"Exploring American thought, democracy, culture, religion, Haiti, and the Black Atlantic to better understand the past and future of the Americas and the world–toward human flourishing."
In 1938 at the Evian Conference, 32 countries refused to help Jewish refugees. Only one small Black Republic said YES. From 1937 to 1940, Haiti issued passports and visas to save hundreds of Jewish families from the Holocaust. While America, Britain and others closed their doors, Haiti opened hers. This is the forgotten history of Haiti and the Jewish people – a story of RESPECT, LOVE & UNITY. 🇭🇹❤️🇮🇱
Sources: US Holocaust Museum, Haiti Jewish Refugee archives/Patrick Bellegarde-Smith
Follow up post about the history of Jews 🇮🇱 in Haiti 🇭🇹
Here’s my recommended text about the history of Jews in Haiti:
“Histoire juive d’Haïti” by Joseph Bernard Jr
Description “Chassés d’Espagne en 1492 par le Décret d’Alhambra, la nation juive dut se trouver de nouvelles terres d’accueil. La découverte du Nouveau monde lui offrit cette opportunité, et certaines familles sépharades choisirent de s’installer à Hispaniola. Bien que contribuant à la prospérité de la Perle des Antilles, les Juifs de Saint-Domingue furentl’objet de lois discriminatoires édictées par la monarchie française. La Révolution française de 1789 allait apporter un vent nouveau pour la nation juive, mais la révolte des esclaves de 1791 la contraignit à nouveau de s’envoler pour d’autres horizons afin d’avoir la vie sauve. Après 1804, d’autres familles juives s’installèrent dans la nouvelle Républiqued’Haïti, à la faveur de ce grand réseau commercial de la nation juive en Amérique. La migration levantine de la fin du XIXème siècle allait faire revivre la population juive d’Haïti, menacée d’extinction par la déculturation. Et durant la Shoah, le gouvernement haïtien sauva la vie de centaines de Juifs d’Europe en leur octroyant la nationalité haïtienne. Autant de liens historiques qui unissent le peuple juif à Haïti, pays sans synagogue ni quartier juif.”
[Expelled from Spain in 1492 by the Alhambra Decree, the Jewish people were forced to seek new lands of refuge. The discovery of the New World offered such an opportunity, and some Sephardic families chose to settle on the island of Hispaniola.
Although they contributed to the prosperity of Saint-Domingue, known as the “Pearl of the Antilles,” the Jews of Saint-Domingue were subjected to discriminatory laws enacted by the French monarchy. The French Revolution of 1789 brought new hope for the Jewish people, but the slave uprising of 1791 once again forced them to flee to other lands in order to save their lives.
After 1804, following Haiti’s independence, other Jewish families settled in the new Republic of Haiti, benefiting from the extensive commercial network of Jewish communities throughout the Americas. The Levantine migration of the late nineteenth century revived Haiti’s Jewish population, which had been threatened with extinction through cultural assimilation.
During the Holocaust (Shoah), the Haitian government helped save the lives of hundreds of European Jews by granting them Haitian nationality.]
Table of contents of Clifton Fadiman and John S. Major’s The New Lifetime Reading Plan (HarperCollins,1998).
