Haitian Flag Day 2016

There's something about Haitian Flag Day that makes me so patriotic. Our other holidays are great, but flag day is powerful, potent even. What a reminder of our fight to liberation! Every person I pass wearing the flag inevitably puts a smile on my face. This day is ancestral and celebratory, so of course I celebrated!

I got the pleasure of spending my Haitian Flag Day evening at the Shapeshifter Lab in Brooklyn, which housed the event Haitian Flag Day Celebration. NYC Council Member Jumaane D. Williams and Assembly Member Rodneyse Bichotte partnered with Haiti Cultural Exchange to create a vibrant and festive event. As everyone embodied the richness of our Haitian heritage through music and dance, honorees were also presented and said beautiful things about Haitian, being Haitian and our flag. One of them said something really great, and I wanted to share her sentiments.

Vicky Jeudy is popularly known for her role as Janae in "Orange Is The New Black", but she is also an activist. As a Haitian American, she fights for all Haitians and those who support the community to love themselves and their people.

To be in the same room as her was one thing, but to see her engaged with her fellow Haitians and for her to speak to this Haitian, leaves me euphoric.

Check out my super short, super impromptu but super relevant interview of Vicky Jeudy. Listen to what the Haitian flag means to her. Ask yourself what it means to you. Embrace Haitian culture outside of the month of May.

Enjoy and ignore my awkward demeanor!

https://splice.gopro.com/v?id=x21xw75pa

MarShawn Made February Matter Again

Monday night, February 8 2016, was one of the most terrible nights of my life. The numbness to confusion echoed for days. It still echoes honestly, and probably will never cease. I'll never understand it all, why it happened, but I will accept it. I will grow from it. There are  many takeaways from this incident that can help us as organizers and people be better, be our best.

MarShawn McCarrel was a freedom fighter and he taught me how to fight. But first he taught me how to love.

I was privileged to meet him December 2014 at The Wildfire's Convening. The first night we were there hanging out, he and Alyssa, another member of the Ohio Student Association, invited me to hang with them. I remember us hanging on that creek, talking about everything silly and serious and being family to each other. I got the luxury of doing this again with MarShawn another night there. From him, I felt no judgment, no pressure to impress. I was myself and he loved and accepted me. He listened to me and the weird things I said. He loved me; that was just the kind of person he was: a lover of people.

Although MarShawn left a great impression on me that week, seeing him be loving, artistic, and a leader, my admiration was elevated even more for him when we all parted ways and became FB friends.

Organizers can accomplish so much and get so little recognition for it, but MarShawn did both. He had many interviews and awards and thanks for the strong building he did in Ohio, Feed the Streets being one of his greatest accomplishment. With all the love he got, there was also hate. There was also depression. There were also demons.

I still can't conceptualize him shooting himself. I still can't believe he planned this all. I still can't believe his death was his last action. He was in New York and I didn't reach out. I wish I did. I wish I knew I wouldn't get a chance to see him again.

We've got to love and celebrate each other.

 

If I could best understand what it is to be love, community, impactful, authentic and indelible, I'd look at MarShawn. He magnifies the idea of what all those things are. I truly believe those who are filled with the most love have the most pain. MarShawn was a comet, fast and filled with light. But comets die out quick; all that energy builds and moves fast for many to see, then it dies.

I love you MarShawn, FLOhio loves you and the nation loves you.