A Complicated 8 Letter Problem

I too sing Haiti.

I am the darker brother.

They send me to eat in the kitchen

When company comes,

But I laugh,

And eat well,

And grow strong.

Tomorrow,

I'll be at the table

When company comes.

Nobody will dare say to me,

"Eat in the kitchen," then.

Besides,

They'll see how beautiful I am

And be ashamed -

I too am Haiti.

-Langston Hughes

Slavery. A word I grew up believing was forever resigned to the past tense.

No, this isn't about Gloabilzation, Neo Liberalism or Imperialism. Nor is it about the World Bank, the CIA or any Structural Adjustment Program or corporate scheme.

It is about slavery. In its most livid, most monstrous form.

It is about the children who can not look you in the eyes.

Restaveks are the child slaves of Haiti. They are stolen from the countryside and sold to families in Port-au-Prince. In addition to manual and domestic labor, children as young as 6 are often beaten, abused, raped and sexually molested.

Modern day slavery was something that I was unaware of before coming to Haiti. Now, there is rarely a day I walk to work without passing a Restavek. It has been a striking awakening for me to realize that for some, the world really is as bad as it is often made out to be.

The subject just seems to freeze my conscience.

I recommend A Crime so Monstrous, by E. Benjamin Skinner. It is a life changing book.