1. The Epic of Gilgamesh 2. Homer, The Iliad 3. Homer, The Odyssey 4. Confucius, The Analects 5. Aeschylus, The Oresteia 6. Sophocles, Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone 7. Euripides, Alcestis, Medea, Hippolytus, The Trojan Women, Electra, The Bacchae 8. Herodotus, The Histories 9. Thucydides, The History of the Peloponnesian War 10. Sun-tzu, The Art of War 11. Aristophanes, Lysistrata, The Clouds, The Birds 12. Plato, Selected Works13. Aristotle, Ethics, Politics, Poetics 14. Mencius, The Book of Mencius 15. The Ramayana 16. The Mahabharata 17. The Bhagavad Gita 18. Ssu-ma Ch’ien, Records of the Grand Historian 19. Lucretius, On the Nature of Things 20. Virgil, The Aeneid 21. Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 22. Saint Augustine, The Confessions 23. Kalidasa, The Cloud Messenger, Sakuntala 24. The Koran 25. Hui-neng, The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch 26. Firdausi, Shah Nameh 27. Sei Shônagon, The Pillow Book 28. Lady Murasaki, The Tale of Genji 29. Omar Khayyam, The Rubaiyat 30. Dante, The Divine Comedy 31. Luo Kuan-chung, The Romance of the Three Kingdoms 32. Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales 33. The Thousand and One Nights 34. Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince 35. François Rabelais, Gargantua and Pantagruel 36. Wu Ch’eng-en, Journey to the West 37. Michel de Montaigne, Selected Essays38. Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote 39. William Shakespeare, Complete Works40. John Donne, Selected Works41. The Plum in the Golden Vase (Chin P’ing Mei) 42. Galileo, Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems 43. Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan 44. René Descartes, Discourse on Method 45. John Milton, Paradise Lost, Lycidas, On the Morning of Christ’s Nativity, Sonnets, Areopagitica 46. Molière, Selected Plays47. Blaise Pascal, Thoughts (Pensées) 48. John Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress 49. John Locke, Second Treatise of Government 50. Matsuo Bashô, The Narrow Road to the Deep North 51. Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe 52. Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels 53. Voltaire, Candide and other works 54. David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding 55. Henry Fielding, Tom Jones 56. Ts’ao Hsüeh-ch’in, The Dream of the Red Chamber (a.k.a. The Story of the Stone) 57. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Confessions 58. Laurence Sterne, Tristram Shandy 59. James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson 60. Thomas Jefferson and others, Basic Documents in American History (ed. Richard B. Morris) 61. Hamilton, Madison, and Jay, The Federalist Papers (ed. Clinton Rossiter)62. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust 63. William Blake, Selected Works64. William Wordsworth, The Prelude, Selected Shorter Poems, Preface to the Lyrical Ballads 65. Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Ancient Mariner, Christabel, Kubla Khan, Biographia Literaria, Writings on Shakespeare 66. Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, Emma 67. Stendhal, The Red and the Black 68. Honoré de Balzac, Père Goriot, Eugénie Grandet, Cousin Bette 69. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Selected Works70. Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, Selected Tales71. Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America 72. John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, The Subjection of Women 73. Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the Beagle, The Origin of Species 74. Nikolai Gogol, Dead Souls 75. Edgar Allan Poe, Short Stories and Other Works76. William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair 77. Charles Dickens, Pickwick Papers, David Copperfield, Great Expectations, Hard Times, Our Mutual Friend, The Old Curiosity Shop, Little Dorrit 78. Anthony Trollope, The Warden, The Last Chronicle of Barset, The Eustace Diamonds, The Way We Live Now, Autobiography 79. The Brontë Sisters: 79A. Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre 79B. Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights 80. Henry David Thoreau, Walden, Civil Disobedience 81. Ivan Turgenev, Fathers and Sons 82. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto 83. Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Bartleby the Scrivener 84. George Eliot, The Mill on the Floss, Middlemarch 85. Walt Whitman, Selected Poems, Democratic Vistas, Preface to the first issue of Leaves of Grass, A Backward Glance O’er Travelled Roads 86. Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary 87.Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment, The Brothers Karamazov 88. Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace 89. Henrick Ibsen, Selected Plays90. Emily Dickenson, Collected Poems91. Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Through the Looking-Glass 92. Mark Twain, Huckleberry Finn 93. Henry Adams, The Education of Henry Adams 94. Thomas Hardy, The Mayor of Castorbridge 95. William James, The Principles of Psychology, Pragmatism, Four Essays from The Meaning of Truth, The Varieties of Religious Experience 96. Henry James, The Ambassadors 97. Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, The Genealogy of Morals, Beyond Good and Evil, and other works98. Sigmund Freud, Selected Works, including The Interpretation of Dreams, Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality, and Civilization and Its Discontents 99. George Bernard Shaw, Selected Plays and Prefaces100. Joseph Conrad, Nostromo 101. Anton Chekhov, Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters, The Cherry Orchard, Selected Short Stories102. Edith Wharton, The Custom of the Country, The Age of Innocence, The House of Mirth 103. William Butler Yeats, Collected Poems, Collected Plays, Autobiography 104. Natsume Sôseki, Kokoro 105. Marcel Proust, Remembrance of Things Past 106. Robert Frost, Collected Poems107. Thomas Mann, The Magic Mountain 108. E.M. Forster, A Passage to India 109. Lu Hsün, Collected Short Stories110. James Joyce, Ulysses 111. Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway, To the Lighthouse, Orlando, The Waves 112. Franz Kafka, The Trial, The Castle, Selected Short Stories113. D.H. Lawrence, Sons and Lovers, Women in Love 114. Junichiro Tanizaki, The Makioka Sisters 115. Eugene O’Neill, Mourning Becomes Electra, The Iceman Cometh, Long Day’s Journey into Night 116. T.S. Eliot, Collected Poems, Collected Plays117. Aldous Huxley, Brave New World 118. William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury, As I Lay Dying 119. Ernest Hemingway, Short Stories120. Yasunari Kawabata, Beauty and Sadness 121. Jorge Luis Borges, Labyrinths, Dreamtigers 122. Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita; Pale Fire; Speak, Memory 123. George Orwell, Animal Farm, 1984, Burmese Days 124. R.K. Narayan, The English Teacher, The Vendor of Sweets 125. Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot, Endgame, Krapp’s Last Tape 126. W.H. Auden, Collected Poems127. Albert Camus, The Plague, The Stranger 128. Saul Bellow, The Adventures of Augie March, Herzog, Humboldt’s Gift 129. Aleksander Solzhenitsyn, The First Circle, Cancer Ward 130. Thomas Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions 131. Yukio Mishima, Confessions of a Mask, The Temple of the Golden Pavilion 132. Gabriel Garcia Marquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude 133. Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart
I recently heard a reformed Black theologian argue that American evangelicalism lacks a coherent doctrine of social ethics. According to his critique, evangelicals often insist, “Just teach the Bible, and God will do the rest,” yet they provide little theological framework for engaging the social, cultural, political, and economic realities that shape human life. As a result, the tradition has often struggled to articulate how Christian faith should address systemic injustice, racial inequality, economic disparities, and the responsibilities of believers in the public square. His argument was not that Scripture is inadequate or irrelevant to these matters, but that many evangelical communities have failed to develop a robust social ethic that connects biblical theology to the complex moral challenges of contemporary society.
“Grateful Farewell to San Jacinto College: Reflections on Four Years of Leadership and Service”
Today, Friday, July 17, 2026, marks my final day at San Jacinto College, where I have had the privilege of serving as Chair of the English Department for the past four years. It has been both an honor and a joy to lead an exceptional team of 37 talented, student-centered faculty members and staff. Together, our full-time and part-time faculty have remained deeply committed to student success, the English department, and to advancing the mission of San Jacinto College.
These four years have been among the most meaningful of my professional life. I have built lasting friendships and created memories that I will always cherish. Among the greatest joys of my role was taking the time to connect with faculty members, checking in to see how they were doing, supporting their professional growth, and celebrating their accomplishments. I also treasured the opportunity to continue teaching students and witnessing their intellectual, personal, and professional development.
I am especially grateful to Dean DeRhonda McWaine, who has been one of the finest supervisors and leaders with whom I have had the privilege to work. Her mentorship, unwavering support, thoughtful guidance, and wise counsel have shaped me into a better leader, educator, and person. I will always be thankful for her confidence in me and the opportunities she provided throughout my tenure.
As I close this chapter, I will deeply miss the English Department, my colleagues, friends, and, above all, the students who have made my experience at San Jacinto College so rewarding.
I leave San Jacinto College with a heart full of gratitude as I embark on a new chapter of my academic career. Beginning this fall semester, I am honored to begin serving as Professor of English and Endowed Chair in American Studies at Louisiana State University Shreveport (LSUS). I look forward to embracing new opportunities for teaching, scholarship, leadership, and service, while building meaningful relationships with new colleagues and students at LSUS. I am excited to invest in their success, contribute to the university’s mission, and continue growing as a scholar, educator, and leader.
To everyone at San Jacinto College, thank you for your friendship, trust, support, and partnership over these past four years. San Jac will always hold a special place in my heart.
As I am waiting at the doctor’s office to be called, I find myself doing a little philosophic contemplation.” I always bring a book with me wherever I go.
Several years ago, my philosopher-friend DrPaul Camy Mocombe recommended this book to me. Bertrand Russell is such a brilliant philosopher and good writer. It’s a joy to read his little book, “The Problems of Philosophy,” first published in 1912.
Interestingly, I began reading the book backwards (maybe, that’s a good hermeneutical practice; who knows? lol), starting with the last two chapters of the book: “The limits of philosophical knowledge,” in which Russell shows the limits of Hegel (The “Absolute Idea” vs the “Absolute Reality”), Descartes (“Methodical doubt”), and Kant (“the nature of space and time”)—three philosophical giants in Western philosophy—and “The Value of Philosophy.”
