Canvas for Bernie Sanders in Haitian hotspot Canarsie, Brooklyn!

Here are a few opportunities to Bernie-canvas Haitian hotspot Canarsie with former LOF1804 guest Garleen St.Germain of Team Bernie NY. She'll be canvassing near/around there this week. Here are the links to her events:

1. Canarsie- Wednesday 4/6 6pm-8pm

https://go.berniesanders.com/page/event/detail/443hf

2. Canarsie-Friday 4/8, 6pm-8pm

https://go.berniesanders.com/page/event/detail/44mgq

3. Flatlands- Sunday 4/10, 11am-1pm

https://go.berniesanders.com/page/event/detail/448m8

Or if you'd like to set up your own canvassing event in a Haitian community, Canarsie is definitely a must!

I will likely join Garleen on Sunday.

It's super easy to do after downloading the MiniVan app on your phone. Instructions will be provided.

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Legacy of 1804 Haiti, Race and US Elections News and Blog Review #LOF1804 (Rebroadcast)

Join me tonight (Friday) at 9PM for a rebroadcast of our 2/12/16 show. I will review recent news on  Haiti, the US Election and issues having to do with race and racism. We will be joined by frequent LOF1804 commentator Hans Roy.


We will review recent news clips on the issue and provide commentary between clips.

We will also follow up on last week's conversation on the Clintons, Hillary's hawkish State Department and Haiti. 


 Listen LIVE or ARCHIVED at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/pancaribbean/2016/03/05/legacy-of-1804-haiti-race-us-elections-news-blog-review-lof1804-replay or listen live on the phone at (714) 242-6119. 





SHOW RECAP/LIVE TWEETS/LINKS:

Legacy of 1804 with Marian Douglas-Ungaro #LOF1804 #AfroAmericas

Join me tonight as Marian Douglas-Ungaro joins us to discuss the International Decade of People of African Descent, the United Nations in Haiti and topics related to Afrodescendants.

Marian Douglas-Ungaro is a Black American woman writer and "semi-public Intellectual." A native of Washington, DC, she is a broadcast journalist and international consultant in elections and human rights who has worked in international CIVILIAN (NON-military) election and human rights missions in countries in the Americas (including Haiti) and also in former Yugoslavia. She is the founder of AFROAMERICAS, a 501(c)3 non-profit organisation working for real recognition, justice, and grassroots development for the Afrodescendant People of the Americas. Currently focused on implementing, observing, and celebrating the International Decade for People of African Descent, 2015-2024. She speaks and works in five (5) languages.

Listen live at  http://www.blogtalkradio.com/pancaribbean/2015/01/17/legacy-of-1804-with-marian-douglas-ungaro-afroamericas-lof1804 or at  714-242-6119 (live only). Please note that this call-in number is new and that the old one will no longer work.

UPDATE: SHOW AUDIO

Links of documents discussed:
Vienna Declaration - Published Version http://ht.ly/HvewS
International Decade for People of African Descent http://ht.ly/HvezQ

We also discussed the contradiction between the  United Nations blue helmets' human rights abuses and negligence in Haiti and elsewhere and its International Decade for People  African Descent.

Check the #LOF1804 hashtag for some live tweeting.

Check Out Current Events Podcasts at Blog Talk Radio with Kiskeacity on BlogTalkRadio

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Legacy of 1804 #2 with guest Dr. Millery Polyné (AUDIO)

Discover Culture Internet Radio with Black Whole Radio on BlogTalkRadio

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/blackwholeradio/2013/10/12/legacy-of-1804#

My guest last night on LOF1804 was Dr. Millery Polyné. Topics include the Oct 25th Diaspora in Dialogue conference, the recent ruling stripping Dominicans of Haitian descent of Dominican citizenship and the idea of Haiti.

Millery Polyné is an Associate Professor at New York University's Gallatin School of Individualized Study.  A graduate of Morehouse College and the University of Michigan with a Ph.D. in History, Millery's teaching and research interests include the intellectual history of African Americans and Afro-Caribbeans in the 19th and 20th centuries.  He is the author of From Douglass to Duvalier: U.S. African Americans, Haiti and Pan Americanism, 1870-1964 (University Press of Florida, 2010) and the editor of The Idea of Haiti: Rethinking Crisis and Development.

