New Orlean’s disaster: A wake up call for social justice!!

[Michel Nau*]

Si nou fè yon rekilè yon ti kout pou’m gadè vil sa kè yo relè New Orlean sa'a.

Sè yon vil malèfic pou nèg!! Sè la kè tout batô ki tè sôti an Afrik, chajè ak nèg marè anba kôd ak chen’n kon zannimô yo te blayi yo pou yo vand yo ko'm esklav.

New Orlean a lepôq te yon gwo “Croix des Bossales” kôtè Trade’r anglè, fransè, Deutch elatryè te la ap vand e h’tè frè nou yo konkou bèt. Yo pat gen dlô pou yo bouwè, yo pat gen manjè pou yo manjè, yo pat gen kôtè pou yo domi, sosiyetè a te konsiderè yo konkou zannimô.Yo vand yo an gwo e an detay.Sa’k malad e infim, yo voyè yo jetè kankou bèt sak prèt pou mouri yo, yo touyè yo.

Se memm bagay sa yo kap repetè la anko nan yon tan modern. [b]Moun sa yo avek ti sale’r kè yo ap touchè, e kondisyon ke y’ap travay e viv, nou met tou di kè se esklav ke yo yè. [/b:97101c
3f61]

Sosiyete modern nan explwatè ignorans yo, klas sosiyal yo, e koulè yo.

Erezman gen televisión pou nou sa ouwè. Pa gen kachè pechè!! E mwen ta souwetè ke imaj sa yo sevi nou fam kou gason yon leson a nou tout ki kon pran’n ke se yon zafè ke nou yè.

Chonjè, e imajinè ke gwan gwan papa nou te pasè pa la tou.

Imaj sa yo montrè trè klè ke sosiyetè ya pa investi nan moun sa yo. Moun sa yo se rejè sosiyetè, se parazit. Yo pa pwodui anwen, ô kontrè se pran e mandè y’ap mandè de generasyon a generasyon.

Moun tout se pitit nèg e moun sa yo se responsabilite nou. Se nou ki pou sipote yo e represante yo. Nou pa kab ap avanse ak tout bowling e kite moun sa yo deye ap pran pousiye.

Nou gen anpil travay devan nou pou nou fè. Imaj sa yo deranjè'm anpil.

Michel

[Nekita Lamour*]

Kidonk tout esklav Michel ap pale yo ki te debake lan Nouvelle Orleans ki te apateni a Lafrans epok sa a, te batize katolik, apostolik, women. Anpil katolik Ameriken nwa soti lan zonn Sid la ak zonn Washington DC, Baltimore kote ki te gen legliz katolik e kolon blan yo te ka chape poul yo le Boukman, Tousen,MariJan, TiToya ak lot esklav yo te leve kanpe. Kidonk istwa katolik nwa Ozetazini, se istwa Ayisyen. Imaj nou wè lan ekran semenn sa yo se l'histoire continue."

Domaj depi 1995, m ap di moun lan legliz mwen yo, pou aprann sou legliz la. Yo pito fè gwo kont, gwo lobo. Yap tann monpè, monseyè montre yo istwa yo etan pep nwa lan legliz krisyanite, katolik kou pwotestan. Gen yon "leader' ki menm di lan legliz pa gen afè moun nwa. Moun antrave ak moun legliz sa yo. Si yo te koutem, jounen jodi a yo tap gen on ide, istwa pep New Orleans la konekte ak istwa pa nou tou.

Michel Laguerre ekri anpil sou
istwa ayisyen lan Missisipi ak New Orleans. M te mansyone istoryen katolik nwa Dr. Cyprian Davis deja. Li te pale lan on konferans pou ayisyen lanVirginia an jen denye. Gen anpil pè ak ajan pastoral ki pa envite pep la, ki pa ale yo menm, ouswa ki pa mennmen fidel al chache pran lakonesans lan konferans sa a ouswa anpil konferans ki ka fè ayisyen an konprann ki es ouswa kisa li ye Ozetazini.

Kilti Nouvel Oleans lan pataje anpil ak kilti Ayisyen an. Kolon yo te mennen ansyen esklav yo lan zonn Missipi a tou. Se ane pase pandan m te lan espozyosyon Smithsonian m profite vizite 5, 6 mize lan DC maprann ke se 14 ouswa 15 eta ki te fè pati Louisiana Purchase la. Se pa eta Louisana selman. Tout zonn jodi jounen jodi ke Katrina ravaje a se zonn aryè paran nou te la tou.
M fenk sot li lan Bob Corbett gen ayisyen ki pami viktim ki pa gen kote pou yo rete. Kisa ka p fè pou saa ?

