Supporting Haiti: Relief Aid & Migration Rights

It's been too many days and relief efforts in Haiti seem beyond slow and not enough. The global community has responded, people have donated / are still donating money, organizations are rallying for more and more support, aid is pouring into the airport, yet the people of Haiti are still suffering and dying... A number of journalists have written about the slow movement of relief aid, the frustration of Haitian people on the ground, and the militarization of aid. Friday's Democracy Now revealed some of the reasons for the slow distribution and how days after the quake, so many Haitians are still waiting for food and water and still waiting for medical treatment.

U.S. media has created frenzy over fears of violence, and the United Nations and U.S. Military keep blaming "violence" and "looting" for the slow distribution of aid. But as a number of journalists keep reporting, the "violence" has been minimal and most of it understandable given that people are hungry and desperate. Furthermore, reports about the prisoners escaping have also fueled concerns about violence, but Democracy Now did an excellent report about this very issue - speaking with a local Human Rights Lawyer who explained that about 60-80% of the people locked up were never charged with anything. It is alarming to consider the similarities between the slow response and frantic media coverage of New Orleans post-Hurricane Katrina and what is now happening in Haiti post-earthquake. A great op-ed piece highlights this very issue - "More than Aid, Haiti needs Allies" - pointing out these similarities and arguing why Haiti needs allies in this struggle for immediate relief but also in the long term re-building efforts.



Relief Efforts - How to Help!
Donate if you can, and/or spread the word about these organizations:
Partners in Health - they have worked for over 20 year in Haiti with Haitian doctors and health care workers.
International Action Center - they have a campaign against the militarization of aid in Haiti: "Food not Troops" - sign the petition! - and read their statement of solidarity with Haiti calling for debt cancellation, and self determination for Haiti, not military occupation.
Yele Haiti - they have an up-to-date news blog with what Yele is doing in Haiti day by day to help people and get relief aid into communities. They are also discussing some of the towns and cities near Port-Au- Prince that haven't gotten as much attention - like Jacmel.
Lambi Fund of Haiti - "recovery extends beyond relief" - they are focusing on the long term and focusing on how to help re-build Haiti from within - helping people who need it the most.
Haitian Women for Haitian Refugees (HWHR) was founded by Haitian women in 1992 to respond to the refugee crisis faced by Haitian immigrants in the U.S. and Guantanamo Bay. HWHR has worked to provide solidarity and relief to past humanitaritan crisis in Haiti, including past flood disaster relief for Haiti and the Dominican Republic, and provides cultural programs that include popular education and community organizing. HWHR, Lakou New York, and MUDHA Movement of Dominican Haitian Women are organizing an immediate delivery of first aid relief to the Dominican/Haitian border, to quickly reach affected areas. Donations are being accepted through Pastors for Peace at -http://www.ifconews.org/node/723.
Dwa Fanm (meaning "Women's Rights" in Creole) is a human rights organization started in 1999 by Haitian and American women who share a commitment to women's rights as well as to social and legal equality, justice, peace and democracy. Dwa Fanm has activated an emergency response in collaboration with the Brooklyn Tabernacle to send doctors, nurses and community health workers to bring medical assistance and supplies to areas in Haiti that have been hardest hit.


Migration Rights
A year ago, I wrote a piece titled "Migrations Rights as Human Rights" here on conscious vibration responding to ongoing debates at home in the Bahamas about Haitian immigration. These debates have certainly continued over the past year, but since the earthquake, they have taken on a greater sense of urgency. There is now worldwide attention on Haiti and on the immediate needs of Haitian people. Given the devastation, it makes sense that a number of countries are granting status to Haitian migrants and promising not to deport Haitians back to a country in unimaginable crisis (particularly at the moment when people and countries around the world are helping Haiti through relief efforts). And while the United States has granted "Temporary Protected Status" to all Haitians migrants living in the U.S. for 18 months, they have indicated that new migrants post-earthquake will not be given this same status. This is unacceptable, yet falls in line with the deplorable U.S. policy towards Haitian migration - their refuge is not considered "political" - even during moments of intense political crisis. 


In the Caribbean, there have been various responses to the issue of migration: Jamaica has offered help and status to Haitian migrants leaving Haiti after the earthquake. In the Bahamas, our Prime Minister has said that no deportations will happen right now and detainees were released and given temporary status. I applaud the decision to release detainees and give them status, but what about other "undocumented" Haitian migrants? And what about those who may be seeking asylum/refuge from the devastation after the earthquake? Prime Minister Ingraham has indicated that they will be detained and perhaps locked up until they can be deported. This is unacceptable. Our Haitian brothers and sisters need our help, they need our compassion, and they need our support. 

I'm re-posting / re-framing parts of my letter here to highlight (and remember) some of our common histories and regional connections - and why we should all care about Haiti. While the focus of this letter is on the Bahamas, I think it resonates with the inhumane migration policies of the United States towards Haitians, as well as other countries who treat/frame any group of people who seek refuge / political asylum as "illegal" and then detain them with the threat of deportation / repatriation. We must rally for social justice and migration rights particularly at this time, in this moment, wherever we live. We must support migration rights now and into the future.