Here is a link to the video Dear Ayiti which we discussed early in the show:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlnAfIUWKFg

Here is a link to an interview I did of Millery when I first created this blog in 2005 on the topic of growing up Haitian in America. It is one of the most visited links on this site!

http://www.kiskeacity.com/2005/11/second-generation-nation-mill-polyn.html

Kiskeácity Daily | HaitianBloggers.Collected | @kiskeacity| Facebook

Code for Dealing with Requests to Donate Money "for Haiti"

There is now plenty of evidence that the most effective number of western NGOs in Haiti are not helping Haiti at all. (See the film Fatal Assistance by Haitian filmmaker Raoul Peck if you have not already.) Would you like to avoid being used towards the raising of funds for non-constructive activities by the WSIC in the area of the world of your origin? Avoid donating your hard earned money to any entities with sexy yet empty names concocting savily branded fundraisers towards vague/non-constructive goals.

Here are some examples of questions to ask members of the WSIC when they ask you to donate money towards their activities in Haiti. (You can also ask  these questions to Haitians or afro-descendants who ask you to donate in the name of  western NGOs or entities that they do not run, control and fund, especially the larger ones.) In order to increase the chance of receiving truthful answers, remember to remain calm and polite when asking your questions.

QUESTIONS:

Are you raising funds to provide Haitians a service or a good? Have you asked any Haitians who do not work for you whether they need your help towards the service/good for which you are fundraising? Have you asked Haitians who do not work for you how much of that service or good they will need and the specific form in which they would like to receive that service or good?

Since you are using the word Haiti in your fundraising drive, will  Haitians ultimately benefit  the most from the fundraising and in a way that they have deemed constructive?

Is there an NGO involved in/behind your fundraising drive? If so what is/are the name of the NGO(s)? What governments if any does that NGO receive funding/support from or work in close collaboration with?

What percentage of the money raised will go to "overhead" or to activities not linked to relief determined necessary by Haitians?

What percentage of the money raised will empower one or more Haitians to improve his/her/their life (lives) in a way that they have determined is the most constructive for them? 

Will the funds raised help to further JUSTICE in Haiti? 

Will the funds raised help to further INJUSTICE in Haiti?

What does (fill in the requesting entity's name or the fundraiser's name) mean? How does your entity accomplish what its name promises? How does your fundraiser's name accomplish what it promises?

What is the relationship of your entity to MINUSTAH?

How does your entity collaborate with MINUSTAH?

What is your entity's position on MINUSTAH remaining in Haiti indefinitely?

●●●

Wait until your questions have been answered to decide whether donating is the most constructive use of your resources. Use this code also to deal with entities that ask you to donate time/energy.

Please react in the comments section as I would like your constructive help in enriching this code.



Kiskeácity Daily | HaitianBloggers.Collected | @kiskeacity| Facebook

Presidential Politics and The Global African Community 11/7 Columbia U.

UPDATE NOV. 7: CANCELLED for tonight because of inclement weather. New date to be announced soon.

I will be going back to my alma mater  tomorrow Wednesday to speak about US presidential politics, Haiti and the global African community. This will be my first visit to the Malcolm X Lounge in 16 years!


Post presidential election panel discussion
Hosted by the Caribbean Students Association
Columbia University, NYC
Wednesday, Nov. 7  from 9-11pm.
Hamilton Hall
Malcolm X Lounge
Moderator: 
Patrick Délices

Panelists:
Brandon Brice
Vince Morgan
Basil Smikle Jr.
Alice Backer 

(Please click on each panelist's name for more info.)

 

















Kiskeácity Daily | HaitianBloggers.Collected | @kiskeacity| Facebook

Caribbean-Americans pushing for their own box on the 2010 census

Excerpts from an article on CaribbeanWorldNews.com:

The campaign to get Caribbean nationals accurately counted by the U.S. Census in 2010 will kick off officially in New York on June 20, 2008.