For Russell, if there’s any value in philosophy is the value of contemplation, taking us back to Aristotle’s thesis in “Nicomachean Ethics.” So he writes the following passage:
“One way of escape is by philosophic contemplation. Philosophic contemplation does not, in its widest survey, divide the universe into hostile camps—friends and foes, helpful and hostile, good and bad—it views the whole impartially. Philosophic contemplation, when it is unalloyed, does not aim at proving that the rest of the universe is akin to man. All acquisition of knowledge is an enlargement of the Self, but this enlargement is best attained when it’s not directly sought. It is obtained when the desire for knowledge is alone operative, by a study which does not wish in advance that its objects should have this or that character, but adapts the Self to the characters which it finds in its objects….In contemplation, on the contrary, we start from the not-Self, and through its greatness the boundaries of Self are enlarged; through the infinity of the universe the mind which contemplates it achieves some share in infinity.”
That’s the value of philosophy as “a criticism of knowledge.”
That’s the value of philosophy as “the great liberator of the imagination.”
That’s the value of philosophy as a path to critical thinking.
That’s the value of philosophy as intellectual inquiry.
Maybe, it might be helpful for (more) politicians and theologians to read (more) philosophy to avoid certain unnecessary hermeneutical errors and bad (political) decisions.😊
My central question is this : how do you philosophy correctly and ethically???
I’m concerned with the moral vision of philosophy as well as its intellectual integrity. I just don’t believe that philosophy is a “neutral” academic discipline. I think philosophy and ethics should go together. Every philosophy is built on ideas about people, justice, society power, civilization, and what it means to be human and live a good life. So I don’t think philosophy is ever completely neutral. Throughout history, philosophy has been used to defend injustice, but it has also been used to challenge it. The real question isn’t just whether an idea makes logical sense, but whether it respects or promotes human dignity, encourages us to question ourselves, and leads to a more just society toward human flourishing .
I believe the purpose of philosophy is not only to help us think better, but also to help us become better people.
Whether you are African, European, Asian, Latin American, North American, or Caribbean, our deepest ancestral origins trace back to Africa. At the most fundamental level, humanity shares a common ancestral root.
Although race is a social construct rather than a biological reality, whether your skin is light, dark, or somewhere in between, we all belong to one human family. There is only one race: the human race.
Though I am not African by birth, I would never be offended if someone called me “African.” There is nothing shameful, demeaning, or embarrassing about being identified with Africa. To affirm Africa is to affirm our common humanity, for Africa is part of the shared story of us all.
Every human being bears the image of God and possesses equal intrinsic worth and dignity. Our ontological equality does not depend on race, ethnicity, nationality, or skin pigmentation, but on our shared humanity and the divine image we all bear.
The World Cup is more than the world’s premier sporting event. It is a global cultural phenomenon shaped by history, politics, economics, and the enduring legacies of empire. Like many global institutions, the history of the World Cup reflects broader patterns of inequality, including the long-standing concentration of influence and power within European football. Yet the story of the tournament is also a story of extraordinary achievement, creativity, and resilience, especially from nations of the formerly colonized world whose athletes have transformed the meaning and beauty of the game.
As someone who grew up outside the United States, I sometimes wish more of my American friends could see football through the eyes of those who experience it in the Global South. For millions across Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America, and parts of Asia, football has never been simply entertainment. It has been a language of identity, a source of national pride, a form of cultural expression, and sometimes a symbol of resistance and hope.
The beauty of the game cannot be separated entirely from the history that shaped the world in which it developed. Football, like many other global institutions, carries the marks of colonialism, race, nationalism, and unequal systems of (economic) power. To recognize these realities is not to diminish the greatness of the World Cup or the achievements of the athletes who have given the world unforgettable moments of joy and inspiration. Rather, it is to understand more fully why this game matters so deeply to so many people around the world.
The World Cup has the potential to represent something greater than competition. If football truly belongs to the world, then the tournament should continually strive to reflect the values that make the game so powerful: dignity, equality, respect, inclusion, and the recognition of our shared humanity. Ultimately, the World Cup is about more than who lifts the trophy. It is also about the kind of global community we aspire to build together and the kind of human connection we’re trying to foster transnationally.
As the Americans call it, soccer reminds us that even within histories marked by inequality and division, human beings continue to create beauty, connection, and meaning. The challenge before us is to ensure that the world’s game reflects not only our passion for sport and athleticism, but also our deepest hopes for a more just, democratic, and humane world.
