We Are Our Ancestors’ Wildest Dreams
A Haitian American’s Reflection On Independence and Survival
Citadelle Laferriere, a fort nestled so high up in the mountains that it sits on clouds, is the stuff of dreams. First generation Americans seeking to unpack their heritage in the country their parents left behind? Also the stuff of dreams.
Some of us were in Haiti for the first time, others revisiting a place we had romanticized from our memories. There were conflicting views about whether this trip — deliberately taking place over Haiti’s Independence Day, January 1 — was a redemptive effort to soften the disappointing blows of 2016, or to simply celebrate surviving it. Nevertheless, our mere presence, black beings standing humbly at an engineering feat so impressive, and a symbol of self-determination so deliberate, is the stuff of dreams.
I watched the sunrise in the land of mountains beyond mountains. After 5 long years, I am home.
The home of those descended from Africans who had the audacity to think that black lives matter and staged the first and only successful slave revolt in history. The stock from which we came, the first Haitians, established the first black independent republic in the Americas and built Citadelle Laferriere themselves (on some OG F.U.B.U-ish) convicted of their self-determination. My ancestors — the Arawaks, the Tainos, Boukman, the Africans who revolted — they are all pleased.
If you know your history, no one can dictate to you who you are. If you know what you are capable of, no one can deny your worth.
This is a lesson we must learn and teach, and learn and teach, and learn and teach, as did those who came before us. 2016 was full of lessons. Let us learn and teach.
Therefore, the dawn of 2017 found me in Haiti, because it is beautiful, complex, and resilient. As am I.
For this, my ancestors are pleased.
Because we are our ancestors’ wildest dreams.
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