2017-09

Bracero

Mon frère tu pars, tu quittes le sol natal,
Mains vides, machette en bandoulière
Faute de mieux, fuite de vie banale,
A pas décisifs, tu fonces vers la frontière.
Laissant pitoyablement familles,
Masure, femme, enfants ingénus,
Croyant pouvoir revenir tranquille,
Avec de quoi qu’ils ne soient plus nus.
Abandonnant tristement amis,
Habitudes et vices du terroir,
Pour embrasser amèrement le déni,
Qui t’attend ferme, juché à son perchoir.
Mon frère tu pars, mais sois fort,
Car de l’autre côté du lac,
Malgré tes courageux e orts
Il te sera di cile de remplir ton sac.
Tu travailleras sans relâche,
Pour t’assurer d'un meilleur sort,
Crieras, « à l’assaut » face aux lâches,
Qui en voudront à ton maigre trésor.
© PAULO GAZEMAR

Montreal, Canada | 0/01/2016

SOURCE: boredpanda.com

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P Je suis passionnée
O Je ne fais rien à moitié
Sang chaud des métis de St Domingue
É Dans mes veines coule le mérengue
T Mon cœur bat au rythme du compas
Mes e uves sont à l’arôme du tabac
I J’ai la mémoire de mes ancêtres
S Et l’habitude du sceptre
Je suis ère
Je suisO
créoleS Mesrondeurspulpeuses
N A la démarche altière

Promesse de nuits juteuses
Ma peau de braise brûlée par les saisons
Attise les passions
Par tous mal aimée et convoitée
Je reste la troublante indomptée
Le destin m’a fait Antillaise
Oui créole je suis, mais avant tout négresse
Je suis née dans la sou rance
Habituée à survivre, j’ai de l’endurance
Des coups du sort
Toujours je m’en sors
Inès, Flora, David ou Mathieu, pas bien grave
J’ai vu pire, j’ai connu l’esclavage
Oui Haïti, je suis, la belle créole.

© GINA DeVASTEY FILS-AIME
Aubrey, Texas - 7 Octobre 2016

52 COUCOU Best Shots of the 2017 Solar
Magazine Eclipse

H Haiti chérie
A Côte des Arcadins
I Mon âme crie ton nom
T Mon cœur chante ta poésie
I Berceau de mon enfance
Qu’avons-nous fait de toi
Reviendrai-je dans ton sein
Reposer mes vieux jours
Laver mes yeux à tes multiples feuillages
M’enivrer au parfum de tes eurs
Boire à la source de mes ancêtres
Gravir tes montagnes escarpées
Aurai-je le bonheur de marcher
Les pieds nus dans le sable chaud
Regarder la mer chatoyer sous le soleil brulant
Voir les voiliers voguer vers l’horizon
Haiti qui m’a vu naître
Reviendrai-je un jour me mêler à la foule
Danser le rara et manger l’acra
Me verras-tu mourir.

© GINA DeVASTEY FILS-AIME
Aubrey, Texas - 10 Avril 2016

SOURCE: boredpanda.com

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Divided we are, divided we stand…alone
From the US to Iraq, Israel to Palestine
Stamping on moral, challenging the
divine
Unity rejected, evil dancing on his throne
P

DIVIDEDO

É
T

I

S Blind men ghting, wise men dying
O From rampage unable to abstain
Perfect killing machine with no restraint
N Bomb exploding, beheadings broadcasting
S

Dust of a millennium written in blood
Dawn of a new era bathing in fear
Motherly joys pierced with death’s spear
Violence storming apocalyptic ood

In the name of a god, justifying the killing
Faithfully claiming the return of a messiah
Quoting the words of Jeremiah
People still dying, baby still crying

Words of wisdom lost in the wind
Losing the natural grip on evolution
In circle going, perfecting devolution
From the maker one day, liability
rescind…

© KRISTO NICOLAS, Montreal, Canada
From "Beyond Words - Beyond Colors"

Artwork by KRISTO ART Artwork by LISA REMILIEN

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J'aimerai ...

