Haitian Music Responds to FDA's blood ban

Today is the 23rd anniversary of the day that thousands of Haitians and Americans alike, stormed the Brooklyn Bridge headed to NYC's City Hall to protest the FDA's discriminatory banning of Haitian blood donors.

I wrote about this last year.

Left out from that post, was a few of the Haitian responses to the blood ban. The 80's and 90's were great era's for conscious Haitian music, and a lot of Haitian musicians used their voices and influence to reach, educate, and protest issues the diaspora faced.

When the FDA (and CDC) decided that Haitian blood was high-risk, a few songs were released to challenge the blatant prejudice. Many Haitians responded with organizing protests, and some musicians responded with music—not just reaching Haitian's living in the U.S., but to the entire Haitian diaspora and francophone communities. Though a lot of the songs were sung in Kreyol, the message in these songs were powerful.

One of the most popular response songs was by Yole and Ansy Derose, a husband and wife duo, that released the song "FDA Ou Anraje." The word anraje (French: enrage), means mad or rabid—which perfectly described the shameful blood ban. The song title loosely meant, 'are you out of your mind.'

Here's the music video to the popular song:

In the song, the Deroses' question why the FDA would impose such an outrageous and baseless ban. They also talked about how this was a slap in the face to Haitians considering the history of Haitians contributing to the U.S. and American history.

Here are some lyrics:

Si nou gen SIDA, se ou ban nou SIDA
If we have AIDS, you gave us AIDS

They continue:

FDA apa ou anraje. FDA apa ou deraye.
FDA are you mad!? FDA are you out of your mind!?

The Derose's also brought up the U.S. foreign policy in Haiti and how that contributed to Haiti's poverty. They did not shy away from exposing American hypocrisy, and it's expressed clearly in the beginning of the song. Several strong accusations are made and they somewhat allude that AIDS is man-made disease, and the blood ban ruling is racist, which would explain why the FDA felt so comfortable blaming Haitians.


Another song was from a mini-jazz group called Djet-X—the song is titled '20 Avril (Pon an Souke)'. It means April 20th (The Bridge Shook). It was written in the aftermath of the protests, but summarized the events and feelings of that day in one song.

An interesting fact about this song is the sub-title (Pon an Souke). This would be something my father would repeat to me whenever he told me the story about that day. He was present at the demonstration, and one of the resounding echos in the crowd, was "nou souke pon an", or we shook the bridge. My father recalled the bridge shaking as people crossed the bridge to enter Manhattan. The protest attracted more demonstrators than expected, and they shut down the Brooklyn bridge that afternoon. This is a New York Times article reporting on the event.

 
In the song they summarize the Haitian response on April 20th, naming important figures, like radio jockeys, community organizers, and popular Haitian activists, like Wilson Desir. 

Some lyrics:

M'ap pral kapital youn jou espesyal, pou'm ka di koman'm feel, paske'm pa na ranse vre.
I'm going to the capital on a special day, so I can say how I feel, because truthfully I'm not kidding around.

They speak directly to the FDA:

FDA papa, sa se l'injustice, se pa nou fe SIDA.
FDA man, this is an injustice, we didn't create AIDS.

Throughout the song they also say in English no blood, no sweat. Interpreted as, if Haitian blood is not worthy, well neither is the sweat of Haitians who've worked hard in the U.S.

Read more about the ban here.

Painting Bidonvilles

Haiti gets colourful makeover

This was quite the buzz a few weeks ago, and even though bright and colorful homes do look pretty, when I think about a bit longer, I definitely see that this is only attempting to mask the problems many Haitian citizens are faced with. Likely, I'm sure many of the residents are happy and can gain some form of satisfaction from the colorful homes and it's view from a distance, but I think it's so superficial and a waste of money.

Supposedly this cost $1.4 million.