WEBVTT 00:00:00.900 --> 00:00:03.560 This message is dedicated to my fellow Francophiles 00:00:03.560 --> 00:00:08.626 who get alarmed or even offended at the thought of eliminating French 00:00:08.626 --> 00:00:12.147 as one of the official languages of the Republic of Haiti. 00:00:12.664 --> 00:00:15.984 I am speaking today as a Haitian who is 00:00:15.984 --> 00:00:18.483 truly madly in love with the French language. 00:00:18.483 --> 00:00:24.303 I confess that my fascination and my respect for not only the richness 00:00:24.303 --> 00:01:17.337 of the language but equally for those who master it without boundaries. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 However, these days, I reject the French language. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I look down on it as much as some of my fellow Haitians 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 look down on the Creole language. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Therefore, I have a lot of trouble expressing myself in French. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Some may even say that I'm losing my French. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I think it is sad how Haitians always think they are able to lose something 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that in no way and at no point in time belonged to them. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I say all that and still today I'm pushing to deliver this message in French. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's because I'm addressing those of us who would have a hard time 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 taking me seriously if I had chosen to share my ideas in my native language. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I want you to understand the damage you are causing to your country, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to be fully concious of this damage and I hope I'll manage to do that, in French. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 What I observed especially from the Haitians living in Haiti is that 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 French isn't a tool for communication that facilitates and allows the exchange of ideas, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the passing of customs and culture or the expression of convictions. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 On the contrary, this languages diminishes the most remarkable and precious aspects 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of the human experience from us, which is conversation. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 French has become nothing more than one more way 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to segregate the Haitian population. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 To be able to tell from the get-go who deserves your good manners 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and who you will snub, who you will barter with, and who you will charge double. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So it really doesn't help us to communicate properly. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I've also witnessed the mistreatment Haitians receive in Haiti 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 simply because they cannot speak French; a colonial language, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 a language that we don't even teach to most of our people, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 a language that is so foreign to us, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 a language that despite the fact that it has dominated our educational system 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 for over two centuries is still lost among our people who are far from mastering it. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So that is rather deplorable. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I remember well that in Haiti, French was reserved for the formalities of meeting for the first time. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It was the initial move to affirm one's social class. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And to identify at which level a relationship could evolve between two people 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And it was not a language that was used in familiar settings 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 or with those that we were close with 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There is a very restricted group of people in Haiti who insist on 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 always speaking the French language, but we consider those people to be 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 pretentious and full of it 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and often, their conversations remain very superficial 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and because of that, they struggle to maintain relationships with people 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 outside of that very restricted circle. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So to say that French is an official language of the Haitians would be a huge exaggeration. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 What I can tell you is, the percentage of Haitians that are able 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to easily and clearly express themselves in french is probably less than those 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 who can fluently speak German or Mandarin. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Of course, there are Haitians in the french diaspora like in France and Canada 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 They speak french because that is the language they speak in those countries. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's like me, I speak English and English has become my first language 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Because I am obligated to speak well in English in the United States. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But to say that Haitians speak French, again, is completely false. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 What also happens in Haiti, is that we substitute someone's ability 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to read a few phrases in French with their intelligence or wisdom. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We attribute the ability to get by in French as wisdom 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and now there are a lot of Haitians who fall into this trap because they 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 kill themselves trying to learn French and imitate the "elite" pretentious 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 francophones of Haiti. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And they completely lose because not only, are they not able to acquire 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the french language, but they're not fully able to develop Creole which is their 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 native language. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So what happens is we end up with a population that is not able to properly 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 express themselves. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And Creole loses in its vocabulary and is constantly blocked by a stigma of 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 inferiority. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So it's quite a bummer. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 If you have the intention to not agree with what I'm saying, consider 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that to truly acquire a language, you need to really learn it in advanced 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 classes, or even further in college to really be able to manipulate a language 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 enough to be able to fully express your ideas and to be understood. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 In Haiti, the majority of students do not make it past elementary courses. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And even if we obtain a High School Diploma in Haiti, it's not a very 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 robust diploma. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So the ability of Haitians to really express themselves in this forced language 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 becomes very minimized. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So what I want to tell you and leave you all with this message is, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 think about communicating, think about sharing your ideas. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 What you say is far more important than the language you are using. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We have to remind ourselves that each time we talk to someone in Haiti 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 or another Haitian, we really need to think about how what we say is what we say is 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 what's really important.