J'aimerais inventer des mots
Des mots d'amour sublimés
Qui ne viennent d'aucun dictionnaire
J'aimerais inventer des "je t'aime"
Qui n'ont jamais existé
Qu'aucunes lèvres n'ont jamais prononcés
J'aimerais puiser dans mon âme
Des vers dé ant la beauté
Aux syllabes ciselés de sincérité
Brodés d'a ection
Aux pouvoirs magiques
Capables de façonner ton âme
J'aimerais dessiner un conte de fée
Fleuri de passion et de tendres aventures
Tracer des feuilletons de tendresse
Sur le parchemin de nos cœurs
J'aimerais voir nos histoires d'amour érotiques
laisser pantois les amants des temps antiques!
© LISA REMILIEN

New York, NY | 8/14/17

Best Shots of the 2017 Solar Eclipse
SOURCE: boredpanda.com

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P Dan mo verr ’ea
O
É Dans mon verre d’eau
T je suis l’oiseau
I Femme du vent
S je voyage sur son dos
O je fais corps avec lui
N quand il vit...
S
Dans mon verre d'eau
Best Shots of the 2017 Solar Eclipse Je suis l’oiseau
SOURCE: boredpanda.com amante du temps
je dirige les jours de pluie
56 COUCOU dans la douceur
Magazine des sources d’eau...

Dans mon verre d'eau
Je suis l’oiseau
Maîtresse de tout instant
j’éparpille le présent
dans l’illusion de l'horizon...

De si haut , je suis l’oiseau
Compagne des tonnerres
Mère des foudres et des éclairs
Je suis la grande gardienne du feu...

Dans mon verre d'eau
je suis l’oiseau
dans le nid des arcs-en-ciel
je ressuscite les couleurs
pour sortir les rêves
des euves de la peur...

*******************************
© MAGALIE JB WANGA NEGES

Suisse, Europe

En Guise Continued from page

d'Editorial
“And that’s what we’re facing now: A crappy running community because there’s still a lot of residue from
racism that people don’t even understand why they practice, sort of playing its way out. You can solve the
economic problems next week, but it’s still going to take some generations to get things xed.”

The solution on the short term lies with individual e ort, Miller said. “We’ve got to be intentional about it. I
can’t just sit back as an African-American and say ‘It’s white people’s fault’ or ‘it’s Hispanics’ fault.’ Well,
forget who’s to blame. The challenge is to be intentional, right where you stand, right where you live, right
where you shop, right where you worship. You change the environment around yourself and don’t just look at
a person because they are one color or one national origin and say, ‘I don’t have to relate to them.’ Well, we
do.

“The world looks like it’s really big, but it’s really small. And I’m hell-bent on my environment where I live,
work and play being a place of as much harmony as I can generate.”

Maury Shevin is an attorney and a shareholder with Birmingham law rm
Sirote and Permutt. Asked how much race relations contribute to the current
state of a airs in the city and state, he responded with an essay.
“And there it is. The elephant in the room. Just, how do I answer? Will
Pollyanna answer for me? Do I answer in terms of how I want life to be in my
hometown and state? Shall I answer in aspirational terms? Or, do I answer
based on how I feel when the day’s news is full of Black Lives Matter and Judge
Roy Moore? Wow.
“We are a peculiar people here in the South, in Alabama and in Birmingham.
Actually, Birmingham may be somewhat misplaced. We are the proverbial
blue dot in a sea of red — or are we a black dot in a sea of white? Perhaps both.
“The fact is that the majority of the South that doesn’t t easily into the de nition of the “New South” [e.g.,
Atlanta], is still in a state of general denial — we won’t, we don’t and you can’t make us… But, then, you have to
explain Mercedes, Honda, Hyundai, Austal, Google, Boeing…
“The truthful answer to your question is that race relations have everything to do with the current state of
a airs in Birmingham and in Alabama; and race relations have nothing to do with our current state of a airs
in Birmingham and in Alabama.
“We have a Legislature that controls all and denies home rule to Birmingham and all cities. But, interestingly,
this is done by African-American members of the Legislature in concert with white Legislators. They seem
content in Montgomery to divide the pie, and eat the pie they’ve just divided.
“We had a Je erson County Commission that committed highway robbery — a crime for which our people pay
daily and will do so for near eternity…and by the way, the crime was committed by our African-American
and white commissioners pretty much without regard to race.