“On the Meaning and Democratic Promise of the United States at Its 250th Anniversary”
As the United States commemorates the 250th anniversary of its founding this Fourth of July (1776-2026), I believe that as a people we have an opportunity not only to celebrate our shared history but also to reflect on this nation we aspire to become. We have an opportunity to reflect critically on the meaning and democratic promise of this great nation. Observably, anniversaries are moments of remembrance and celebration, but they are also invitations to moral imagination and self-reinvention. They call us to envision, together, what we can achieve, what we can build, what we can transform, what we can construct and deconstruct, and how we can help our country more fully embody its highest ideals and greatest democratic promise.
I am suggesting the following ten principles that are rooted in a philosophy of democratic humanism and an ethics of collective care. The principle of democratic humanism construes democracy, human dignity, justice, empathy, the common good, and moral responsibility as inseparable. This vision of America’s multicultural and multiracial democracy also recognizes the importance of secure and just immigration laws and policies while insisting that every person, whether a citizen or non-citizen, documented or undocumented, possesses an inherent human dignity that should never be denied or diminished. As a civilized nation, our laws and public policies should reflect not only our shared national interests but also our shared humanity.
As we reflect collectively on this historic milestone, I offer these ten principles as an invitation to imagine together a United States that more faithfully lives up to its founding ideals and more courageously fulfills its democratic potential. They place a clarion call upon us as citizens to ask this pressing question: “How Do We Measure the Greatness of a Country?” This is not a question that sides with a particular political party, nor should it be interpreted as an ideological statement; rather, this existential question is framed within our hopeful civic reflection and truly democratic nation.
The work of democracy:
Cares for the least among its citizens. This will ensure that no one is abandoned because of poverty, disability, age, education, status, or circumstance.
Prioritizes the health, safety, and well-being of its people. This recognizes that human flourishing is among the highest responsibilities of a just and democratic society.
Treats every person with equal dignity and respect. This categorically rejects dehumanization, discrimination, xenophobia, and racism and unapologetically affirms the equal moral worth and inherent value of every human being.
Champions democracy, justice, and the rule of law. This will ensure that power is exercised with accountability, integrity, responsibility, transparency, and fairness, as well as within an ethic of relationality and mutual reciprocity.
Provides quality education for all. This will foster an environment of informed, thoughtful, and engaged citizens capable of sustaining democratic life and civic participation.
Removes barriers that prevent the poor and the vulnerable from realizing their full potential. This will expand opportunity and access and promoting genuine social mobility and success.
Protects the fundamental rights and freedoms of every person. This includes freedom of conscience, expression, religion, peaceful assembly, and civic participation.
Builds institutions that embody hospitality, compassion, dignity, respect, and mutual responsibility. This attitude will strengthen trust and solidarity across differences and cultures with our multicultural and multiracial democratic society.
Promotes the common good and human flourishing in society. This kind of practice will ensure that economic prosperity, political power, and social opportunity advance the flourishing of all rather than the privilege of a few.
Enacts laws and public policies that respect the inherent dignity of foreigners, refugees, immigrants, and undocumented individuals. Such idea categorically rejects language, stereotypes, public discourses or practices that dehumanize them while upholding justice, due process, and the equal worth of every person.
The greatness of the United States will not be measured not merely by its wealth, military power, intangible qualities, or global influence, but by the dignity this great nation extends to every individual, the opportunities it creates for all people to flourish and achieve their full potential, and the justice it champions on behalf of the most vulnerable, the least fortunate among its citizens. This is the true identity of a multiracial and multicultural democratic society. This is the democratic future we aspire to become as a country.
This is the English version of my recent opinion piece that was originally published in French in Rezo Nòdwès as “Haïtiens : Nous devons reconstruire notre pays !”
“Haitians: We Need to Rebuild Our Country!”
On Thursday, June 25, 2026, the Supreme Court of the United States, by a 6–3 vote, allowed the Trump administration to move forward with terminating Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for approximately 350,000 Haitians living in the United States. This controversial decision sends a troubling message to Haitians both at home and throughout the Haitian diaspora. It places thousands of TPS holders in an uncertain legal position and raises serious concerns about their safety should they be forced to return to Haiti. This is indeed a crisis moment for all Haitians, not just for TPS holders.
International media and news outlets have consistently documented Haiti’s deteriorating humanitarian and security crisis. Port-au-Prince, the nation’s capital, remains plagued by gang violence, kidnappings, widespread insecurity, and unimaginable acts of brutality and abuse. At the same time, Haiti has struggled with political instability since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse on July 7, 2021.