“Being visible in America begins and ends with the U.S. Census,” proclaimed CaribID2010 chair Felicia Persaud, in announcing a campaign with widespread support among those of Caribbean descent living in the United States for the Census Bureau to “ finally recognize our existence. “If you don’t get counted, you don’t exist in many important ways.”

'Caribbean Americans and West Indians are forced to choose between checking the box mis-identifying themselves as either African American, Asian American or Hispanic or simply as other.'

‘That simply is unfair and Un-American. Just as others can proudly identify themselves by origin so should we,” said Persaud.

First and foremost will be the need to get legislation introduced in the U.S. Congress, then passed by Congress that will mandate that the new Census form add one word to the identity question on the short form - that word and option is West Indian or Caribbean American.

Sherra Pierre March, of CbeanMedia added, `This CaribID2010 movement is critical to determining the economic futures of our communities. Every year the census data directly affects how more than 300 billion dollars is allocated to communities across the U.S. `These dollars are associated to schooling, healthcare, small business growth, housing, elderly care and so much more. This data is the cornerstone to how we are ultimately viewed as a community – IT IS OUR VOICE. This single step to join the movement, will affect international policies that not only determine the flow of dollars in our communities in the US but also in the Caribbean and throughout the larger Diasporas we are ultimately connected to.

Here's an immediate step for those interested in supporting the initiative:

`So join the CaribID2010 movement, so our voices can be heard - this simple step of registering on www.caribid2010.com and filling out our sample census form will help drive the message to the US Senate that we are to be taken seriously. This is our time…this is the moment of change!`

In light of the fact that a similar attempt by self-identified biracial-americans to obtain their own box on the last census failed, partly due to opposition by civil rights leaders who did not want the "black/African-American" numbers diminished, it will be interesting to see what happens to this initiative. Hopefully, Caribbean-Americans who support it will learn from the mistakes of biracial census category activists and make this category a reality. We have a good two-three years to push this through.

If both the multiracial and the Caribbean-American categories come to life, pre-Obama era civil rights style black/white dichotomy race theorists in America may have their work cut out for them...


Technorati Tags: CaribID2010, US Census, caribbean census category

Crossing Bridges

So I was quiet on this blog for a whole week. That doesn't mean I didn't take in sights and sounds worth sharing. For instance, I the consummate Brooklynite got to venture up to Harlem for a special poetry/performance art open mike, at the legendary St Nick's Pub no less. The event, St. Nick's Pub Down and Dirty Talent Extravaganza, (yeah, a mouthful) takes place there on Thursday nights. I had to get dragged up there ... but it was worth it. See for yourself. I posted the pictures and annotated them for you on Flickr.

Technorati Tags: st. nick's pub, harlem, poetry, new york

Hyphenate This! Where's the Hip in Hip Hop Again?

"I HAVE HAD A DREAM"

Excerpt from January 18, 2007 Can't Stop Won't Stop email Newsletter by Jeff Chang:

THE HIP-HOP BLOG YOU DON'T HAVE TO HATE

Over the last four years, the Can't Stop Won't Stop blog has become one of the best loved rest-spots on the hip-hop information superhighway. No BS, no faux outrage, no bland recountings of uneventful weekends.

Emphasis here on the phrase "the hip hop blog you don't have to hate." When a foremost hip hop blogger and theorist has to sell himself that way, has hip hop lost its hipness?

Meanwhile Cora Daniels just published Ghetto Nation: A Journey Into the Land of Bling and the Heart of the Shameless. Excerpt from her website:

With Ghettonation, acclaimed journalist and author, Cora Daniels, takes on one of the most explosive issues in our country today in this thoughtful critique of America's embrace of a ghetto persona that is demeaning to women, devalues education, celebrates the worst African American stereotypes, and contributes to the destruction of civil peace.

And:

Her investigation exposes the central role of corporate America in exploiting the idea of ghettoness as a hip cultural idiom, despite its disturbing ramifications, as a means of making money. She showcases Black rappers raised in privileged families who have taken on the ghetto persona and sold millions of albums.

Are we finally fed up?