M kwè tout moun ki pat konprann mizè moun nwa Ozetazini e ki kwè paske yo gen on ti kay, on ti machin, ouswa paske de t
wa ayisyen wè yo ouswa tande yo lan radio, yo fin rive. Tout lidè ki poko ka konprann enpotans edike kominote ayisyen an, tout moun ki di ki pa renmen apwoch lè ma p di pou nou manyè fè efò pou nou retire pep nou an lan iyorans, m kwè imaj sa ke lemonn antye wè jounen jodi a e ki ap kreye on imaj ka p toujou rete lan zye lemonn antye sou moun nwa, ka omwen ede nou ranmase karaktè nou jodi a.

Si nou poko wè jan blan wè nou etan nwa, si nou poko wè lan konstitisyon Etazini moun nwa se 3/5 de moun. Se an 1965 , moun nwa vin gen manda vote. Manda sa a (Act sa a pa lwa). Se on manda ki espire ane sa e ka p sou tab pou nouvo jij Kou Siprem yo renouvle e siyen an 2007. E yo nou pa konn kote nou gad ak nouvo nomine sa yo.

M ta swete anpil lan nou menm depi 1492, oubyen l804 ki poko jiskaprezan sispann pran tout sa klere pou lò imaj lan tout gran chenn televizyon ka ede nou wè kote nou gad.

New Orleans, lot vil lan Louisiana, ak eta Mississipi se on zonn m te toujou avan vizite. Men domaj kou
wè Fond Verettes kote grann mwen moun m toujou di lane pwochenn,oun lot lè. Menm si yo rebati vil sa yo, yo pap janm menm jan ankò. Bondye fè , epok m te ka flannen lan nuit kou lajounen, m te pran kamyon m te al lan bal Zen Gonaives. M te pwofite flannen lan vil la apre sa. Otreman m t ap konn Gonaives.

Mesi Michel pou ti entevansyon lan.

[Marilyn*]

Michel wrote:

Imaj sa yo montrè trè klè ke sosiyetè ya pa investi nan moun sa yo. Moun sa yo se rejè sosiyetè, se parazit. Yo pa pwodui anwen, ô kontrè se pran e mandè y’ap mandè de generasyon a generasyon.

Moun tout se pitit nèg e moun sa yo se responsabilite nou. Se nou ki pou sipote yo e represante yo. Nou pa kab ap avanse ak tout bowling e kite moun sa yo deye ap pran pousiye.

Sadly, Michel, that is the lesson of Hurricane Katrina. We see it. We speak of it. Will the wider American Public finally have their eyes opened wide to this reality and act accordingly?

Only time will tell.

Michel, I wish you could have been in the States in the 1960s and 1970s. Something was taking root in the U.S. during those decades to begin to reverse this horrible sin of neglect and abuse. The Civil Rights Movement led by Martin Luth
er King, Jr., counter-balanced by the more radical Black Panther Movement led by Huey Newton and Black Muslims led by Malcolm X, inspired Blacks to unite in refusing to take it any more and inspired many White Americans like me to join hands to shake up the mainstream system of racial inequality in the U.S.

Back then, Michel, visionary leaders in high places like John F. Kennedy [President and former U.S. Senator] and Robert F. Kennedy [Attorney General and former U.S. Senator] worked the system and with the support of a majority of the American People began to change the system. Those were days of introspection, institutional renewal, excitement and hope. Those were days when great amounts of money and energy were invested in the training and nurture of Black leaders in business, industry and education.

We were desolate when, early into his second term as U.S. President, John F. Kennedy was assassinated. But because of the momentum begun, even White Southerner Lyndon B. Johnson continued the pr
ocess of changing the laws of the nation to invest in equalizing opportunities in the obtaining of housing and education and social services.

There was such a momentum and public will that even Moderate Republican Presidents like Nixon and Ford didn't dare to mess with what had been instituted. And because Democrats often led the Congress, additional equal opportunity laws were passed.

The beginning of the reversal of all these advances occurred under the Presidency of Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. That's when the Conservatives began to chip away at benefits and programs for minorities and the poor. That's when Conservatives began their long-term investing in the shaping of the idealogues who are now, one by one, from the halls of power to which they rose, dismantling all of the laws and programs favoring (in order to make up for earlier wrongs) minorities and the poor. That's when the deal-from-Hell was struck that began the morphing of religion and politics in American Life.

And here
we are today with Conservatives and Neo-Cons, many of whom [like Condoleezza Rice and Alberto Gonzales] benefitted from the very "set aside" programs now being systematically gutted.

The chains of poverty now replace the chains of slavery. And the new slavery is no longer a respecter of race or geography.


All Americans, regardless of race or geography, who detest the America we have become, MUST unite to reject the values and rules of the road so cleverly imposed upon our Society by the Conservative and Neo-Con ideologues and so pathetically allowed and enabled by the "silent majority".

We cannot be silent anymore. We cannot be apathetic anymore. We must act in unison. We have almost run out of time.


Marilyn