Haitian quotes:

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To start with, for example this year, 2004, is the bicentennial of Haitian independence. -- Edwidge Danticat
The Haitian people are gentle and lovable except for their enormous and unconscious cruelty. -- Zora Neale Hurston
I will work to bring peace to everyone - whatever economic level - as long as you are Haitian. -- Jean-Bertrand Aristide
The structure of apartheid is still rooted in the Haitian society. When you have apartheid, you don't see those behind the walls. That is the reality of Haiti. -- Jean-Bertrand Aristide
Haitian rice farmers are quite efficient, but they can't compete with U.S. agribusiness that relies on a huge government subsidy, thanks to Ronald Reagan's free market enthusiasms. -- Noam Chomsky
I've been impressed, over the last 15 years, with how often the somewhat conspiratorial comments of Haitian villagers have been proven to be correct when the historical record is probed carefully. -- Paul Farmer
My first concern was to take care of my drawing. I did not have any knowledge in arts, especially Haitian arts, apart from the paintings I saw in my father's office. -- Ralph Allen
Every time there has been an effort by the Haitian people to overcome the misery and poverty that comes from 200 years of bitter attacks, really bitter, the U.S. steps in and blocks it. -- Noam Chomsky
We don't intend to always keep this necessarily African oriented. Originally I had hoped to have African American Indian of this area, and the Appalachian of this area, but at the same time, just as we have the Haitian room, we will always have room for another exhibit. -- Katherine Dunham
It makes every Haitian proud to have such a hospital, -- Laurent Lamothe
I know the Haitian people because I am the Haitian people. -- Francois Duvalier
I am currently in Haiti to help the Haitian people in their reconstruction. -- Jean-Claude Duvalier
The new Haitian baseball can't weigh more than four ounces or less than five. -- Jerry Coleman
Haitian diplomacy will be oriented toward the influx of foreign capital, direct investments that create jobs and stimulate economic growth. -- Laurent Lamothe
I would hate for people to generalize about every Haitian from something that one Haitian did, or a group of Haitians did. -- Edwidge Danticat
You know, we do not want the militarization of Haiti. We do not see a Haitian as a protectorate where it relinquishes its own sovereignty. -- Danny Glover
I came into the music world in 1988 with a song called 'Ooh La La,' that was like a breath of fresh air in Haitian music. -- Michel Martelly
I think it's hard for an outsider to capture the flavor of a community and all its nuances, so ultimately Haitian-Americans need to start sharing intimate accounts of their stories. -- Edwidge Danticat
As a foreign worker in Haiti, speaking for myself, speaking for the workers, our organization is about 95 percent Haitian, but even foreign workers driving through, we have had very minimal security issues. -- Sean Penn
It's time for Haitians to have access to health care. It's time to open our borders to the Haitian diaspora, open our markets to the world. It's time to open our country to potential investors. -- Michel Martelly
It's very difficult to get any movies done about Black heroes - Haitian or American - in Hollywood. The argument in Hollywood is that there is no market for those movies, and that is not true. -- Jimmy Jean-Louis
The diiference is that in the private sector you work for yourself, and as Prime Minister I work for every single Haitian - inside Haiti and outside - and for all those who love Haiti as well. -- Laurent Lamothe
In Haitian mythology there is the figure Ghede, who in West Africa, is Iku, whose role is to show "each man his devil." He's represented by a figure wearing a top hat and smoking a cigar. That's my gig. -- Ishmael Reed
When you put more than a million kids in school, you take a plane today and go to Haiti, you cannot see the results. You will see the results in 30 years when you see a different type of Haitian. -- Michel Martelly
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I am grateful to President George W. Bush for PEPFAR, which is saving the lives of millions of people in poor countries and to both Presidents Bush for the work we've done together after the South Asia tsunami, Hurricane Katrina and the Haitian earthquake. -- William J. Clinton
Haiti is always talking about decentralization and nothing has been so obvious, perhaps a weakness, as the centralized nature of Haitian society as being revealed by the earthquake. I mean, they lost all these medical training programs because they didn't have them anywhere else. -- Paul Farmer