Successive U.S. administrations, beginning with President Joe Biden and continuing under President Donald Trump, have supported international efforts to improve Haiti’s security situation. The United States has played a significant diplomatic and financial role in facilitating the deployment of the Kenyan-led Multinational Security Support Mission. Yet despite these initiatives, the daily lives of most Haitians have changed little. Gang violence continues to terrorize communities, state institutions remain fragile, and millions of Haitians still live without genuine security or hope. International assistance, while important, cannot substitute for the hard work of rebuilding Haiti’s institutions through accountable Haitian leadership and sustained civic engagement.
How, then, should Haitians respond to the recent Supreme Court decision? How should we move forward knowing that the administration now has the legal authority to terminate TPS and potentially deport hundreds of thousands of Haitians?
First, simply denouncing the Supreme Court’s decision as biased or discriminatory will not persuade the administration to reverse its policy.
Second, labeling the Trump administration as “anti-Haitian” or “racist,” whether justified or not, is unlikely to change its immigration agenda Third, reminding Americans of Haiti’s historic contributions to the founding of the Americas, or highlighting the many contributions Haitian Americans continue to make to American society, democracy, public service, and human rights, may inspire appreciation, but it will not necessarily alter current immigration policy.
By raising these concerns, I am neither promoting cynicism nor surrendering to pessimism. Nor am I suggesting that Haitians should abandon peaceful protest or remain silent in the face of injustice. On the contrary, we have every right to speak, organize, advocate, and defend the dignity of our people. Yet peaceful protest alone is not enough. Working alongside our international allies, Haitians must begin the more difficult but necessary work of rebuilding our nation and reclaiming our future. The recent TPS decision is a sobering reminder that Haiti’s future cannot rest indefinitely in the hands of foreign governments. Ultimately, the responsibility for Haiti belongs to Haitians. More than a century ago, Louis Joseph Janvier captured this enduring truth in his call for national sovereignty: “Haiti is for the Haitians.” His words remain as urgent today as they were in the nineteenth century.
I therefore offer five recommendations below:
First, we must recognize that Haiti cannot continue to depend indefinitely on the goodwill or mercy of the United States or any other foreign nation. Haiti is not a charitable project. We are a courageous, resilient, creative, and dignified people capable of determining our own destiny.
Second, Haitians must recover confidence in themselves. We must believe that we are enough, that our lives matter, and that united we possess the capacity to transform the living conditions of our people. This requires intentional leadership, strategic thinking, and a long-term vision for Haiti’s future.
Third, we must learn to rely more deeply on one another rather than depending primarily on outsiders to rescue us. International partnerships have their place, but they cannot substitute for national responsibility. We are not beggars, and we must reject every mentality that reduces us to perpetual dependence.
Fourth, Haiti possesses extraordinary human capital both within the country and throughout its global Diaspora. We have the intelligence, professional expertise, entrepreneurial talent, and determination necessary to make Haiti safe again—for those who have remained, and for those who long to return home.
Finally, we must undergo a profound transformation of mentality. We must reject the culture of dependency on foreign governments and foreign aid. We must reject the belief that Haitians are incapable of solving Haitian problems. Above all, we must stop doubting our collective ability to rebuild our institutions, strengthen our democracy, improve public security, and restore hope to our people.
The Supreme Court’s decision is undoubtedly painful for thousands of Haitian families and innocent children. Nevertheless, history teaches us that great nations are often forged in moments of adversity and uncertainty. The Republic of Haiti itself was born from extraordinary courage, sacrifice, and determination made by our founding heroes and heroines. Perhaps, this difficult moment is also an invitation, a clarion call for Haitians everywhere to rediscover our collective strength, rebuild our institutions, invest in our homeland, and reclaim responsibility and leadership autonomy for the future of our nation and our people.
No foreign government will love Haiti more than Haitians themselves. The time has come for us to rebuild our country. To be sure, Haiti’s civil and political societies face profound challenges. Weak institutions, political fragmentation, insecurity, and economic hardship continue to hinder national progress and human flourishing. Nevertheless, these obstacles should not become excuses for inaction and passivity. Rather, they should compel us to work together to rebuild our nation. As Haitians, we should remind ourselves that the future of Haiti and the destiny of our people will not ultimately be decided in Washington, New York, Ottawa, Paris, or Nairobi. It will be decided by Haitians who choose to believe once again in Haiti.
Celucien L. Joseph, PhD, Professor | Author | Public Scholar | Academic Consultant 