Marooned on an island, abused by the tyrants,
liberation movement ended the ruthless bondage.
The conch is a siren, alarm clock for fightin'
blood leaking from sky, drippin' freedom by the ounces.
These few lines crossed my mind as gazed at this painting
of the Neg Mawon sculpture.
Broken chains. Machete. Arawak.
Taino. Ayiti. Toussaint Louverture. Jean-Jacques Dessalines. Sanite Bélair.
L'union fait la force
I was born in Miami to Haitian refugees, exiled.
"Boat people," they called them, as if Columbus sailed
the sky instead of the blood-smothered Atlantic.
"Boat people," refugees of 80s and 90s, Haiti. Cuba.
Human capital. Power. Greed. Skin. Class. Western imperialism.
Liberation is the fulcrum of the people, still paying the cost of their freedom. -Wilkine Brutus
Muralist: Serge Toussaint
Location: Little Haiti, Miami, Florida