In the Bahamas, our immigration policy towards Haitians has long been shameful and it's time for us to make serious change. It's time for us to create and implement a sensible immigration policy for Haitians and Haitian Bahamians. We need to remember that Haitians have long migrated into the Bahamas and have LONG time been a part of the Bahamas and Bahamian culture. If one supports migration rights and human rights, then we cannot support our government's policy towards Haitians, and we cannot support the statelessness of Haitian Bahamians. During this time of crisis and into the future, we must continue to call on our government to offer more assistance to Haiti and Haitian people. We need to recognize the problems in Haiti are our problems too – people are suffering and dying. We should not discuss the “return” of Haitian migrants until Port-Au-Prince is re-built AND serious efforts are made to truly support and help free Haiti from the chains of debt and poverty (these efforts should be led by the Bahamas along with other countries in the region). This should not be seen as a handout, but as genuine regional solidarity and public acknowledgment of our commonalities and complicated histories.

Haiti does not exist in a vacuum. It did not suddenly become destitute or mismanage resources on its own. There are many reasons: tied to all the ways in which global capitalism works and how the Global South feeds/sustains and keeps wealthy the Global North. There are many reasons why Haiti is in political and economic crisis, why it remains the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Some of these reasons have to do with the violent dictatorships and corrupt governments since the 1960s, BUT many have to do with regimes of power (like IMF & World Bank), United States imperialism and their support of dictatorships, and a long history of interference. A history and silenced past much too long and complicated to recount here, but some important moments that many of us who study Caribbean history and culture know. Some of these historical silences are being discussed in progressive news reports and even in some mainstream news: particularly a discussion of the Haitian Revolution in 1804, which sparked intense fear across the Caribbean, in the United States, Latin America, and Europe. As a result, Europe and the United States worked to destabilize Haiti; to name a few examples: France demanded 150 million in gold to recognize Haiti as a nation; the U.S. Occupation of Haiti from 1915-1934; Haiti not fully recognized as a republic until well into the 1900s; United States through their Munroe Doctrine continuously interfering in Haiti’s economic and political landscape for their own military and resource interests for over one hundred years.


Haiti like the rest of the (post)colonial world has a context – slavery, colonialism, and new forms of colonialism. This historical/political/social context must be taken into account as we try to understand the present, and as we work towards a better future. A future where we embrace each other regardless of our differences, a future where we love and support each other, a future where we can all be human and free.

To push this conversation forward and to initiate a call to action, I created a Facebook group "Haitian-Bahamian Solidarity" with fellow Bahamians who are deeply concerned with how Haitians are being and will be treated in the Bahamas. We started a letter writing campaign - (for more info, check out the Facebook Group and website). The aim is to create space for Bahamians to discuss the important issue of migration and create a long term vision of exchange and solidarity among Haitians and Bahamians. The first goal / call to action is our letter writing campaign to the government of the Bahamas (see the website - bahatiansolidarity.wordpress.com - for all the details and how you can participate). Fellow Caribbeans and the larger global community are invited to participate in our letter writing campaign. But we also ask that you also write your own letters to your government/leaders calling for similar support.


Supporting Haiti and the people of Haiti means not only responding right now, but also thinking of the future, sustainable and locally-led development in Haiti, and progressive migration rights.

(Un)natural Disaster in Haiti

My thoughts and prayers are with Haitians (in Haiti and across its dyaspora). The news about the earthquake and relief efforts have occupied my mind and spirit all day long... I ended my 2009 postings on conscious vibration with sister poems I wrote about Haiti and Haitians/Haitian-Bahamians. I shared them in honor of Haiti's Independence and as part of my postings on human rights in December. And now I begin 2010 with these thoughts, new reflections, and a call to action -- to help and do what we can for Haiti.

Today's Democracy Now aired a report about Haiti and the earthquake - and they focused on not only the immediate crisis, but also long term concerns, like migration rights. They offered an in depth discussion about the political turmoil in Haiti and the history of U.S. occupations and interference that created/exacerbated the poverty, environmental degradation, and poor infrastructure in the country. Hence, they made it clear that this is more than a "natural" disaster. In fact, it is quite unnatural considering how much Haiti's political crisis and status as "the poorest country in the western hemisphere" has everything to do with the lingering effects of colonialism and new forms of imperialism. Democracy Now dared to also bring up the subject of migration - raising the question of the United States deporting Haitians during this time of crisis. It seems that deportation will stop for now, but it is unclear how long this will last. While the immediate relief efforts grow, we also have to think about the long term relief and support. It is time for serious and radical change in our collective thinking about migration rights.

CARICOM has pledged emergency aid and is organizing relief efforts within the region. Its closest neighbor, Dominican Republic, responded immediately with relief efforts. The news reports in countries close to Haiti are already discussing the issue of migration and deportation. The Jamaican prime minister is scheduled to visit Haiti on Thursday to assess how Jamaica can help; their government has also issued a statement that they are preparing for migrants fleeing Haiti. The government of The Bahamas has also promised emergency aid and postponed all repatriation efforts; and they too are preparing for more Haitian migrants.

As a Bahamian in solidarity with Haitians and supporter of migration rights as human rights, I am continually disturbed at the anti-migration sentiment in my country and the lack of humanity in which we discuss Haitian migration. The Bahamas is home to many Haitian migrants and Haitian-Bahamians; and our migration policy concerning Haitians is just as bad as the United States. And so even as I cringe at the language being used in some of these regional news reports, I am relieved that our leaders are responding with immediate aid and help. But I am hoping for more action. And I am hoping (against all hope) that this catastrophe sparks change in our public discourse and government policies -- that our consciousness and solidarity with Haiti across the region grows.

