Strength and grace is something that is recognized when you see performers like Misty Copeland or anyone from an Alvin Ailey program dance across the stage. Unknowingly, you wouldn’t be able to tell of any suffering or pain these performers have been through, but you can sense their dedication – their passion – of giving… Continue reading Healing through Haitian Folklore Dance
Category: Haiti
Haiti, the Haitian people and Black History Month
Excerpts of a speech given at the Lycée Philippe Guerrier of Cap-Haitian of which he was the Director, by Louis Mercier, for the dedication of the portrait of Lincoln offered by the great friend of Haiti, the American Ernst Schwarz. Also of note: Louis Mercier was my maternal grandfather. The most impressive monument I ever… Continue reading Haiti, the Haitian people and Black History Month
A League of Their Own
When I left Haiti in 1964, I was certainly aware of social and economic inequalities, as well as of those between men and women. I do remember, for instance, the enthusiasm of young people of my generation for projects of assistance and support to the needy, visits to the sick, and help in evangelization and… Continue reading A League of Their Own
Blood Brothers: Haitians in the Dominican Republic
One could say that the whole mess started in 2013, when the Constitutional Court, the supreme judicial body of the Dominican Republic, immediately rendered some 200,000 of its citizens stateless. “The ruling retroactively stripped Dominicans of Haitian descent of citizenship back to 1929,” says France François, spokesperson for the Washington, D.C.-based Association of Haitian Professionals… Continue reading Blood Brothers: Haitians in the Dominican Republic