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En Guise d'Editorial Continued from page

“And that’s what we’re facing now: A crappy running community because there’s still a lot of residue from
racism that people don’t even understand why they practice, sort of playing its way out. You can solve the
economic problems next week, but it’s still going to take some generations to get things xed.”
The solution on the short term lies with individual e ort, Miller said. “We’ve got to be intentional about it. I
can’t just sit back as an African-American and say ‘It’s white people’s fault’ or ‘it’s Hispanics’ fault.’ Well,
forget who’s to blame. The challenge is to be intentional, right where you stand, right where you live, right
where you shop, right where you worship. You change the environment around yourself and don’t just look at
a person because they are one color or one national origin and say, ‘I don’t have to relate to them.’ Well, we
do.
“The world looks like it’s really big, but it’s really small. And I’m hell-bent on my environment where I live,
work and play being a place of as much harmony as I can generate.”

Maury Shevin is an attorney and a shareholder with Birmingham law rm
Sirote and Permutt. Asked how much race relations contribute to the current
state of a airs in the city and state, he responded with an essay.
“And there it is. The elephant in the room. Just, how do I answer? Will
Pollyanna answer for me? Do I answer in terms of how I want life to be in my
hometown and state? Shall I answer in aspirational terms? Or, do I answer
based on how I feel when the day’s news is full of Black Lives Matter and Judge
Roy Moore? Wow.
“We are a peculiar people here in the South, in Alabama and in Birmingham.
Actually, Birmingham may be somewhat misplaced. We are the proverbial
blue dot in a sea of red — or are we a black dot in a sea of white? Perhaps both.
“The fact is that the majority of the South that doesn’t t easily into the de nition of the “New South” [e.g.,
Atlanta], is still in a state of general denial — we won’t, we don’t and you can’t make us… But, then, you have to
explain Mercedes, Honda, Hyundai, Austal, Google, Boeing…
“The truthful answer to your question is that race relations have everything to do with the current state of
a airs in Birmingham and in Alabama; and race relations have nothing to do with our current state of a airs
in Birmingham and in Alabama.
“We have a Legislature that controls all and denies home rule to Birmingham and all cities. But, interestingly,
this is done by African-American members of the Legislature in concert with white Legislators. They seem
content in Montgomery to divide the pie, and eat the pie they’ve just divided.
“We had a Je erson County Commission that committed highway robbery — a crime for which our people pay
daily and will do so for near eternity…and by the way, the crime was committed by our African-American
and white commissioners pretty much without regard to race.

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“We have wealthy white suburbs which, until very recently, saw their destiny severed from Birmingham. But,
interestingly, it is the young African-Americans and whites who are thumbing their collective noses at this
division, and have come together to live, work, eat, drink beer, socialize, watch baseball, attend concerts and
Art on the Rocks — together — in Birmingham.
“We have troubled Birmingham City Schools — albeit in magni cent new buildings– surrounded by wealthy
suburban school districts. So, is this really so di erent from the rest of America? I think not. Nevertheless, is
this clear inequality in education race based? Only someone completely oblivious to our history would say
‘no.’
“So, of course, the problems in every facet of our education system in this city and in this state are related to
race. One only need look at the race-based division that still controls the AEA today.
“We have the United Way of Central Alabama working, striving and thinking how to help disadvantaged
members of our community. Is this race based? Maybe, but I choose not to think so.
“And, then there are the multitude of civic and religious organizations working every day to improve the
quality of life in Birmingham and Alabama — way too many to even begin to name here. Are these race
based? I say ‘no.’
“So, what conclusion do I arrive at when I add all of this up to answer your question? I answer ‘Yes, race
matters’ and ‘No, it really doesn’t.’ The answer to your question is that we in Birmingham and in Alabama
know that race undergirds everything we are and everything we do—and so, it is for that reason, that we
work hard, every day, to make sure that race will no longer divide us.”

