I used to live in Haiti as a child. I haven’t commented on the earthquake until now because I really have nothing worth your time to add to the conversation.
Edwidge Danticat, on the other hand, does. Her tale of a dead cousin is well worth reading.
Maxo was a hustler. He could get whatever he wanted, whether money or kind words, simply by saying, “You know I love you. I love you. I love you.” It always worked with our family members in New York, both when he occasionally showed up to visit and when he called from Haiti to ask them to fund his various projects.
The last time I heard from him was three days before the earthquake. He left a message on my voice mail. He was trying to raise money to rebuild a small school in the mountains of Léogâne, where our family originated. The time before that, someone in the neighborhood had died and money was needed for a coffin. With a voice that blended shouting and laughter, Maxo made each request sound as though it were an investment that the giver would be making in him or herself.
Read more: http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2010/02/01/100201taco_talk_danticat#ixzz0djv9vWHp
Haitians, by and large, are not included in the technorati. Their lives do not leave large digital footprints behind, at least for the ones who remain trapped in Haiti by the policies of strangers. Haitian lives though are worth re-examining at this time, as are American immigration policies related to Haitians. Why do we have one standard for Cubans and a completely different one for Haitians? Haiti has been a breeding ground for dictators for hundreds of years, and the people living under them suffer greatly as a result. Even more though, Haitians suffer because their giant Northern neighbor fails to care enough.
Now that we have a humanitarian disaster of nearly unprecedented proportions on our hands, maybe some of our politicians and diplomats can find new solutions as they try to rebuild a country that has (as long as I’ve been alive at least) been given more than its share of misery and despair.
It is too late for Maxo but not for the millions of Haitians who remain.