News Headlines: September 7, 2021

Welcome to Sojourner Truth. Thank you for staying with us. This is your host, Margaret Prescod.

Today: Poetry for Haiti, the worlds first Black republic, which is struggling to overcome neo-colonialism, imposed poverty, state violence, and natural disasters produced by climate change. In the early morning hours of August 14, 2021, a powerful magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck southern Haiti, killing at least 2,200 people and injuring over 12,000 others, according to France 24. These figures, however, are expected to be much higher and many people remain unaccounted for. The Associated Press reported that at least 136,800 buildings were damaged or destroyed.

The August 2021 earthquake that struck Haiti was the deadliest natural disaster of 2021; and it was the worst natural disaster to strike Haiti since the 2010 earthquake. Just two days later, on August 16, 2021, Haiti experienced a direct hit from Hurricane Grace, which poured over 10 inches of rain on the nation. There was further damage from flash flooding and landslides that led to more casualties, especially among those hundreds of thousands of Haitians left homeless by the earthquake. According to the United Nations, at least 1.2 million people, including 540,000 children, had been impacted by the twin devastations of the earthquake and the hurricane. Meanwhile, all of this took place within the context of COVID-19, state violence, political instability, and attacks on the poor.

In the Summer of 2021, a benefit for the Haiti Emergency Relief Fund (known as HERF) was organized by longtime Haiti solidarity campaigners. HERF provides concrete material aid directly to the people of Haiti, such as water, food, shelter, medicine, housing, and more. The benefit, dubbed Poetry for Haiti, was an afternoon of soul-nourishing poetry and an opportunity to support Haitis movement for democracy. The event featured Devorah Major, San Franciscos Third Poet Laureate, Tongo Eisen-Martin, San Franciscos current Poet Laureate, and Shanga Labossiere. It also featured a heart-warming tribute by longtime Haiti human rights activist Pierre Labossiere, to beloved elders of the Haiti solidarity movement.

They include: Mrs. Solange Aristide, mother of President Jean Bertrand Aristide; Terry Collins, a community leader and co-founder of KPOO-FM; and Jacques Antoine Gwo Lobo, a Haitian DJ, community leader, and activist with the Lavalas movement. The Sojourner Truth Team, myself and Assistant Producer Ramiro Funez, had the honor of meeting Gwo Lobo in 2019, when we traveled to Haiti to cover the grassroots uprising. We bid farewell to these beloved and highly revered elders. Today on Sojourner Truth, we bring you exclusive audio from this historic event, Poetry for Haiti. The event was co-sponsored by the Haiti Action Committee, the Ecumenical Peace Institute, East Bay Sanctuary Covenant, and St. Johns Presbyterian Church Mission and Justice Commission.