We were the only black family in my neighborhood for many years. Wherever we lived, we were often the only black family, and certainly the only Haitian family. But my parents were really great at providing a loving home where we could feel safe and secure. -- Roxane Gay
This election marks a significant moment in Haiti; it not only serves as the basis of hope along the road to democracy, but also serves as a testament to the resolve and character of the Haitian people during their long struggle for peace, reconciliation, and prosperity. -- Kendrick Meek
I see the sharp inequality between how Haitian and Cuban refugees are treated in Florida. Both groups come here because their lives are equally desperate. But on arrival, the Haitians are incarcerated, and some are immediately repatriated, whereas Cubans get to stay and are eligible for citizenship. -- Edwidge Danticat
Barack Obama's administration responded to the Haitian crisis within 24 hours. Here comes the soldiers, here comes the food, go go go... Rush Limbaugh told his multi-millions of listeners that Obama only did that to gain favour with black people in America. This is the kind of idiocy that I have to deal with in my country. -- Henry Rollins
I like them brown, yellow, Puerto Rican, or Haitian Name is Phife Dawg from the Zulu nation -- Phife Dawg
Slave rebellions, especially the [1791] Haitian Revolution, had an ongoing effect on the ways in which abolitionists talked about ending slavery. -- Manisha Sinha
I came into the music world in 1988 with a song called Ooh La La, that was like a breath of fresh air in Haitian music. -- Michel Martelly
Danzon is my favorite Cuban music, played by a traditional string orchestra with flute and piano. It's very formally structured but romantic music, which derives from the French-Haitian contradance. -- Rachel Kushner
The first big dramatic push in the Haitian Revolution was to overthrow the slave regime and we have to remember this was really the first place where there was a large scale emancipation experiment. -- Laurent Dubois
It's time for Haitians to have access to health care. It's time to open our borders to the Haitian diaspora, open our markets to the world. It's time to open our country to potential investors." -- Michel Martelly
I am fine with my books being categorized as African-American literature but I hope they are also considered Haitian-American literature and American literature. All of these things are part of who I am and what I write. -- Roxane Gay
If a Cuban refugee is escaping, we're saying they're a political refugee, but why isn't a Haitian refugee a political refugee? They're escaping the capitalism and degradation of economic imperialism. We don't call them political refugees; we call them unfortunate people. -- Ian Svenonius
The lessons are, unfortunately, that a small weak country that is facing an extremely hostile and very violent superpower will not make much progress unless there's a strong solidarity movement within the superpower that will restrain its actions. With more support within the United States, I think the Haitian efforts could have succeeded. -- Noam Chomsky
There's also the tradition of voodoo, the Haitian magic arts, in New Orleans. And because New Orleans is below sea level, when they bury people in New Orleans, it's mostly above ground. So you have this idea that the spirits are more accessible and can access you more easily because they're not even buried. -- Sam Trammell
The silencing of the Haitian Revolution is only a chapter within a narrative of global domination. It is part of the history of the West and it is likely to persist, even in attenuated form, as long as the history of the West is not retold in ways that bring forward the perspective of the world. -- Michel-Rolph Trouillot
How could a just God permit great misery? The Haitian peasants answered with a proverb: "Bondye konn bay, men li pa konn separe," in literal translation, "God gives but doesn't share." This meant... God gives us humans everything we need to flourish, but he's not the one who's supposed to divvy up the loot. That charge was laid upon us. -- Tracy Kidder
Sometimes we mask ourselves to further reveal ourselves, and it's always been connected to me with being a writer: We tell lies to tell a greater truth. The story is a mask; the characters you create are masks. That appeals to me. Aside from that, too, in the carnival the masks were beautiful, and offered a vision of Haitian creativity. -- Edwidge Danticat

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