The Consequences of French in Haiti

This message is dedicated to my fellow
Francophiles

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

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

I am speaking today as a Haitian who is

truly madly in love with the French
language.

I confess that my fascination for not only
the richness

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

However, these days, I reject the
language.

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

look down on the Creole language.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

of human experiences from us,
conversation.

It has become nothing more than one
more way

to segregate the Haitian population.

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

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

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

I’ve also witnessed the mistreatment
Haitians receive in Haiti

simply because they cannot speak
French; a colonial language,

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

a language that is so foreign to us,

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

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

So that is rather deplorable.