From Haiti, our artists respond to President Trump’s poisonous words with messages of kindness and wisdom.
The following letter was written and sent by Casey last week to our artists in Haiti. She felt – as so many of us did – that there needed to be a counterpoint to the deplorable words spoken by President Trump about their country the week before. Here is her email, as well as a few representative emails she received in response. These emails reaffirmed the grace and courage we have always admired in our Haitian partners.
Dear Roody and Friends,
After last week my mind has been troubled and I wanted to reach out. The US President said horrible things about Haiti, El Salvador, and the countries of Africa.
The hurtful comments made by President Trump regarding Haiti and others are shameful to me. I deeply regret the thoughtless disrespect that he as shown and I am embarrassed. He has no understanding of the courageous struggles of the Haitian, Salvadorean, and African peoples and their work to rise to a new dawn of a brighter future.
I as well as millions of Americans am appalled. We will never abandon you. We respect the great character of your peoples and pledge ourselves to select better leadership for the United States. The current Administration fails to represent the loving spirit of the America and its high regard for the dignity of the human race.
I am so sorry for the offensive words and actions of our President.
Casey
Below are samples of the replies we received.
From Shelove Vilsaint: “I will let you the USA is a good country of good people. I love the USA people, even if Donald Trump is a racism. Every country have somebody racism too…”
From Ghisnet St. Bonheur: “Okay, so don’t worry about it. Even if he is the President of the USA, but it is not the word of all the american people. I already know how much american people appreciate Haiti as you show it. We love all countries in the world, together let’s fight for a peace world.”
From Roody Soulouque: “I realize that he’s [President Trump] trying to put everything in order for his country just because he loves his country and cares for his country. I remember he always promised to put the interest of America first….No human being is perfect and always sees things just. I recognize it but the US needs to deal with other nations, needs to deal with us.”
I hate to go political here, but I feel I must. The world is a small place and we in the US are responsible to it. Let’s all commit ourselves to selecting better leadership in future elections. From races for city council seats to the highest office in America let us become informed and involved. Let’s demand better from our leaders – and let’s get it.
Contributed by Linda for It’s Cactus