ella turenne

read the article, then come back to me:

http://www.westword.com/2008-01-03/news/slave-to-history/
 

my take on this whole thing:

i've been really dumbfounded by this whole idea of memory village for the past week.  when a friend first told me about it, i really thought it was a joke.  a bad joke.  then i saw an article and went on the website and found out it was real.  and it made me so angry.  why would anyone want to relive this horrible past we carry around EVERY SINGLE DAY??  i agree we HAVE to remember...so that we can know where we came from.  but it angers me that $700,000 could be used for so much more than allowing the rest of the world to yet again make a mockery out of us.  i am so tired of haiti being laughed at mocked at and looked at as absurd.  "step right up folks...be a slave for a day!"  what IS THAT????   the creators of memory village talk about it being a venue to bring about healing.  to heal who????  is france going to give back all the money they made us pay for freedom?  is the U.S. going to apologize for all they meddling they've done for the past 200 years?  is any other country going to really help us?  is this going to allow haitians to finally trust each other with the strength enough to unite and face our challenges together?  and is it really going to reconcile all of the race issues that plague our country...the island...the world?  i fear that a black person will go through this and be traumatized.  i would be.  if you want to relive slavery in this day an age, you don't need to build a memory village.  go visit someone in jail or prison.  you'll see all the slavery you need to see right there.

i fear that people will go there and feel somehow they understand what it is like to be black or understand what slavery was like.  none of us....black or white fully understand what slavery was like - we weren't there.  and i think after having read extensively about it, (again, black or white) who would want to relive that?  the creators of memory village talk about the holocaust....but who would WANT to relive that?????   people suffered and are still traumatized by that experience.  again, a museum is understandable to remember, but a theme park to relive just makes no sense. 

somewhere, i know there are really good, genuine intentions behind the creation of memory village but as a person of haitian decent, the thought of it existing  just makes me sick to my stomach.  i don't even know what to do about it.  maybe someone out there has ideas.

peace

e