it unfortunate that
we don't want to come to grips with that reality that continues to plague
us.

A recent event on the Haitian Television Network was the interview of Alain
Sanon a news anchor with Andre Apaid and two other members of 184. This
entire situation was sociopolitical. I could not bear the social
significance of the sitting arrangements and the color coded representation.
Apaid bordered himself with 2 dark skinned Haitian men one from obvious
modest background judging from his speech and features and the other most
likely an educational one with perhaps some recent (3-4) generation of White
parentage-again based on his features. Both these men that blocked Apaid in
the center, (please note the importance of positionality and race/class
politics) as he also held center stage in speech, (he spoke first and for
the longest with punctuated French-Creole vocabulary and mannerism) while
his borders and broders (my spelling) in fight surrounded and protected him
from the interviewer who was an educated, French speaking, djaspora Haitian
with a position in Haitian media. I cried inside about this situation. Even
your information about Soulouque could not help me overcome the feelings of
hurt that I experienced at that moment. When will it end once and for all so
that we can move on?

I believe that it was Simpson (orthe fellow at Oberlin who worked on both
Rastas and Haitians) who wrote that everyone seems to wait for their chance
at the presidency of Haiti in truth to get their opportunity to raid the
national treasury. In my opinion that is the biggest truth facing us. And
since it has to do with money and power, welll some of us will not be
allowed to realize our self determination. Perhaps our chance at peace lies
in the re/sectioning of the country. North, South, and 2 other sections that
would allow those in between to have some peace too. I live in a city with
lots of Haitians now and I cannot believe how much color has influenced my
interactions with them. The dark ones primarily from the North West areas
feel that I am not dark enough and hence my immediate ancestors probably did
not come from Africa. And the light ones feel that I am truly not their
stock and I need to go lighten up. To both groups my acceptance would be
guaranteed by money acquired preferably by intermarriage. You know the white
bwoy  thang  (my spelling). I'm having a Whitney moment please bear with me.
Neither of these groups of people seem to have faith in my intellectual
capability nor in my personal ability to accomplish my goals. It seems that
they think that I might be able to use some so-called foufoune power to be
polite and not to directly quote bell hooks (she calls it -ussy power) in
order to gain upward mobility. In my city sex work is a big business
primarily in strip clubs. I'm sure that Haitian women feature prominently in
these arenas and I'm also confident that they are just as abused and
discriminated against because of their ethnicity, race and class
backgrounds. To say the least I think that I'm past the age of lets say
maturation for this type of industry so I must move on to other things.

Suffice it to say that this is not the last that I will write about this
issue. I will keep writing, talking, and reading about this topic as it
relates to members of my community until I find peace. I hope to find it in
my corner of Haiti preferably where my ancestor lie. I hope that the powers
that be will grant us some AID and that those in the 10th department will
help us to attain sovereignty. Nou tout se pitit mamam dlo and even if we
were not born there our parents OWE us the right to a full life. They did
not guarantee me that in the US or anywhere else because of color and class
and race and ethnicity so I will claim my share with the help of what is
true.

mesi anpil pou ti tan an.