America's Relationship With Haiti Has Always Been

Misery Won't Touch You Gentle. It Always Leaves Its Thumbprints On You; Sometimes It Leaves Them For Others To See, Sometimes For Nobody But You To Know Of.

And The Fact That Haiti Was Occupied For 19 Years By The United States, From 1915 To 1934.

People Aren't Really Aware Of What's Happening In Other Places.

Often When You're An Immigrant Writing In English, People Think It's Primarily A Commercial Choice. But For Many Of Us, It's A Choice That Rises Out Of The Circumstances Of Our Lives. These Are The Tools I Have At My Disposal, Based On My Experiences. It's A Constant Debate, Not Just In My Community But In Other Communities As Well. Where Do You Belong? You're Kind Of One Of Us, But You Now Write In A Different Language.

Life Was Neither Something You Defended By Hiding Nor Surrendered Calmly On Other People's Terms, But Something You Lived Bravely, Out In The Open, And That If You Had To Lose It, You Should Lose It On Your Own Terms.