Haiti and Africa: Past, present and future prospects

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Haiti shall rise again!

President Aristide, Mother Zavele Mbeki, Vice-Chancellor Pityana, Mildred Aristide, Professor Gutto, distinguished scholars, brothers and sisters of South Africa, I am excited about the possibilities of a new African approach to Hat, and therefore thank the Centre for African Renaissance Studies for this invitation to speak on those possibilities.

I come to you with an intense love for Africa and an abiding passion for the African people of Haiti. I come to you feeling the great burden of sadness for those buried at Titanyen, the mass grave of those who died in the earthquake of 2010. Haiti mourns, and we mourn with it, even as it rebuilds; we recognize the massive challenges that are faced by the people of this country. Yet I understand that many people know little or nothing about Haiti, some do not know where it is geographically, and many do not know where

It is in African history. As the Kawada philosopher Maulana Karenga said last week in Los Angeles: 'We are all Haitians.’