I urge all of us to do what we can to help - donating money is probably the easiest/fastest way to help. But there are other ways we can help too - sharing information, creating awareness, and supporting efforts for migration rights and policy changes. (A good start: Sign this Petition by Credo Action - To President Obama, requesting Temporary Protected Status for Haitian refugees in the United States.) 

Here's a list of established and well-reputed organizations that are supporting relief efforts -- donate if you can and/or share this list:

Lambi Fund of Haiti: (a grassroots organization who works with community organizations in Haiti) - Donate via text by texting: "send $20 to give@lambifund.org" to PAYPAL (729-725) using paypal mobile...send any $ amt now! 

Yele Haiti (a movement led by Wyclef Jean that is helping to bring hope back to Haiti. Projects are designed to make a difference in the fields of education, health, environment and community development.) - Donate via text: Text 'Yele' to 501501 and make a $5 contribution to the relief effort.


Partners in Health (Zanmi Lasante) (Partners In Health staff in Boston and Haiti are working to collect as much information as possible about the conditions on the ground, the relief efforts taking shape, and all relevant logistics issues in order to respond efficiently and effectively to the most urgent needs in the field.)


Doctors without Borders (The first reports are now emerging from Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams who were already working on medical projects Haiti. They are treating hundreds of people injured in the quake and have been setting up clinics in tents to replace their own damaged medical facilities.)


Haiti Emergency Relief Fund (Since its inception in March 2004, the Haiti Emergency Relief Fund has given concrete aid to Haiti’s grassroots democratic movement. They are calling for help - to contribute generously, not only for this immediate crisis, but in order to support the long-run development of human rights, sustainable agriculture and economic justice in Haiti.)

*** Let us stand in solidarity with Haiti. Let's create awareness about Haiti and its history. Let's fight against migration politics that are unjust. Let's think about how we can strategize and mobilize these moments to create long lasting and community building / sustaining change.***


I began the new year by creating a vision board of what I wanted 2010 to be for me. As part of my vision, I used the slogan for the upcoming U.S. Social Forum - "Another World Is Possible, Another Us Is Necessary" -- this captured perfectly for me how I'm thinking about revolution and love. For today and the days to come, these words carry even more weight and importance to me - because we have little choice. I have to believe in this now more than ever.


In solidarity & conscious vibration...

Sister Poems

Unrest

our labor has become more important than our silence

-Audre Lorde

cutting and clearing, cooking and cleaning,

serving and selling our souls away

in dis Bahamaland we nameless and stateless,

in dis country who want we labour, but not we children

dey call us "my Haitian," as if we property

dey say we blood make us violent, as if Bahamian blood different

forgetting and burying, bodies and hands

uprooted like the forests around Port-au-Prince

dey say we takin' over

as if we run tings here

dey say we makin one next Haiti

as if we ain't runnin from her now.

back in Haiti, land of empty mountains,

never catchin a break, no matter we blood

covering the streets, trapped under mudslides

hiding we struggle, to live beyond

a Revolution that never was, sent tremors across ocean currents

creating revelations and rebellions, a Revolution that was, never complete

punished for doing the unthinkable, waging battles, demanding equality,

declaring Independence from French bondage, the first Black Republic

destroyed through pillage of gold, land and people

invaded, occupied, held hostage, denied status

migrations and movements, hiding and blending

name changes and marriages, children and saviors.

some of us come by boat, but we are not boat people

we seek refuge politically, we want peace spiritually

from civil wars, coups, unrest, no-rest, disease, poverty's ruthless clutch,

and so called peace-keeping troops and life-sucking foreign aid.

some of us born here, being both Haitian and Bahamian

feeling both love and shame about who we be,

and still we hear "go home"

as if we ain't built home right here wit' you.

Sip an' Talk

it is better to speak, remembering we were never meant to survive
-Audre Lorde

so many silences about the ocean

connecting Haitians and Bahamians

so many silences to the cutting of life water

who gets to stay and who gets t'row away

so many silences rising upon salty weathered bodies

we want your labor, but yunna chirrin' no

so many silences to teeth-sucking moans

“da Bahamas too small, cyan help erryone”

but we is dem, dem is us

t'rough blood, ancestors, many stories

so many silences to sip sip and talk

sinking Haitian sloops, shark infested seas, missing bodies

so many silences about all dese tings, holes in we history,  

the middle passage, 60 million or more, nefarious thoughts,

oceans mixed in spirit and sweat, the weight of resistance

so easily forgotten under colonial eyes and books

dis-remembering roots, language and culture,

long time, water crossings in love and faith

so we must fill the silences with real talk, honest and dirty,

uncovering secrets, from Inagua to Grand Bahama

"all a we is one family, all a we is one"

so we must fill the silences with songs, stitching holes,

filling gaps, replacing fractures, no more blows

"you muh brother, you muh sister, all a we is one"

between us and them

between you and me

"all a we is one"

Human Rights Day

Human Rights Day - 10th Dec 2009

I had a beautiful plan to write a post on this day responding to this article, but alas I didn't have the time - or I didn't make the time.  But I'm playing catch up on this new year's eve - posting all of my december musings at one time - on this last day of 2009.  I had a fantastic poetry reading on Dec 10th at the Tongues Afire Reading Series in Brooklyn at the Audre Lorde Project.  I shared a number of poems that I worked on and improved through the Tongues Afire Workshop in Fall 08 - so it was such a rewarding and rich experience to share my work a year later.  And I shared the "stage" with other Tongues Afire writers and with the amazing & brilliant Cheryl Clark who was our featured poet!  She made my entire year by telling me she thought my work and performance was powerful :-)   I shared a few poems in honor of human rights day - one titled "all i want is my body" which I shared here on conscious vibration a while back, but I've changed it since...  and also two sister poems about migration and Haitians/Haitian Bahamians.  I will share them here as well in the next post - part three of my three postings catch up on new year's eve.

