Danticat and Felin Did Not Win Book Awards, But We Won

Edwidge Danticat and Sindy Felin were not winners of the 2007 National Book Awards, we, as children of Haiti, won. Ms. Danticat, nominated for her book, Brother, I'm Dying, and Ms. Felin, author of Touching Snow, were both nominated for the National Book Awards, a prize that Ms. Danticat has won before.

Out of the twenty authors nominated, seven of them are women; Out of the seven women, two of them are of African decent; out of the two of African decent both are Haitians, Edwidge Danticat and Sindy Felin. We are very proud of both of them. Ms. Felin is part of the Washington, DC, Haitian community and that will add an extra layer of pride to our local Haitian community.

Felisitasyon!! Ladies, congratulations! You are both winners. We hope to spread the word of your good deeds.

Re-designed, re-focus EchodHaiti.com

It's been 10 years. Yes, 10 years since we started EchodHaiti.com, 1997-2007.
Our intention was to spotlight the positive aspects of Haitian culture, with the main focus on people, culture, and history.
We have started to redesign the site and will continue to improve the visitor experience. We will try to keep it simple, without letting the site's look take away from the importance of "spreading positive Haitian culture."

We hope to re-commit to make EchodHaiti.com "Kote tout Ayisyen se star."

Keep sending us your ideas, comments, and criticism.

mèsi ampil, thank you.

That's Haiti in Your Resident Evil 5

resident_evil_58012.jpg Remember that Resident Evil 5-is-racist brouhaha? The E3 trailer showed large numbers of black zombies getting killed, which set off a firestorm of controversy. Killing black zombies? Masked racism, critics say. According to our well-placed insider, there is a reason for that: Resident Evil 5 takes place in Haiti, zombism's spiritual home. Speculation was that it took place in either Africa or Carribean. And yes, according to our insider, the setting is apparently Haiti. Makes sense!

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Haiti's new president calls for political dialog

Haiti's new president Rene Preval called for peace and dialogue in his first public speech after taking office.

Shortly after taking the presidential oath in Congress, Preval told citizens in front of the Presidential Palace in Port-au-Prince the importance of "reinforcing dialog in order to reinforce peace."

Speaking in Creole, the language spoken by most Haitians, he said: "Peace is the key which opens the door to employment, tourism, infrastructure, tourism, education, health, and national production."

He also called on Haitians to remember the example of Haiti's independence heroes and urged his countrymen to create the conditions that will allow peace to continue without the presence of foreign troops.

Preval, 63, was Haiti's president from 1996 to 2001.

Source: Xinhua

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A Great Event on May 11

a great event on May 11 at 6pm at
National COuncil of La Raza
1126 16th Street NW

I heard the guest speakers this morning and they give great background on this situation in the DR regarding Afro-Haitians, Afro-Haitian descendants, and Afro-Dominicans. They do not speak English (i don't think since the event this morning was in spanish only) but interpretation is available.

It would be great to see some Haitians there and learn more about blacks in the DR.

here is a link to the event. http://www.nclr.org/content/calendar/detail/38589/

RSVP: afrodominican@nclr.org