Ahmad Ward believes that the more substantive aspects of the race relations issue
are o en overlooked while people focus on easier, more visible hot button topics like
the continuing controversy over views of the Confederate battle ag.
“Personally, if you want to y a ag in your yard, it’s a free country,” Ward said. “I
know what it means to me. But I also have had to put up with the Ku Klux Klan having
rallies in places and it being okay. That’s part of free speech. … Growing up as a
black person, you have to deal with certain things. We’ve had to deal with the
Confederate ag for years.
“What happened is, we are so used to creating knee-jerk reactions to things that
because Dylann Roof had pictures of him holding the ag, then the ag must be one of
the reasons [for the massacre] so let’s get rid of all the ags. Let’s get rid of all the
Confederate monuments. Let’s do all this stu . And then, things will be right.

“And that’s just never how things work,” Ward said. There’s more to the problem of race relations, he noted.
“People just refuse to look at the institutionalized, systematic racism behind most things,” Ward said. “That
stu that Dylann Roof was talking about in his manifesto, you know, ‘taking over the country, raping our
women’ — that stu has been around since black people were freed. That is not new. That is old doctrine. It is
part of what’s embedded in race in this country and we just refuse to deal with it.

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En Guise d'Editorial

“So it’s a lot easier for us to take the ag down than to deal with actual issues and have honest conversations
about what really happens. We like to deal with e ect and not cause. We’re hung up on the e ect that there’s
black-on-black crime, there’s poverty, there’s drugs, but we never want to talk about how drugs got into the
neighborhoods.
“We never want to talk about how redlining created poverty, starting in the ’30s and a er the Depression,
how marking places where people can live puts people at a disadvantage because it puts them in places
where there’s just no growth. We don’t talk about food deserts and how these neighborhoods just don’t have
many resources, no grocery stores. We don’t want to deal with these issues.”
Talking about those issues tend to make people uncomfortable, Ward said, with a laugh. “Somebody will be
mad at me about it.”
Birmingham, he said, has reached a point where the institutionalized racism is subtle. “Once it was in your
face — I don’t like you, you don’t like me — a lot of these things are just kind of built-in things that have been
around for a while. You look at the discrepancy of resources between Birmingham public schools and the
schools on the outskirts where the wealth is.” Inner city schools may have computers, but they’re old and
obsolete, while schools in the suburbs have newer computers and in some cases, put tablets into the hands of
every student, he pointed out, connecting that to the fact that little of the wealth in this community is
controlled by blacks.
Ward also noted that while Birmingham’s so-called renaissance is a good thing, the media being used to
promote this recently improved image for the city o en overlook a substantial portion of the population. “You
don’t see people of color in them,” Ward said. “This is not just something I’m just noticing. I’ve have people
coming to me, going, ‘Have you seen this?’”
He referred, without speci cs, to a couple of recent promotional items that make institutions important to
black Birminghamians invisible. “When you have a list about what makes up Birmingham and you don’t
include the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church?” he asked. “Either you’re doing it on purpose, or you don’t want
to deal with it. You know it’s here. People come from out of town who know that place is here.”
And that institutionalized racial inequality goes beyond black-white relations, he said. “There is an obvious
push to make Birmingham move to the next level, but it doesn’t seem like it’s including people of color, which
is amazing when you consider that the city itself is — what — 68 percent black?
“In a town with that much color in it, there are magazines, periodicals, that come out of this city, where you
will not see a person of color. I’m not talking about blacks. I’m talking about Asians. Hispanic, Latino. East
Indian. There won’t be a person of color in it. Maybe one or two. This is such a diverse city. We’ve been
talking in terms of black and white, but there are so many di erent people who live here.”
The lack of nonwhite faces in media promoting the city creates a problem for the cultural renaissance going
forward. “For those pieces, or videos, or advertisers to really not have people of color in them… that
underscores a larger problem about not having to see it, or not having to deal with it, or not having to look at
people,” Ward said.
“I think it’s a problem because you have people in town who feel like they’re not being included, so it’s hard
for them to get on board. And to push Birmingham where it needs to be, where it should have been 20 years