Meanwhile, here is the link I wanted to share:

Statement by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Human Rights Day, 10 Dec 2009

World AIDS Day, Re/Memory, & Activism

Thoughts & Reflections from 1st December 2009


On World AIDS Day - I sit remembering those who have passed (my mother especially) and those who survive. My red ribbon is always on my bag because everyday - I remember.  There's so much silence in our communities about HIV/AIDS - it baffles me how little we talk about it. I wish I talked about it more, but it is so difficult. It's been 13 years since my mother passed away from complications due to HIV/AIDS. And its only been in the past three years that I've really talked about it in any kind of public setting.  A few years ago I was asked to discuss HIV/AIDS and the stigma in the Caribbean at a Caribbean Students Association at UF - where I was a grad student at the time. So I decided to break my own silence and talk to fellow students about my story and my mother's story. At first it was really hard, but then other students opened up too. I had for many years done lots of research/reading on HIV/AIDS, and I also did a number of community service activities in college,  But talking about my personal connection to the disease was something I did not do very often. Grad school became a space for me to continue this work and also connect to the personal more. So I've been way more active in HIV/AIDS work since I finished grad school, and I've used my community work as a space to discuss larger issues of gender and sexuality in Black communities as well. I think we also have to expand the discourse - not just fight the stigma of the disease, but also fight the stigmas we have about our sexuality and sexualities.


We also have to be break the silences, push through our fears, and embrace our loved ones who are living with HIV/AIDS. We must do this. And we must fight for equal and fair access to treatment and medicine. Not just on World AIDS Day or National Black HIV/AIDS Day - but everyday. This makes me think about how we do activism - how do we live our politics? how do we stay in the struggle? how do we remember our histories?  


During the thanks-taking week, Democracy Now aired this beautiful show about the Native American singer/songwriter and activist Buffy Sainte-Marie - someone I had heard of only through her music. I didn't realize how much of an activist she was till I watched the show. I meant to share this clip in November, but time escaped me and so I'm finally doing it now. And so in honor of both World AIDS Day and what should be considered a National Day of Mourning in North America - remembering Amer-Indians and Indigenous' Peoples whose lands were stolen, whose histories have yet to be acknowledged by the dominant culture - I wanted to share this piece on Democracy Now.  Buffy Sainte Marie reminds us all that no matter our cause, we can use our minds, hearts, voices, spirits to fight in the struggle... and that we must continue to be present and move forward while remembering the past. I think of this work as - Re/memory - it is the embrace and acceptance of what has happened - the stories that have not been told - and it is the re-collection of those stories and bringing them to consciousness. 


Democracy Now! Special: An Hour of Music and Conversation with Legendary Native American Singer-Songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie

Poverty, Class, Gender & Human Rights

Amnesty International Head Irene Khan on "The Unheard Truth: Poverty and Human Rights"

Shared via AddThis

Yesterday (October 17th) was the 'International Day for the Eradication of Poverty'. Democracy Now covered this on Friday - and their guest was Amnesty International's Irene Khan, who talked about her book on poverty and human rights. As I watched this segment and reflected on some of the startling numbers - like 1/3 of the world's population are living in poverty and that 1 billion people go hungry everyday - it made me think about the violence of poverty and how it breeds hopelessness. I also think about studies that say 70% of people living in poverty are women. And how women around the world are fighting and organizing and articulating economic and social rights as human rights [check out these sites: IPS News Reports on Gender Equality & Economica: Women and the Global Economy.]

I am talking about these issues in all of my classes, and so they are on my mind constantly. And I grew up in poor working-class communities in the Bahamas, and so I know intimately what we can call the violence of poverty. But I climbed the socio-economic ladder and "made it out" - in spite of great odds and because of hard work. Yet I must acknowledge the opportunities afforded me because of my light skin, scholarships I received, and hence access to higher education. I often feel guilty for making it out and an overwhelming responsibility to live up to something I can't even name. I know my story is not so unusual, yet at the same time, I know that I am an exception to the rule rather than an example of the meritocracy myth - "if you just work hard and believe, you will make it" - cause we all know it ain't that simple. I could easily have ended up on a very different path.

Khan discusses the challenges people face around the world because of unequal access to resources, especially education - which then makes it almost impossible to get out of poverty. She draws a comparison between herself and her family's housekeeper's son - they grew up together but because of class differences and social status, they have ended up in very different places - she had the opportunity to get an education and leave Bangladesh and he didn't. Her story illustrates the clear connection between poverty and class. And yet there are so many stories - complicated by race, colonialism, gender, sexuality, and location - the experiences of many people around the world. Khan highlights some of the struggles and movements in different places, and she insists (similar to Paulo Freire in Pedagogy of the Oppressed) that people who are poor must be empowered to create change -- in other words, they must be the center of their own movements and decision making or what Freire explains as coming to consciousness. This is one of the reasons I wanted to be an educator and teacher- because I experienced empowerment through education - both formal and community.