Top: "I Had a Dream" (my title) by Mr. Case
Bottom: Cora Daniels, courtesy www.coradaniels.com

Technorati: hip hop, jeff chang, cantstopwontstop, cora daniels, ghetto nation

Hyphenate This! (Not Black Like Me, Says Crouch)

From the Jan.1 Issue of Newsweek, from "Is America Ready?", an article on Barak Obama, a quote which is I think relevant to the Caribbean-American experience:

The critic Stanley Crouch argued in a recent column titled "Not Black Like Me" that Obama -- raised in Hawaii as the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas (both academics, both now dead)-- is more representative of the uplifting immigrant experience that the grim African-American one. He will have come into the white house through a side door--which might, at this point, be the only one that's open."

The article says Barack is similar to (Jamaican-American) Colin Powell in that he too was seen more as an immigrant than as a "descendant" (i.e. an African-American with roots in the American South). Thoughts anyone?

Barack Obama Photo (Top) by kalexnova. Pictured right, Stanley Crouch.

Technorati Tags: obama, caribbean-american, kenya, african-american

Voices of Freedom Forum / Brooklyn Nov.18.

I'll be contributing the global/blogging/caribbean perspective to this forum on Brooklyn journalism this Saturday November, 18 at the Brooklyn Public Library. I'll be making a presentation with slides. Should be fun! You can click on the flyer to enlarge but here's the info just in case:
###


A WEEKSVILLE HERITAGE CENTER 35TH ANNIVERSARY SPEAKERS' SERIES PROGRAM

PRESENTED IN ASSOCIATION WITH BROOKLYN PUBLIC LIBRARY

Voices of Freedom

The Role of Black Newspapers from 19th Century Weeksville to the Present

Saturday, November 18, 2006 • 2 pm • Free

Central Library, Brooklyn Public Library • Grand Army Plaza

The Freedman's Torchlight, a publication of The African Civilization Society, originally founded by African Americans as an antislavery organization and later became solely dedicated to educating Black citizens, was one of America's first Black newspapers. Today, many Black newspapers exist. What shapes the content of Black newspapers and how have they transformed lives? What types of social, political, economic and spiritual networks have been created through print media? What is the future of Black journalism? What is the potential of Black media? These and other topics are the focus of this fascinating panel presentation. Panelists include Alice Backer, blogger and Francophonia editor, Global Voices • David Greaves, cofounder, Our Time Press • Patricia Young, Ph.D., professor, University of Maryland • Moderator: Allison Keyes, reporter, National Public Radio.

Directions to Central Library: Subway—2/3 to Grand Army Plaza or Eastern Parkway/Brooklyn Museum; Q to 7th Avenue • Bus—B41, B69, B71 (B45, B48, B67, 2-4 blocks)

718.756.5250•www.weeksvillesociety.org


Technorati: Weeksville Society - brooklyn - caribbean -

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Second Generation Nation: Mill Polyné PhD on Growing up Haitian in America

Dr. Millery Polyné, 31, is Assistant Professor of History at the College of Staten Island, City University of New York. He holds a PhD from the University of Michigan and is writing a book on the history of relations between Haitian and African-American leadership.

Born and Raised in Boston

Alice says -- So you are of Haitian parents born and raised in the United States. You are what many call a second generation Haitian-American. You're obviously bright and you could have become a doctor or lawyer or a rapper or whatever else. Why History and Haitian History specifically?

Millery says --Why Haitian history? Well, I grew up basically during a time when to be Haitian in Boston was to be ostracized to the margins.

Millery says -- I went to Morehouse College and I had a Liberian professor who spoke to me about the Haitian Revolution which blew my mind. It wasn't until my junior year of college that I actually took some real pride in my Haitianness. It's sort of a typical story of a child of immigrants discovering their identity late in the game.

Alice says -- What do you mean by "to be Haitian in Boston was to be ostracized to the margins"?

Millery says -- Boston has a significant Haitian population. In the 1970s and 80s, many Haitians were seen as refugees, low wage earners, vodou practicing people. The black and white American communities, as is typical in most places, tend to marginalize new ethnic groups on the block. Kids are picked on. Mothers and fathers are insulted. Employers relegate them to certain jobs.

Alice says -- I hear that.

