First things first: I am a second-generation Haitian-American. Whenever I have expressed my ethnicity to non-Haitians, I have usually been met with the sentiment, “…but you don’t look Haitian.” Looking Haitian…What is that? I find it so demeaning that years of Western propaganda has brainwashed many in America as well as other countries throughout the World to believe that there is such a thing as “looking Haitian.” When I was younger, I never understood what people meant by such a statement. When I would demand an explanation they usually pointed to my hair and say something along the lines of, “you have good hair, Haitians don’t have good hair.” And even with such detailed answers, I still felt disrespected, but I was too young back then to understand the politics of colorism much less Black Hair.
As I have gotten older, I’ve realized that “looking Haitian” carries heavier connotations than just colorism. It carries connotations of extreme poverty, backwardness, and of course everyone’s favorite stigma: Voodoo. I cannot in one post destroy every stereotype that has been built against my ancestral home. It’s preposterous to think I’d be able to demolish almost 206 years of indoctrination in a one thousand word post. But, I will say that I am very proud of my country. Haitians are a proud people with a beautiful legacy of pride, culture, and revolutionary spirit. We have a history that exudes Black Nationalist ideologies way before the eras of Malcolm X and Huey P. Newton. And although recent events like the Earthquake and rising dissent against the government are threatening the stability of the Western Hemisphere’s first Black Republic, I am certain that the country will rise from the ashes, like a phoenix, to reclaim its title as the Pearl of the Antilles.
And it is with one of our pearls that we will display the beauty of our nation in the next Miss Universe contest. It has been reported this week that Haiti will enter its own contestant into the competition. Although, it has been almost three decades since Haiti enrolled one of its daughters into the pageant, the country has a profound history within the organization. In 1962, Miss Haiti, Evelyn Miot, became the first black woman to make it into the semi-finals.
Saroj Bertin is the woman who has been chosen to be Miss Haiti. And I must say she is stunning! Bertin hails from the capital, Port-au-Prince, and is a lawyer. She is no stranger to the pageant circuit, having represented Haiti in Miss Intercontinental 2005. She seems to be the complete package: beauty and brains. And, I know that I will join my countrymen (and women) in Haiti and the Diaspora the night Saroj Bertin sashays onto the world stage to be one of the ambassadors of our beloved country.
The return of Haiti back onto the world stage in the Miss Universe contest will re-ignite a confidence not only into Haitian adults, but particularly Haitian children as well. I know that I am neither the first nor the last Haitian-American to be disrespected with “but you don’t look Haitian” sentiments. For many Haitian children, seeing Bertin compete with other nations will be the first time that they will have ever witnesses their country treated with such respect in the media. I am smart enough to know that the hope and future of the Haitian people all over the world do not lie solely on the shoulders of Saroj Bertin. But, I am hoping that with these few steps forward, Haitians can become constructors of what it means to “look Haitian.”