So today - reflecting on these days set aside to "Stand Against Poverty" Oct 16-18- I wanted to share these sites and sources. And think about how we can make EVERY DAY a stand against poverty. This is too much to talk about here, but we've gotta start somewhere. And the work has begun. So we can support the movements that are in progress. We can make sure that debates/struggles over human rights include eradicating poverty and fighting for social and economic justice. We can spread awareness about the movement to eradicate the IMF/WorldBank/foreign debt of the "Third World/Global South" - the countries who make "First World/Global North" wealth possible. We can develop more strategies to support organizations/groups who focus on empowerment at the local level. We should continue the work of challenging how we define human rights. We must talk about class issues in the places in which we live - and how these are complicated by race, gender, and sexuality. And we must change the way we talk about poverty - as if it is only the problem of those who endure it - because it should matter to everyone.

the state of public discourse

As an educator, I am constantly overwhelmed by how little my students (in college courses) know about history and how much they want to believe we live in a colorblind world. These two are related - the lack of knowledge about history, or the watered-down version of history they learn in high school and college, feeds the belief in colorblindness and the idea that everyone is equal now. Many of them seem to believe there is no such thing as racism or sexism - and even when I provide examples and talk about these as systems of oppression, they are still unable to discuss these issues in any critical way. I am mystified at how much they don't know and how resistant they are to new or progressive ways of thinking. But then I read mainstream news headlines and reports, and I think about the state of public discourse. There is such a lack of critical engagement in most public discourse, especially mainstream news. Thankfully, there are alternatives, like Democracy Now, Left Turn Magazine, Inter Press Service, and others. But often we have to seek out alternative news media, whose perspectives are deemed by the mainstream as "too radical" which keeps certain voices on the margin. Mainstream has become really conservative, so much so it now the norm. 

Most mainstream news outlets, and by extension much of public discourse, lack the language and tools to discuss issues around race, gender, class, and sexuality. It is amazing the gap that exists between academic discourse and public discourse. The language/embrace of multiculturalism, diversity, and colorblindness seems to trump so much of the work done in the humanities, social sciences, and alternative news media that exposes various systems of oppression and reveals how they operate. The moment of political correctness and belief in post-race, post-feminism, just-work-hard-and-you-will-make-it, everyone is equal has completely disrupted our abilities to talk about identity politics and social justice. It is no wonder my students can't talk about race, much less gender, class, and sexuality, and forget global and sexual politics or feminism and feminisms.

If we do talk about race, especially if one is a person of color, we are "playing the race card"; if we talk about gender and sexism, its because women are being overly sensitive; and when white people are asked to think about white privilege, they look confused. This leads to the ridiculous notion of equal opportunity racism and how anyone/everyone can be "a racist" -- this undermines real discussions about racism as systematic and prevents conversations about class and gender dynamics that complicate race. There is no public language to discuss racism and sexism as systematic, but rather people obsess over individual prejudices; there is no public language to really dialogue about racial, class, and gender oppression or privilege; there is no public language to expose interlocking systems of oppression. This is why people of color have been assaulted lately, from attacks on Sonia Sotomayor and President Obama to outright smear campaigns on community organizations like ACORN. This is why we are fearful of the "R" word.

We live in a moment of intense belief in "my opinion"; a moment where dichotomous logic in terms of politics reigns supreme in most news media, in which debate means representing two opposing points with no clear analysis of either side; a moment where there are just two sides (yes/no, for/against) to any & every debate. How did we come to this? When did we loose a grasp of multiple sides, critical analysis, support for one's point of view, evidence to support one's argument that is biased? What happened to the U.S. news media and mainstream journalists who called upon/relied on scholars, researchers, and organizers to clarify and complicate issues of concern from multiple perspectives -- not just two very biased and polar opposite sides that seem to only incite further controversy as opposed to real integrity-driven debate?

The state of public discourse is scary, and speaks to how difficult it is to have real public dialogue and critical reflection. It doesn't help that the first African American President of the United States refuses to really talk about race or admit the extent to which his race affects how people in this country see him. In fact, it makes our jobs as educators, community and intellectual workers, writers, artists, activists, and so on even harder. His presidency is continuously held up as the sign of a "post-racial" america. Thankfully, there are still some journalists who are willing to take the risk and talk critically about race. Recently, Democracy Now covered the issue of President Obama and race when talking with journalist Naomi Klein. Amy Goodman and Naomi Klein discuss Klein's article in Harper's Magazine where she talks about the various ways in which President Obama has avoided dealing with race during his presidency. She connects the Obama Administration's decision to not attend the UN Durban Review Conference on Racism this past April with other big silences concerning race. A shorter version of Klein's article is available online through The Guardian.

The show and article reminded me of how many disappointments we've seen these past few months with President Obama: from not attending the UN Conference on racism to his troubling response to Former President Carter's assertion that racism remains an issue and concern in this country. Carter astutely and clearly stated the obvious -- that the health care "debates" and attacks on President Obama are rooted in racism. This could have been a perfect opportunity for Obama to engage in a conversation about race; it could have been a beautiful moment of critical reflection, and what better person to do it with than someone who is well-respected, a former U.S. President, and active in human rights issues! But alas, no... instead Obama "disagrees" with Carter - in what I see as a very dangerous move. He could have simply said that Carter was entitled to his opinion (which would have been fine, since we live in "opinion happy" moment). He could have said nothing. I suppose I would rather have silence than a response that simply panders to the right wing and the notion of colorblindbess.

