WEBVTT

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This message is dedicated to my fellow
Francophiles

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who get alarmed or even offended at the
thought of eliminating French

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as one of the official languages of the
Republic of Haiti.

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I am speaking today as a Haitian who is

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truly madly in love with the French
language.

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I confess that my fascination for not only
the richness

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of the language but also for those who
master it without boundaries.

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However, these days, I reject the
language.

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I look down on it as much as some of my
fellow Haitians

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look down on the Creole language.

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Thus, I have a lot of trouble expressing
myself in French.

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Some may even say that I’m losing my
French.

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I think it is sad how Haitians always think
they are able to lose something

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that in no way and at no point in time
belonged to them.

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I say all that and still today I’m pushing to
deliver this message in French.

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It’s because I’m targeting those of us who
would be hard-pressed

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to take me seriously if I had chosen to
share my ideas in my maternal language.

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I want you to understand the damage you
are causing to your country,

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to be fully aware of this damage and I
hope I’ll manage to do that, in French.

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What I observed especially from the
Haitians living in Haiti is that

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French isn’t a tool for communication that
allows the exchange of ideas,

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the passing of customs and culture or the
expression of convictions.

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On the contrary, it strips away the most
remarkable and precious

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of human experiences from us,
conversation.

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It has become nothing more than one
more way

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to segregate the Haitian population.

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To be able to tell from the get-go who
deserves your good manners

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and who you will snub, who you will barter
with, and who you will charge double.

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So it really doesn’t help us to communicate properly.

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I’ve also witnessed the mistreatment
Haitians receive in Haiti

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simply because they cannot speak
French; a colonial language,

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a language that we don’t even teach to
most of our people,

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a language that is so foreign to us,

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a language that despite the fact that it
has dominated our educational system

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for over two centuries is still lost among
our people who are far from mastering it.

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So that is rather deplorable.

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