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ago, everybody’s got to be a part of it. You need everybody to do that. It’s such a great city.”
Ward acknowledged the much-touted rise in the millennial generation, the young adults of resources
between Birmingham public schools and the schools on the outskirts where the wealth is.” Inner city schools
may have computers, but they’re old and obsolete, while schools in the suburbs have newer computers and in
some cases, put tablets into the hands of every student, he pointed out, connecting that to the fact that little of
the wealth in this community is controlled by blacks.
Ward also noted that while Birmingham’s so-called renaissance is a good thing, the media being used to
promote this recently improved image for the city o en overlook a substantial portion of the population. “You
don’t see people of color in them,” Ward said. “This is not just something I’m just noticing. I’ve have people
coming to me, going, ‘Have you seen this?’”
He referred, without speci cs, to a couple of recent promotional items that make institutions important to
black Birminghamians invisible. “When you have a list about what makes up Birmingham and you don’t
include the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church?” he asked. “Either you’re doing it on purpose, or you don’t want
to deal with it. You know it’s here. People come from out of town who know that place is here.”
And that institutionalized racial inequality goes beyond black-white relations, he said. “There is an obvious
push to make Birmingham move to the next level, but it doesn’t seem like it’s including people of color, which
is amazing when you consider that the city itself is — what — 68 percent black?
“In a town with that much color in it, there are magazines, periodicals, that come out of this city, where you
will not see a person of color. I’m not talking about blacks. I’m talking about Asians. Hispanic, Latino. East
Indian. There won’t be a person of color in it. Maybe one or two. This is such a diverse city. We’ve been
talking in terms of black and white, but there are so many di erent people who live here.”
The lack of nonwhite faces in media promoting the city creates a problem for the cultural renaissance going
forward. “For those pieces, or videos, or advertisers to really not have people of color in them… that
underscores a larger problem about not having to see it, or not having to deal with it, or not having to look at
people,” Ward said.
“I think it’s a problem because you have people in town who feel like they’re not being included, so it’s hard
for them to get on board. And to push Birmingham where it needs to be, where it should have been 20 years
ago, everybody’s got to be a part of it. You need everybody to do that. It’s such a great city.”
Ward acknowledged the much-touted rise in the millennial generation, the young adults who believe in
inclusion and believe in the city, but he noted that there are still divisions manifested, among other ways, in a
sort of cul-de-sac mentality. There are students in Birmingham-area schools, he noted, who seldom
encounter students of another race.
“I mean, Mountain Brook versus Parker,” he said. “They’re both like 98 percent homogenous. When they get
out in the real world in other areas and do other things, it’s culture shock. You go to a major American city,
anywhere, and you’re going to see some diversity. You’re going to be working with people. And those
attitudes that you had in high school, you can’t have them because you’re going to get red.”
Is the millennial groundswell enough to overcome racial attitudes deeply engrained in local culture? Ward is
not sure. “I think people mean well sometimes, or I think there’s an assumption that it’s going to happen,” he
said. “You cannot assume that that’s going to happen.”

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En Guise d'Editorial

Even with more inclusive attitudes, the young adults who will one day control the power in the community
need to think beyond their own comfort zone, Ward said. “I remember when that age group was leaving this
place… Over the last ve or six years you see them coming back, or staying and trying to do something here.
But this place is more than microbreweries and hanging out on the Southside. There’s more to this place than
Avondale and being seen.”
A big part of the issue as Ward sees it, is the reluctance people in general have toward talking about the
issues. “We’re going to have to take some chances,” he said. “When things happen, instead of taking sides, you
got to start listening to people and hearing what people are saying. … That’s easier said than done because
people are naturally defensive.
“But until we start honestly talking about what race has done to this country as a whole, not just this state,
we’re going to be stuck. Race is a social construct. But it has been the most successful created thing ever
made. It does exactly what it was meant to do and put people in boxes and holes.”
Ward said that doesn’t mean that the solution is being “color blind” and not seeing the value in the di erences
that make people who they are. “If society could become color blind all the way around we might go
somewhere, but we’re not there,” he said.
On the other hand, race need not be a point of division, he said. “If you treat everybody with respect, you don’t
have to worry about seeing color. If you treat everybody the way you want to be treated, you don’t have to
worry about seeing color because you’re going to do what you’re supposed to do.”