Millery says -- Similar to many Haitian mothers, my mother entered into the economic niche of a nurse’s aid in a convalescent home -- when she had other aspirations.

Alice says -- Right. So how did you relate to Haiti before that magic junior year in college?

Millery says -- Well, it's a mixed bag. I loved to hear my family or other Haitians discuss politics. And I was always interested in the current political situation. But, it was clear to me from an early age that non-Haitians treated us differently. I despised being the Other.

Alice says – Did you feel more the Other than the average African-American? Or the average non-Haitian West Indian?

Millery says -- Possibly. I was the Other in terms of being darker skinned; the Other because of not speaking Kreyol well; the Other because of different traditions in the household.

Alice says – Just to play devil’s advocate, each of those things may or may not have to do with being Haitian... no? I mean, one could be Bajan or Jamaican or Trini and similarly complexioned to you and other immigrant groups might have had different traditions in the home too, no?

Millery says -- Well, because of the popularity of reggae to be Jamaican was, in my opinion, cool. Most other Caribbean peoples were typically thrown into the British Caribbean crowd. People from the British/American Caribbean had an easier time transitioning because of language and in terms of youth culture it was easier to digest without a longer legacy and memory of "voodoo" and all the ignorance.

Alice says – Right.

Teen-Aged and Haitian in the 80s and 90s

Alice says -- Wyclef Jean does a very good job I think of bringing home what it was like to be Haitian and a teen in those years (and even today I’m sure).

Millery says -- I wish Wyclef was popular in the 1980s. For some reason you need these popular figures to validate your existence in some ways.

Alice says -- In his song Lavi New York (Life in New York) he talks in Creole about being attacked and beaten up in public school. He says "Male lekol/ Ameriken te atakem, panikem, maltretem/ Fe saw vle, ou pakab dechoukem/...Respekte Ayisyen natif natal" ("I went to school/ Only to be beaten up/ However much you tried you couldn't uproot us/... Better learn to respect us Haitians.") I get goose bumps when I hear that song. And you get a sense that what he is saying is : "How ya like me now?"

Millery says -- YES! And I think a part of that attitude informed my path to academia and educational achievement. And people all over the world are becoming more and more interested in Kreyol and Caribbean identity. I presume Wyclef and I are around the same age. And it is important for the Wyclefs and Danticats to keep telling our stories.

On the Path to History

Alice says -- So walk us through the process of you going from this state of not liking that Otherness that others projected on you presumably because of Haitianity to running into the Liberian professor to deciding : “I'm going to become a Historian of Haiti.”

Millery says -- Well, the process, in many ways, is quite simple. It's a mixture of being confused about what role identity should play in one's life--African Americanness/Haitianness. I went from a confused state of not letting ethnic identity define me to a hip hop culture where Public Enemy, black consciousness and African medallions became quite influential in my life.

Alice says – Right.

Millery says -- From there Boyz N the Hood came out and at the end Trey went to Morehouse and one of my high school mentors was a graduate of the college.

Alice says – LOL.

Millery says -- Professor Augustine Konneh was the influential Liberian teacher in my life and he connected many of the African diasporic dots that became critical to my intellectual and personal development.

Alice says -- Having grown up in Haiti where most of my profs were Haitian, it's hard to fathom a non-Haitian offering Haitian history to you. What did you think about that? Was it strange to you or did you not even think about it?

Millery says -- I didn't even think about it. Most of my education, outside of my parents, was fed to me by non-Haitians.

Alice says -- What were you getting by way of history from your parents?

Millery says -- My parents didn't talk much about Haitian history. I was brought up to be an American. My parents never said I was Haitian. They always made it quite clear that I was born in the US and that I was American.

Alice says –- Your parents’ way seems to be one side of the coin. It is a different take from that of other Haitian parents I know who raised kids here but tried to counter their identification to African-American youth culture by imposing a haitianness that the kids just couldn't handle because they wanted to fit in at school.

Millery says -- Yes.
.
Alice says -- But by contrast your parents seemed to have wanted a blank slate for you.

Millery says -- Yes, in some ways. They sent me to French school early on because some friends of theirs recommended it. But that didn't last long. My parents never had a desire to send us back to Haiti because they felt that all our opportunities for success were here in the U.S.

