Etant donné que la traduction que j'ai faite du texte de Richard Morse, en 2009
circule sur le net, sans que son origine
ne soit mentionnée,
et sans les notes qui l'accompagnaient
equi permettaient d'éviter d'exploiter
ce texte dans le sens de la promotion d'un noirisme à la papa doc;
(c'est-à-dire la création d'une "élite Noire"
aussi répugnante dans les faits que la Mulâtre.)
et de plus avec les fautes de frappe, de traduction et autres,
il était nécessaire de republier l'original
avec les corrections
J'ai traduit ce texte de M.Morse
qui aborde d'un point de vue personnel
le probleme classe/couleur
en Haiti;
problème qui existe peu ou prou
dans l'ensemble des Amériques Noires
et qui rejoint celui des Indigènes
d'Amérique Latine,
Dans les 2 cas, il s'agit d' un héritage dément de la colonisation
sur lequel s'est construite l'exploitation d'une minorité
sur la majorité de la population.
Attention Il ne faudrait pas se méprendre.
En parlant de "noirisme' ou de "mulâtrisme"
c'est avant tout d'un discours de classe "coloriste"
qui autorise l'exclusion
le mépris
et l'exploitation
que Morse décrit.
AlpRichard Morse
Owner-Manager
Hotel Oloffson
Port-au-Prince, Haiti
oloffsonram@aol.com
If I had been born in Haiti I would be considered a "Mulatto"; however, I was born in Puerto Rico and grew up in the suburbs of Yale University, therefore, I'm not a Mulatto, I'm Black. There is no such thing as a Mulatto in Connecticut , or in the U.S. for that matter; either you're White or you're Black, one or the other. [There are other races but for the purposes of this ramble I'm sticking to the Black/White issue]. My children see me as White and laugh at the thought that I may have Black blood in my veins. They view themselves as Black.
Si j’étais né en Haïti, j’aurais été considé comme « Mulâtre » ; cependant je suis né à Puerto Rico et j ‘ai grandi dans les banlieues de Yale University, alors je ne suis pas Mulâtre, je suis Noir. Il n’existe pas dans le Connecticut ou aux USA, une chose telle que Mulâtre ; soit vous êtes Blanc ou Noir, l’un ou l’autre. ( il existe d’autres races mais dans le cadre de cette communication, je me focalise sur le problème Noir/Blanc) Mes enfants me perçoivent ceomme Blanc et rigolent à l’idée que je puisse avoir du sang Noir dans mes veines. Eux se perçoivent comme Noirs.
In Haiti, things are different. In Haiti , "Mulatto" is a "class" and a "race" unto itself. Let me give you an example. In Haiti , after the Aristide coup of 1991, when there was all that repression and murder, it was Black people who were getting killed, not Mulattos; more specifically it was poor, Black people who were getting killed.
Back in the day, the Mulatto class had an army (Force Armée d'Haiti, FADH) to do the killing and protecting them. At the time of the 1991 COUP, that army was headed by Raoul Cedras, a Mulatto. Today, Haiti 's economic elite is a Mulatto organization infiltrated by Middle Easterners and Germans. [I must add here that when I use the term "Mulatto", I use it loosely to refer to a light skinned "Black" person. There are actually many terms to identify at which generation a Black person entered into your blood line].
Historically, when they tell you that there's 80% illiteracy in Haiti, what they're actually saying is the Mulattos and their entourage can read and write, but the Black people can't. When the Southern soldiers from the United States came to Haiti in 1915 to occupy the country, they didn't know these racial subtleties. When the American diplomat said, (you have to forgive me Bob Corbett, this is an important quote) "Niggers speaking French!" he was actually referring to Mulattos or the Black part of their entourage. Mulattos embrace French and keep the rest of the population unschooled in order to create separation.
Though the White Southern U.S. troops saw the Mulattos as "niggers", in reality, Haitian Mulattos don't see themselves as "Black" at all and they do all they can to distance themselves from Haitian Blacks.
Bien que les soldats Blancs du Sud des USA regardaient les Mulâtres comme des « Nègres », en réalité les Mulâtres haïtiens ne se voient pas du tout comme Noirs et ils font tout ce qui est possible pour se distancier des Noirs Haïtiens.
Haitian "Black" people do not see Haitian Mulattos as part of their own race or culture either. When you see squalor and poverty in Haiti , it reflects how the Haitian Mulattos feel towards the Haitian Black person: bidonvilles (slums), no sewer systems, no running water, no bathrooms, filth, no garbage removal, no education, no money, slave wages, no health care, etc etc. The Mulattos have historically seen the Haitian poor as uncivilized and undeserving of humane living conditions. Haitian Mulattos view the Haitian Black as the enemy, the slave, the laborer, the beast.
Haitian intellectuals of the 20th Century started to address these social realities and that became the birth of "Noirisme" or "Blackism". Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier was a "Noiriste". His son, Jean Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier was a "Mulattoist". If you look at the most recent beneficiaries of the 2009 economic investment movement in Haiti , it reveals: Rene Préval, Mulattoist.
Bill Clinton, Mulattoist. George Soros (working with Mews to make sweatshops???), Mulattoist. American Embassy, Mulattoist (The US Embassy does it's dealing with the Haitian American Chamber of Commerce which is the bastion of Mulatto business elites). Haitian Minister of Culture (Black man supporting a Jazz festival) Mulattoist. Haitian Hotel Association, Mulattoist. Haitian Ministry of Tourism, Mulattoist. The new owners of Electricité D'Haiti, Mulattoist.
This so called new economic revolution that Bill Clinton is leading in Haiti is bound to fail for the simple reason that it's not a Haitian economic revolution; it is just a reaffirmation of where the Haitian Mulatto class sees itself in Haitian society; above the rest; entitled to money, power, privilege, with paid access to Washington, and therefore Bill Clinton.
This economic movement is bound to fail because it continues to disenfranchise Haitian Blacks and brings to light the corrupt economic and social nature of the Haitian Mulatto Business class.
Le mouvement économique est voué à l’échec, parce qu’il continue à ne pas libérer les Noirs haïtiens et met à la lumière la corruption économique et sociale de la classe des affaires des Haïtiens Mulâtres.
The new movement is bound to fail because it relies on corrupt elections, a corrupt United Nations and corrupt, behind closed doors business deals.
This new Haitian Deal is bound to fail because, plainly put, "It Stinks!"
Le nouveau contrat haïtien est voué à l’échec parce que, pour dire les choses sans détours « Il pue ».
Richard Morse
Port-au-Prince , Haiti
Commenter cet article