Kathryn D. Morgan is the director of the African-American Studies program, and
an associate professor of Justice Sciences at UAB.
She doesn’t believe the post-racial society was ever a realistic notion. “I think
race relations have always been strained,” she said. “They’ve gotten better at
times, but I think that now, with the election of an African-American president…
we are seeing those attitudes expressed without hesitation. They are free to say
whatever they want to, call him anything. Be disrespectful to him.”
Morgan said that such attitudes come to the forefront whenever there is a crisis.

“We look at economics and again, I think that anytime there is competition for resources that are scarce —
and we’ve gone through that in the last few years — intolerance is always going to be intensi ed. You’re going
to always have more negative feelings toward the ‘out’ group. And so I think you have a combination of things
and now you’ve got a black president to blame everything on. He’s responsible for everything. … And he’s also
being blamed for the worsening race relations. I’m not sure how that’s possible, except the resentment
towards him as a president.
“And it’s getting worse. The viciousness with which people express attitudes makes me a little nervous. … It’s
a little scary that people are so free to generalize and stereotype everybody.”

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Morgan said that she reads the comments posted by readers on AL.com and they give her pause. “Over and
over and over again you hear talk about welfare checks and ‘they just sit at home and collect their welfare
checks,’” she said “The lack of sensitivity on the part of many in this area to the killings in Charleston was
almost appalling. Many said, ‘So what? They kill people every day in Birmingham.’”
While she does not see such attitudes as a new development, social media makes it easier to make such
sentiments widespread, and the Internet makes it possible for people to hide behind avatars and screen
names. Moreover, the level of hostility directed at Obama by even other national leaders gives ordinary
citizens license to ramp up their own vitriol, she said. “You’ve got leaders that foster that, really encourage
those kinds of negative attitudes, from the very beginning of the president’s tenure… And it’s not because they
think he’s a bad president. I think it’s more because he’s African-American.”
Morgan believes that blacks and whites see racial issues from divergent perspectives, but that education can
bring the races closer together.
Changing attitudes across races is a part of the mission of the African American Studies program at UAB.
The program today focuses less on racial victimization than on teaching an understanding of black culture
and history, Morgan said. Students are coming to the program from various ethnic backgrounds in an attempt
to better understand, she said.
“I think that, if we can educate students at this level, at the university level, I think we can have some hope for
tomorrow… We cannot give up,” she said. “We have to be optimistic about creating a better world.”
What are your views on race relations? Continue the conversation on Weld’s Facebook page, comment on this
story at weldbham.com or write to us at [email protected].

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Continued A very disturbing audio exchange is now being heard all over the
from page social media in which a very angry French Guyanese national is
severely lambasting an Haitian immigrant living in Guyana. With
a voice that expresses utter disgust, she made a blanket
statement that insults all Haitians. She went on a vitriolic criticism,
recorded and paraphrased below:

“International thugs, disgusting bunch of pariahs being
chased, repelled by most countries, beaten and even killed in
their own neighboring island, the Dominican Republic. No
country wants you, Haitians, aimless vagrants, useless parasites
of the world. You are worse than ravenous dogs. Go home, you
are not welcome here in Guyana either, don’t ever come back”.

Diaspora, This xenophobic excoriation of Haitians is usually spontaneous
Enough is and unprovoked on a daily basis in most host countries that
Enough!!! harbor a large number of Haitian job-seekers. This sort of hate-
sputtering scene with those seeking asylum is now becoming a
by worldwide phenomenon, partly created by rogue governments
Lesly Kernisant, M.D. whose failed system of governance pushes their people to
Sep. 1, 2017 wander elsewhere for basic necessities of human life such as
Facebook food, shelter and clothing. While it is unfair to compare the
Haitian situation with the atrocities of the Assad government in
Syria, the irresponsible leadership of our past and present
governments has greatly contributed to this continuing mass
exodus of our able men and women to other countries in search
of a better life. At a time when we need our leaders to build
bridges allowing the Diaspora to return home freely, they are
instead erecting stronger barriers against an eventual mass
homecoming. The recent passage of the now infamous law that
targets all Haitians living abroad is not only discriminatory, but
can potentially ignite a spike of division between the Diaspora
and Haiti.