I wrote here on conscious vibration back in November that I did have hope in President Obama; that I believed this could be a time of change. I wrote how in spite of my hope I still had fears and concerns. But now my hope is lost...  what belief I did have during the first days and months of his presidency have been dimmed through the continued wars, the bank bailouts, and the no-public-option health care plan. And even though on some level, I knew he wouldn't be able to rock the boat that much - after all he is part of the system, particularly one that perpetuates U.S. hegemony and imperialism - still I hoped he would do some of the things he promised.

I know change must begin on the ground, and that we must all take responsibility for creating and sustaining movements. But we also need to hold leaders and governments accountable. And we must also hold those who do work in the name of "public service" accountable. We need to expect something better from those who engage in public discourse, especially the mainstream news. We need to break down the divides among what is deemed "intellectual" and "academic" and what is deemed "public" and "community" -- these divisions only reinforce the hierarchies that already exist. We need public language and new voices to talk about issues of race, gender, class, and sexuality. We need honesty and real dirty talk. We need folks to be able to express their anger in useful ways and channel these energies into change.

Audre Lorde talks about the issue of anger and racism in her 1981 essay titled "The Uses of Anger: Women Responding to Racism" - her keynote address to the National Women's Studies Association Conference. Her theories about the uses of anger in an early 1980s moment in which Black feminist scholars and organizers were calling out white women about their racism can be useful for us now - given the lack of public discourse on race, class, and gender. Lorde explains why her response to racism is anger, how it should make us all angry, and how we can use this anger:

My response to racism is anger. I have lived with that anger, ignoring it, feeding upon it, learning to use it before it laid my visions to waste, for most of my life. Once I did it in silence, afraid of the weight. My fear of anger taught me nothing. Your fear of that anger will teach you nothing, also. Women responding to racism means women responding to anger; the anger of exclusion, of unquestioned privilege, of racial distortions, of silence, ill-use, stereotyping, defensiveness, misnaming, betrayal, and co-optation. ... Anger expressed and translated into action in the service of our vision and our future is a liberating and strengthening act of clarification, for it is in the painful process of this translation that we identify who are our allies with whom we have grave differences, and who are our genuine enemies. Anger is loaded with information and energy.

So many of us are angry, and yes people of color are angry, women of color are especially angry, and as a Black queer migrant women, I'm hella angry... we have a right to be angry - there has been so much backlash and so much regression...  we are livin in scary times... so let's continue to fight and use our anger, express it, and transform it into action.

criminality in "post-race" america

I've been under a rock these past weeks - packing, moving, unpacking, getting settled in my new place, and preparing for my new job. It's been a hectic month... and I am missing New York terribly. But now that I am finally hitting my groove again :) it's time to write, reflect, and keep sendin' out into the universe conscious vibration...

I started a piece a while back about the arrest of Professor Gates, but didn't get a chance to finish it till now. I don't want to re-hash any of the debates already out there about his arrest. But rather I want to use this situation as an opportunity to discuss criminality in what many are calling a "post-race" moment. The most disturbing part of this entire issue was (and still is) the lack of critical discourse about "justice" and the prison system (or the prison industrial complex); AND the accusations hurled at Professor Gates - that he played the race card.



U.S. racial politics and the long history of serious injustice in “the law” and criminal system must be considered. The law and police as institutions are mired in this sordid history. Racial profiling is an everyday experience for people of color. So it is a fallacy to say that Professor Gates “played the race card” – because race was/is already an issue within the daily social, political, and legal fabric of this country. Black, Latino, and Native American men are incarcerated at higher levels than white men NOT because they commit more crimes, but rather because their bodies are criminalized and policed more than white bodies. Black and Latina women face the same harsh reality. (I hate statistics, and I know they can be manipulated to serve different agendas, but these stats have been used by a number of different sources: The 2006 U.S. Dept of Justice Reports "While one in 30 men between the ages of 20 and 34 is behind bars, the figure is one in nine for black males in that age group. Men are still roughly 13 times more likely to be incarcerated, but the female population is expanding at a far brisker pace. For black women in their mid- to late-30s, the incarceration rate also has hit the one-in-100 mark").

Unfortunately, these stats are often used to sustain the fear of the Black male in america, and it also perpetuates the racial stereotype of inherent criminality onto Black and Brown bodies. But these numbers/reports should make us want to understand why so many people of color are locked up in prison, and ask ourselves who profits from this system. The drug sentencing laws alone reveal injustice in the system - from the disparities in crack/cocaine laws to the fact that more than HALF of the people locked up are in there for NON-VIOLENT drug offenses.

(Do your own research; read the latest Pew Report on the prison system; check out Law Professor Ian Haney Lopez’s book titled White By Law for a detailed study of the law and race; AND read Angela Davis' Are Prisons Obsolete? -- she traces the connection between the end of slavery, the rise of the chain gang and the prison industrial complex, which fed/feeds the country's & corporations' need for cheap/free labor.)