Alice says -- So you left the French school? I know a Haitian family who sent their kids to a French school in Boston too. It’s gotta be the same one.

Millery says -- Yeah! But I still remember the French national anthem. Colonization of the mind in the U.S.

Alice says – La Marseillaise? LOL. That is hilarious. Now, I totally get that Konneh could have opened up a whole world for you in terms of Haitian History, but why make it your profession?

Millery says -- Well, the funny thing is that when I left high school I realized how many of my friends were Haitian but never admitted it. As a college student I witnessed my little cousins not knowing a single word in Kreyol. I fell in love with the power of education and history on a person’s life. It sounds hokey, but that was my driving force.

Millery says -- I became a history major and when I graduated I knew I didn't want to become a high school teacher right away so I decided to apply to grad school since all my other nerdy history major friends were doing the same. It seemed like becoming a professor on the college level was the kind of life I wanted to have. So, in many ways it was quite practical.

Alice says – Right.

Undercover

Alice says -- I'm still intrigued by the concept of you finding out that some of your high school friends had been Haitian and not admitted it. Were they not admitting it to you even?

Millery says -- Yes. It was weird. I look back on it now and many of them had Haitian last names. And maybe we never admitted it to each other.

Alice says –- LOL. That was going to be my next question. Couldn’t you tell they were Haitian from their names? Was haitianness a covert thing in high school?

Millery says-- In many ways I was clueless about what was considered a “Haitian” last name.

Alice says -- Were none of these kids getting together and speaking some Creole and joking about their parents the way I see my American born Haitian-American cousins do…

Millery says -- If you can believe it blackness was covert in the school I went to. No one spoke Kreyol. No vèvès on the school hallways

Alice says –- LOL. No vèvès on most school hallways in Haiti either believe it or not. LOL. In fact no vèvès in any school probably. But I know what you mean.

Alice says -- So your school was majority white?

Millery says – Yes, but you bring up a good question about performing identity. In some cases you get people doing that to distinguish themselves and other times people are reluctant and try to blend into the "white universal."

Alice says -- Do you think a similarly situated Haitian-American in a Boston school today that was like yours is having the same experience you had?

Millery says -- I know they are. I started a project about Haitians writing letters to Haiti and I received a number of letters from high school students who revealed some of that angst.

Alice says -- In the song Bay Micro'm Volume on Welcome to Haiti, Wyclef says "now we're on the map." (By we he means Haitians.) Is he a little too optimistic? Is the message in the music not trickling down just yet or is it that the culture among the kids has not quite caught up to where he's “at” in his own personal journey?

Millery says -- Well, I can take that several ways. There's a pop culture map where Edwidge and Garcelle Beauvais and Wyclef are spreading the word about who we are as a people. At the same time the message is trickling down but similar to Reaganomics, it's a slow trickle.

Alice says -- LOL

Millery says -- The overwhelming images we have are on television and the news and inform people's ingrained misconceptions.

Alice says – Right.

Millery says -- And I'm an academic and I know that few students will read my book or my articles. But I am dedicating it to Afri-Haitian Americans who ever had to struggle with who they are.

Alice says -- Why will only a few students read your books?

Millery says -- Well, unfortunately, the venues for academics early in their career to publish their work is limited to journals and presses that do not market to young people or their teachers.

Alice says -- What's an Afri-Haitian-American?

Millery says -- Afri-Haitian American is a moniker for people who are native Haitians or Americans born of Haitian parents who also can solidly identify as African American and with black issues in the U.S.

Alice says – Right. Do academics have the time or means to think of spreading their work beyond academia to others who also need it? I mean here you are on your way to tenure (you've already taught for three years) and you need to publish within those presses that you mentioned. Does that leave you time to even think of spreading some of your knowledge to some of these high school students who might be going around ignoring or even hiding their Haitianness?

Millery says -- I believe it's virtually nonexistent. We may give a talk here or there in a high school. I gave a talk at a Haitian unity dinner at St. John's University last year. And I hopefully will give a talk at a high school in Boston and elsewhere in the future.

