I Think Haiti Is A Place That

I Would Hate For People To Generalize About Every Haitian From Something That One Haitian Did, Or A Group Of Haitians Did.

You Learned In School That You Have Pencils And Paper Only Because The Trees Gave Themselves In Unconditional Sacrifice.

It's Not A Matter Of Whether The Reviews Of Your Books Are Good Or Bad, It's About Being Taken Seriously, Both As A Woman Writer And As A Writer Of Color. Also, It Worries Me When People Point To A Couple Of Women Writers Or Writers Of Color Who Get Some Attention - And I Am Sometimes Pulled Into That Category - To Prove That Others Are Getting A Fair Shot. It's Like Those People Who Keep Saying That Racism No Longer Exists In This Country Because Barack Obama Was A President Of The United States.

In The 1980s, When People Were Just Beginning To Talk About Aids, There Were Just A Few Categories Of Those Who Were At High Risk: Homosexuals, Hemophiliacs, Heroin Addicts, And Haitians. We Were The Only Ones Identified By Nationality.

I Think It Is Important To Reach People Through Arts And Literature, Because Then You Establish A Connection That's Not An Instant Crisis.