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Know Your Truth: A Journey to Haiti | Bensky Belizaire | TEDxCUNY


Haitian history it’s such a mystery you
may read it in books but in scarcity
Columbus sailed the ocean in 93 I guess
he was posting pictures of Haiti on IG
landed in Hispaniola Taino people they
owned it no care for their lives cuz
sickness they brought stole it lack of
penicillin meant that history was
written foreign disease and mass killing
women and children but pay close
attention because this is just the
beginning as a child there were times
that I was ashamed of being Haitian I
was lucky enough to go to an elementary
school where I had people of all
different backgrounds but unfortunately
I would get teased because Haiti was
stereotypically known as a poor country
it wasn’t until I grew older and matured
that I started taking a lot of pride of
Who I am and where my family is from in
July 2015 I had the opportunity of going
to Haiti for the first time it was a ten
day long trip and one of the first
cities we visited was a city of okaayy
which is in southern Haiti
it’s a birthplace of my mother her grip
my my mother my grandmother and her
whole side of the family one of my
fondest moments was going to the
Cathedral of the town and taking
pictures with my mom and grandma in
front of the part that was next to it
while we’re in town my mom ran into old
family and friends and she even met her
old second grade teacher who still
remembered her at night I stayed with my
aunt who would feed us until I couldn’t
even get up from the dinner table before
we left I had the opportunity of looking
and visiting at the hospital where my
mother was born and where my grandmother
used to work as a nurse one day we went
to the beach and they were having a
festival for the saint of that town and
it was absolutely amazing
it was one of the first times I could
really immerse myself in Haitian culture
there were people everywhere was a party
all day long and I remember going to the
beach there are people playing dancing
and the water was so beautiful I was
never a fish person but that day I fell
in love with red snapper I always loved
history so when I was there I started to
think what was life like back Don the
colonial period when the island was
beginning to flourish in 1726 the city
of oak I was an exporting capital of
Haiti sending thousands of exports
across the world to Europe into
countries such as Great Britain and
France while I was in Haiti I had the
opportunity of actually tasting some of
these goods such as the sugar cane and
the coffee and it all made sense why
Haiti was known as the crown jewel of
the Caribbean pearl of the Antilles the
French men at their model exporting 72
million pounds of sugar isn’t that the
same thing a coke bottle 40% of sugar
and 60% of coffee that you’re consumed
was because Haiti caused it and do you
know how they produced all this slavery
going to Africa and ripping apart
families 60,000 reported exported
annually put it together 500 thousand
that’s insanity
but in 1790 the slaves had enough I’m a
dad for my freedom I’m not living in
these cuffs but let’s take a break from
the Caribbean and go over to France
Napoleon was conquering with the sword
in his hands but the war in Haiti they
weren’t in his plans so he sold
Louisiana for cash to President
Jefferson after okaayy we went up north
to the town of copyin which is the
birthplace of my father his family one
of the first sites we visited was the
palace of Henri Christophe and the
castle of sanssouci Henri Christophe was
elected president of the state of Haiti
after the Revolution and he built the
castle on top of a mountain to safeguard
himself when we went there we rode on
horse
so we got to go up the mountain and it
was absolutely amazing being able to go
through the castle and see the various
rooms see the cannons and the
cannonballs and looking out the window
in the distance you could see the
mountains the valleys the grass Plains
and the towns in the distance and it all
made sense while the colonizers fell in
love with the country in the original
Taino language IEP or a Haiti means land
of mountain and standing on top of that
mountain it all clicked when we were
done
you walk down and I really got to admire
the plants and the fruits that the land
had to offer a few days later we went to
the carp the heart of copper yeah and it
was bustling with life
we went during election season so there
were parades and parties all day long I
remember I got to go to my uncle’s
bookstore and eat snow cones and I
seized from the vendors on the street at
night we went to the suburb of Terre
Rouge which is right outside copper I ca
that’s the birthplace and the town where
my father grew up and I got to stay and
sleep in the same house him and his 10
other siblings used to grow up in I got
to meet his neighbors walk the streets
that he used to walk as when he was a
child but this isn’t just me retelling
my stories or my travel to Haiti patient
history is important not only to the
people of Haiti but the people around
the world it was one of the first
successful slave revolutions that
inspired countless others during the
time of colonization the city of New
Orleans get a lot of their culture from
the people of Haiti and for my time
there I wasn’t in my little town of
Valley Stream New York but I was
standing where my ancestors stood seeing
the sides they saw hundreds of years
back unfortunately political strife has
caused many people to think of Haiti as
just another third-world country when in
fact it was some of the happiest people
alive
in the United States we have so much and
we’re so blessed yet so many people are
unsatisfied with what they have and
uncontained and stressed but it goes to
show that the words are Christopher
Wallace aka biggie smalls is true
no money no problems AB this trip my
pride and my family galvanized
assaulting my eyes where we were and
where we are now and the best part was
realizing that my family isn’t the only
one who shares this narrative countless
other families around the world share
similar stories and have such rich
history but it’s your job to find that
out because no one else can do that for
you
people society even the internet we’re
trying to scourge you and try and tell
you where you’re from a quick Google
search of Haiti you won’t see anything
that I’ve described to you or they won’t
correlate with the experiences that I
went through not too long ago I was
doing some self-reflecting
and I was listening to a song by common
song was called black America again and
in the song he samples James Brown who
says a man can’t get himself together
until he knows who he is and be proud of
what and who he is and where he comes
from and in response to that I challenge
every one of you find out who you are
before someone tells you because
politicians want us out without knowing
how much we contribute added one third
to Uncle Sam so I can’t compute but
we’re not the only ones who help this
great nation everyone who played a part
deserves a standing ovation so go do
your research find your ancestors and
the truth and keep it close to your
heart to watch the blessing follow suit
thank you [Applause]
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