NUMEROUS studies show that racial profiling, longer/harsher sentencing, unjust/racist laws, privatization of prisons, and the intense policing of poor communities is what in fact contributes to the high numbers of people of color being locked up in U.S. Jails and Prisons. Again, there are more people of color in prison NOT because crime is on the rise OR that we commit more crimes, its because of the system itself -- longer sentences, ridiculous probation laws that basically guarantee return to prison, lack of resources to help people coming out of prison, and the grim reality of poor communities with few resources exacerbated by state/federal monies going to build prisons instead of schools, spending money on war instead of community.



The prison system in its present state DOES NOT WORK and it certainly doesn't make our communities any safer. But we are suppose to believe in the law and the police without question. And so when Professor Gates gets arrested, it is easier for us to believe that it was an accident, that he "acted out" and therefore deserved it, that the police are just doing their job, that the system and law are colorblind, that he should have just "behaved" properly. It is much harder to question the system itself or consider that the police may lie - they have a code (all police) and they abide by it. And it is much harder to ask why Professor Gates' Black body is seen as threatening in so called "post-race" america -- especially with a Black president. It is even harder to admit that our belief and dependency in/on the prison system makes it work even more.

Ironically, Professor Gates has really never been one to talk about these difficult issues (in terms of the law, prison system, and injustice). In one of his PBS specials "America Beyond the Color Line," he briefly addressed the issue of Black men in prison, but he only touched upon racial profiling. And so now, Professor Gates is faced with the toughest of questions and challenges in an “america” that so wants to believe it is colorblind. He's already lined up to do a special on racial profiling. Is it too much too hope for that he offers a deep analysis of the system? All I can do is dream at this point.

We need alternatives. We need critique. We need to be armed with information/history/herstory to fight against racial stereotypes and misuse of statistics. We need to admit that race (gender, class, sexuality, religion, nationality, & ability) affect how we are treated within a given society and within institutions. We need to develop ways of building communities instead of destroying them. I am anti-prison and I think prison abolition is what we must fight for/towards -- a lot of people think this is ridiculous and some people think the system is too far entrenched to be changed. But I believe we have to start somewhere - and we should aim and struggle for RADICAL change at the root. Research and organizations already exist that offer maps/studies/visions for change. Places to start: - Instead of Prisons; Real Cost of Prisons; and Critical Resistance.

Critical Resistance (a national organization that works to dismantle the prison industrial complex) offers an important resource and space for us re-think, question, and challenge the prison system. Here is how CR defines the problem and their vision of change:

The U.S. uses prisons and policing as a failed “solution” to social problems. As a result, our communities are being destroyed.
• In the past two decades, the number of people in prison in the U.S. increased 400%.
• Prisons are filled with 68% people of color.
• 4 million people who have been in prison face barriers to jobs, parental rights, public assistance, and housing.
• In neighborhoods where people are most affected by mass imprisonment and policing, we see the direct impact of our annual $50 billion investment in prisons and policing: closed schools, homelessness, basic health care is out of reach, and poverty remains a reality in the richest country on earth.

Critical Resistance’s vision is the creation of genuinely safe, healthy communities that do not rely on prisons and policing to respond to harm. We call our vision “abolition.” We take the name “abolitionists” purposefully from those who called for the abolition of slavery in the 1800’s. Abolitionists believed that slavery could not be fixed or reformed – it needed to be abolished.

We must challenge the systems that keep us all locked up - physically, mentally, and spiritually. We must start thinking outside the box. We do not live in a "post-race" or colorblind world. But rather, we live in a world of difference - and we need to keep building across & through our differences to create the world we want to live in, the world we want for future generations.

what about july?

My friend and I have this running joke about the perils of July as graduate students and then newly-minted PhD's starting first jobs and such - especially if we get no summer teaching. If you are in the education profession, then you too might know about the dreaded nine-month contract. Yes, we are supposed to save enough for the summer months, but that rarely happens... and maybe we can make it through June, but what about July?

So July is a rough patch - even for those of us who plan plan plan... I thought with my first job and all, I would be okay, but living in NYC is hella expensive and then there was re-paying money I borrowed to live through summers in grad school & relocating after graduation... right... and so I ended up scraping by & wondering once again, what about July? (and let's not even talk about August) But no matter these trials, I still love my job and I love the work :) And this July brought me new opportunities & many blessings - I completed my postdoc year at NYU and so I was back on the job hunt - and I got a visiting gig at University of Connecticut in Women's Studies (Assistant Professor in Residence), which starts late August! (Sadly, this means I'm moving to CT, but I will still be close to NYC :)

And I had the fantastic opportunity to go home (Nassau, Bahamas) and teach for the first Bahamas Writer's Summer Institute (BWSI)(which took place from June 29th to July 31st 2009) - organized by fellow Bahamian writers Marion Bethel and Helen Klonaris. It was a five-week institute that included weekly writing workshops, as well as seminars in critical theory and the Caribbean literary imagination. BWSI also hosted several events - a reading series called "Witness" and panel conversations about craft. I couldn't be at home for the entire time, but I was able to teach three seminars on the Caribbean literary imagination. I also participated in two of the panel conversations, as a panelist on blogging and I moderated a discussion about influences beyond the word; and I read poetry for "Witness" with Marion Bethel and Lelawattee Manoo-Rahming.