Millery says -- In this age of publish or perish, academics teach their classes and go home and write. One could do outreach but that never happened when I was growing up. It is essential for that bridge between the university and high school to be built. Haitian professors need to know the teachers and principals in their communities. But admittedly it's tough.

On Black Public Intellectuals

Alice says -- What do you make of the many black public intellectuals who manage to build that bridge but mostly through the media? Cornel West who did a rap CD and appeared on the Matrix, Michael Eric Dyson etc. Even Manning Marable has a website and an agent.

Millery says -- Quite honestly, I was hatin' on public intellectuals for a while because I felt like the level of analysis was being watered down. But now I see their purpose and I understand that they come from a legacy of intellectuals who used the public forum to communicate their ideas to everyone.

Millery says -- What are your thoughts, Alice?

Alice says -- If I have any anxieties about academia it's precisely the idea of working so hard to be heard by so few who themselves are often so privileged. So I don't really mind the public intellectuals.

Millery says -- It's really the complexity of life and of individuals who desire the best for themselves and their people at the same time.

Alice says -- I see them as professionals like any professionals who want to do a good job while making a living…

Millery says –- Right. But many of our organizations/black colleges don't have the funds to pay for our own intellectuals.

Alice says –- True.

Millery says -– These academics are making six figures and it’s nearly impossible to hear their lectures because of the expensive honoraria or their busy schedules. I hope I never make that mistake.

Teaching Caribbean Immigrants at CUNY

Alice says – So did you choose to be at CUNY?

Millery says -- I did.

Alice says -- Did you even consider an Ivy or other private institutions?

Millery says -- Right now in my life I wanted to be at a public university, somewhere where students had a similar experience to mine. Although I went to a private college most students at CUNY are from working class families.

Alice says -– Right. So do you teach Haiti in your classes?

Millery says -– Definitely. I teach the Haitian revolution specifically and I also talk about race and color in Haiti in my History of the Caribbean course.

Alice says -- How many classes do you teach?

Millery says -- I basically teach History of the Caribbean, Modern Latin America and a course called Americas Encounter Europe. Three courses. I plan to offer a course on "the dictator" in the developing world.

Alice says -- What do you like most about being a history prof?

Millery says -- What I enjoy most is making history relevant to student's current dilemmas. When I can get a student to make connections with their current reality I'm a happy brotha.

Alice says -- Does that happen often?

Millery says -- Often, in the sense that every semester I have students who tell me they appreciate my class and what they learned. Evaluations are a good indicator. But I’m happy when a colleague will tell me that a student enjoyed my class.

Alice says -- What do you like least about being a history prof?

Millery says -- What I dislike is obviously the grading but that has nothing to do with history. I guess what I dislike and love the most is that there are no definite answers to life's most pressing questions.

(Photo Courtesy Brian A. Gaffney.)

What Exactly is a Creole?

• Whatever the word Creole means, tons of people --or at least their elites-- claim they're it. But the word hardly ever means the same thing depending on where it's used and it is thus surprising that an IOCP (International Organization of Creole Peoples) exists.

A person of mixed-race or a person who speaks creole?

• In Louisiana and Trinidad, Creole seems to mean person of mixed race, some of their ancestry being French. In Haiti, mixed-race people are called Mulatto or Grimo but not Creole--despite what a recent Village Voice article seemed to imply-- and Creole designates the French-derived language spoken by all of the population, French proper only being the second most spoken language.

Creole Haitian style v. Creole Gwada style...

• In Martinique and Guadeloupe where the power structure is still French from France, Creole designates anything that is local (and therefore results from a mix of cultures that has been simmering ever since Columbus' arrival) and cannot be said to come from France alone: the cuisine, for example and more broadly the culture and language too of course.
• Creolite the academic movement was concocted in Martinique and Guadeloupe ("M&G" for short) by the likes of acclaimed novelists Raphael Confiant and Patrick Chamoiseau apparently to begin forging a Caribbean consciousness 1) in order to redress some of the lopsided Negritude of Cesaire, Senghor and their hyperintellectual buddies from Paris who believed in a (pan-African) Negro essence; 2) in the face of an uneasy French presence on M&G soil; 3) in the face of crushing European competition after France and all its overseas territories and departments--M&G included-- joined the EU. (Not only were locals having to compete with the french born who occupied most of the top bureaucratic spots in the two overseas departments, but they now had to contend with any Europeans who wished to do business there.)

