Vodou Is One Of The Religions Practiced

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.

It Seemed From The Media That We Were Being Told That All Haitians Had Aids. At The Time, I Had Just Come From Haiti. I Was Twelve Years Old, And The Building I Was Living In Had Primarily Haitians. A Lot Of People Got Fired From Their Jobs. At School, Sometimes In Gym Class, We'd Be Separated Because Teachers Were Worried About What Would Happen If We Bled. So There Was Really This Intense Discrimination.

The Whole Military Structure In Haiti That Existed Until The Early 1990s Was Put In Place By The American Occupation. At The Top There Were Southern White Officers, Who Led An Army That Crushed The Indigenous Resistance - The Cacos. A High-ranking U.s. Officer Said When He Arrived, "to Think These Niggers Speak French!" Later, Haitian Officers Attended The Notorious School Of The Americas At Fort Benning. The Threat From The U.s. Is Something That Is Always Hanging Over People's Heads: If We Don't Behave, We'll Have Occupation Again.

Aids Was Something That Was Put Upon Us [as Haitians], And We Were Immediately Identified With It. That Is Unfair. That Is Unjust. I Always Say, "we Are All People Living With Aids." It's Not Like You Can Avoid It. It's Part Of Our World.

On Some Levels, You Can Also Have This Feeling That We Are Being Duped, Somehow. And That The World Is At Play For Something You Would Understand More If It Were Pure Ideology. It Is A Very Strange Time And Also Basic Things Are Being Taken Away.