I was honored to share "a stage" with Marion & Lelawattee (daring & brilliant writers who inspire me so much). I read poems about Bahamian language, my grandmother, queer sexuality, healing from sexual abuse, and silences about Haitians & Haitian Bahamians. This was the hardest part - putting myself out there at home because I fear my people will not fully accept me - my queer Black light-skinned migrant self. But I put myself out there anyway. And I am happy I did. I felt such support in the room - especially from the BWSI participants. I was humbled by the responses. A number of people said that I was brave... but I often don't feel brave, I do what I do because I have to. For me, writing is literally an act of survival - as the great Audre Lorde says, poetry is not a luxury and it is better to speak. I feel that in my bones. And I work to put my body where my politics are - sometimes this means discomfort and pain. It's all worth it though.

The most exciting part for me was the teaching/lecture time and sharing community with the participants and faculty. I organized my seminars by theme: 1) race and class, 2) gender and sexuality; 3) postcolonial identity and mobility. It was my first time being able to talk about these issues in a classroom/community environment at home. We read Caribbean writers such as Michelle Cliff, Edwidge Danticat, David Dabydeen, Dionne Brand, Jamaica Kincaid, Kevin Quashee, Achy Obejas, Marion Bethel, & Lelawattee Manoo-Rahming. We talked about racial mixing and the complexity of class and color in the region. We discussed the social construction of gender and possible roots of sexism and homophobia. We had debates about Bahamian postcolonial identity and culture. We talked about migration issues and human rights in the region. And through all of our conversations, we talked about the Bahamas in relationship to the rest of the region. I made sure that each class included a queer writer so that sexuality was always part of our discussion. The discussions were lively and thought provoking. The experience was incredibly inspiring yet challenging - we always ran out of time and I left each class feeling like there was so much more to say. I sensed great urgency in our classroom to talk about these issues. I felt a part of something very important and very needed. And so I thank the students and fellow faculty - especially Helen and Marion for putting BWSI together. I feel blessed to have been a part of this. It was truly historic. And I hope to be part of many more.

I had to leave BWSI early -- rushed back to New York so that I could get myself together for the big move to Connecticut and preparing for Fall teaching. So there was my July! More than I could have wished for - a beautiful end to my year in NYC. And as I prepare to move and re-locate, I am spending my last few weeks in New York enjoying the place and thinking only of conscious vibration.

work in progress - remembering MJ

A couple years ago, a group of my friends and I had a Michael video marathon. We watched all his greatest videos from "Rock with You" to "Thriller" and "Smooth Criminal" - we danced and sang along with Michael...and talked about how much we all loved MJ. We also watched the new stuff - from "Don't care about us" to "You are not alone." Seeing the physical transformation of MJ through his videos all in one sitting was quite astonishing and sad really. I saw him as a product of american racism, a troubled family, and a victim of child star obsession. I found myself haunted by his face, his eyes, and words he wrote about his childhood. And I started a poem then, but it remained unfinished in one of my journals until recently. It was (and is) hard to write about him -- I was so disturbed by the abuse accusations, I couldn't face the poem... but when he passed away, I decided to return to it. Like many people, I couldn't stop reading about MJ after he passed away - I listened to his music, watched videos online, and read news reports and blogs. I enjoyed reading different memories from writers who shared their love for MJ and why they thought he was so important. This was a kind of "recuperation" of MJ - he is suddenly responsible for making so much possible for Black people - i.e. he broke racial boundaries in the music industry and the world. MJ has been elevated to a new kind of Pop Icon Hero status. I was amused at the media's attempt to critique itself over "too much coverage" - the hypocrisy of it all - they continue to make money off of MJ, perhaps even more so in death. I watched the memorial service and cried. It was beautiful to hear positive things about this man who was so often berated. It was refreshing to hear about his humanity.



I also watched Democracy Now's report on Michael Jackson and they highlighted something James Baldwin said about him back in 1985, in his essay titled “Here Be Dragons”:

“The Michael Jackson cacophony is fascinating in that it is not about Jackson at all. I hope he has the good sense to know it and the good fortune to snatch his life out of the jaws of a carnivorous success. He will not swiftly be forgiven for having turned so many tables, for he damn sure grabbed the brass ring, and the man who broke the bank at Monte Carlo has nothing on Michael.” … “Freaks are called freaks and they are treated – in the main, abominably – because they are human beings who cause to echo, deep within us, our most profound terrors and desires.”

This made me think more about MJ's treatment as a freak and how we can talk about him as a cultural icon. He certainly broke all kinds of norms, especially with gender performance, but he was also punished for it. I plan to write about this more... But in the meantime, I went back to the unfinished poem.


On Michael Jackson's Passing

I think often about your music, its genius,
but mostly about your sad eyes

I want to find you in your music
I want people to stop making fun of you
I want you to love yourself

I want the world to remember your smile
in spite of the circus and frenzy
your freakish glory and charm

morphing into white-washed
picture perfect view
living american royalty dreams

I want to scream that you were a human being,
not property to be consumed, nor an amusement
park ride, not a thing to rip at, pull & tear a part

they did it to you
we did it to you
you did it to yourself

I see your face, I think about the pain
you must have been carrying for so long

I think about the tears we never saw
the long days and nights of childhood
eroded, stolen, mutilated, burned

I think about this child star being
the object of sexual gaze

I think about the stars dancing around you
in awe of your power to make
people cry and fall out

I think about how you never got to grow
and discover yourself

I think more about your face
your beautiful face, troubling sadness
your eyes, in every picture