• When Haitian roots band Boukman Eksperyans sang Se Kreyol nou ye (meaning We Are Creole) a decade or so ago, the statement had a significance somewhat distinct from M&G's Creolity movement. After all, Haiti has long ago severed ties from the French colonial structure, making it wholly unnecessary to assert anything vis-a-vis France or the relatively few French officials on Haitian soil. If anything, the statement was more about forcing Haitians to maybe think of themselves as belonging to the Caribbean (something our english-speaking West Indian counterparts had been thinking of for quite a while while building CARICOM), as opposed to wallowing in its historical isolation.
• And perhaps because in Haiti but also in M&G, the biggest association with the word Creole is still the language rather than Caribbeanity, increasing Caribbean consciousness is being expressed more and more with the words Caribeen, Caraibe, Cariban or in creole Karibeyen and only academics or ideologues use the word Creole to designate people. So Wyclef's song with Guadeloupean dancehall artist Admiral T opens with "Karibeyen nou ye, se Karibeyen nou ye." All of the new dancehall from M&G not only bandies about the word Caribbean --in english-- but also does its best to sound as Jamaican or Trini as possible despite singing in Creole, almost invariably ending rhymes and singing whole choruses in english-derived Patois.

Kreyol, French Caribbean or simply Haitian?

• That being said, certain groups of Haitians in America are reclaiming Creolity, probably to make the notion of Haitianity seem familiar i.e. Louisianian... So there is now an annual Haitian music festival in New York called Kreyolfest, there is a Haitian beauty pageant called Miss Creole, and there is a Haitian internet forum called Lounge Kreyol... That coining may be something of a novelty but still sounds much much better than a euphemism that SOB's used for years to designate Haitian Music Fridays: French Caribbean Fridays. Ack! How many Haitians ever say "I'm French Caribbean" when asked where they're from? (Cf. Jean Dominique intro on Wycleff's Welcome to Haiti--Creole 101.) SOBs --which has made mucho bucks off of Haitians for years what with consistently sold out $25 a pop Friday nite concerts-- is now finally okay with calling its cash cow constituency what it is: H-A-I-T-I-A-N. So French Caribbean Fridays is now Manhattan H-A-I-T-I-A-N Dance Party. (Please post away about what YOU think prompted this cultural shift. That should make for a fun discussion in the comments section.) And next Saturday's Haitian Jazz Festival-not to be missed- won't have to be French Caribbean Jazz Festival.

Something having some connection to the French colonial project?

• So in short, the lowest common denominator in defining Creole is that it is said of an entity (person or non-person depending on the country) that results from a mixture of cultures, at least one of which is French. If you're Caribbean or Louisianian, some African is probably presumed in the mix. If you're from Reunion, some Pacific Islander is probably part of the swirl. So when surfing IOCP, enjoy the pictures and the culture, the shift from English to French to one of several Creole languages but keep in mind that each of the Creole people featured has a different definition of what a Creole person is...

 UPDATE 11/24/2013


Legacy of 1804 with Professor Patrick Sylvain on: "I'm a Haitian, not a Creole and I speak Haitian"

Current Culture Podcasts at Blog Talk Radio with Black Whole Radio on BlogTalkRadio

Labor Day and Katrina

As late as the rest of the world, I started taking in images and information about Katrina yesterday. I'm still processing the extent of the disaster.

I was looking forward all week to counting down to the Labor Day Parade on Monday and to the imminent arrival of a little one in my family. I was talking to my friend Sarah who studies steel pan culture about attending tonight's steel pan contest in Brooklyn.

Now I wonder, how festive can Labor Day be in light of all the sadness and devastation left behind by Katrina? What would Katrina's victims think of floods of people dancing to jolly calypsos as they are flooded by despair and neglect? Mostly, what world is the little one coming into?

Answers to some of these questions seem obvious but others aren't. As sure as life goes on, the trauma of those grappling with disaster will endure...