Anything that disrupts this long harmonious relationship between
the immigrants and the Haitian nationals will forestall any hope of
regaining our lost glory as a proud Caribbean nation. Only in
perfect harmony will we be able to achieve growth and
prosperity.

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In my view, such an exclusionary policy will have the unintended effect of keeping
“Haitians out of Haiti”, an equally bad policy when compared to Trump's isolationist
ideology “America for Americans”. Those politicians who voted this law show a
collective lack of sound judgment and failed to fully understand the Diaspora's
intricate role in the country’s development. This progressive taxation on money
transfers, travel-related activities and other arbitrary “Diaspora fees” is not only
discriminatory, but unfair and illegal. It is an overtly usurpatory move that sends the
wrong message to more than 3 million Haitian immigrants, almost a 1/3rd of the
total population (10+ millions) who are part of the ever-growing Diaspora now
expanded into many large South American cities.

That being said, there seems to be an equally troubling set of accusatory messages
emanating from the social media megaphones. This clearly signals the beginning
of the end of the Diaspora long honeymoon period with their boldly assertive
leaders back home. The generational make-up of the new Diaspora is fast
changing. They will no longer watch silently and wait patiently for a better Haiti in a
distant future. This false sense of optimism has faded over the years. Haiti has
since turned into a haven for the unprincipled and a hideout for the unscrupulous. It
is time for the Diaspora to switch to a more retaliatory form of activism in dealing
with Haitian leaders. Taxation without representation should no longer be tolerated.
The new Diaspora mantra should be " If I pay a tax, I must cast a vote".

In Haiti, no one in position of power was ever held accountable for poor
governance, a forerunner of poor performance. Poverty seems to have a state of
permanence in the psyche of most Haitian leaders. Ineffective laws and corrupt
government institutions stifle economic growth leading to mass exodus of
opportunity-seeking people . That’s what explains the mass emigration of Haitians
toward these rather hostile neighboring states. Unless our leaders understand the
reason behind this present Haitian refugee crisis, they will continue to enact bad
laws that are economically counterproductive to the country.

The alarm has finally sounded and everyone is ready to reclaim part of their
national heritage! The new voices that have joined the campaign to retaliate
against this “anti-Diaspora” abuse are now being heard loud and clear. They have
remained silent for too long watching the country going from bad to worse with no
strategic plan for improvement in sight.. They are now wide awake and ready for a
change using their collective voice to say to the present government “Enough is
Enough”.

65COUCOU

Magazine

COUCOU Magazine

CUSTOMER REVIEWS • Poésies de Maryse C. Élysée
ON AMAZON • Peintures d'Albert Desmangles

JUDITH S. DARUCAUD on July 26, 2013 (French) Paperback | August 1, 2012
I totally enjoyed reading this
wonderful collection of poems written Poèmes pour célébrer la vie - Des
by Maryse C. Elysée. It has found a mots vrais, des mots
place on my nightstand and I find authentiques verront donc le jour
myself reaching for it on many dans une ambiance d'aube
evenings to immerse myself in verse lumineuse pour étancher la soif
whenever sleep eludes me or just to d'élévation de l'âme de bien des
treat myself to the beauty of words in liseurs. Car, leur auteur n'ayant
poetic motion. pas programmé leur sortie s'y
était adonné à fond, sans détour,
WILNER NAU on June 11, 2017 dans la solitude du lieu d'écriture
Very good book, I love it. par une nuit de pleine lune
inspiratrice ou dans le tumulte de
sentiments passionnés rien que
pour déverser son trop-plein
d'amertume, de regrets, de
chagrin ou encore de bonheur,
d'amour et de tendresse...

Margaret Papillon, Écrivain
Miami, Floride, le 13 juillet
2012

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