“Something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it. They were under the heel of the French. You know, Napoleon III, or whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the Devil. They said, we will serve you if you’ll get us free from the French. True story. And so, the Devil said, okay it’s a deal,” said Reverend Pat Robertson in front of entire the nation on television.

Did Haiti indeed make a pack with the devil? Thursday, Feb. 25 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. in McNair auditorium, Project Haiti presented “Is Haiti Cursed,” to discover the truth behind that statement.

The program was delayed because a member of the panel did not show up, but Angela Allen, a member of Project Haiti, opened up the program to save time.

Allen guided the program until it was time for the panel discussion. The moderators of the program were Malcolm Eustache, the president of Project Haiti, and Kiana Byrd, a member of Project Haiti.

“I know now that whatever I do or give will be beneficial to someone, especially those who have nothing… I just want everyone of African American descent to be reminded that this could have been us and we are our brother’s keeper,” said Byrd.

Before Byrd and Eustache guided the program through a series of questions for the distinguished panelist, they reminded the audience of how important it is to keep Haiti relevant.

The panelist consisted of Dr. James Wood, Dr. Tiffany Quaye, Professor Derick Smith, Professor Bryan Turman, and SGA President Syene Jasmin.

This panelist of respected professors and student leaders from the A&T community joined in this discussion of the political and spiritually history of Haiti.

“If you say real talk then I probably won’t trust you, clearly Robertson does not know what he is talking about. If he is talking about voodoo, then Haitian voodoo has more roots in Catholicism than it has in any kind of devil worshippers…so Haiti is not cursed,” said Turman.

The first question presented to the panelist was “Is Haiti Cursed?”

Most of the panelist agreed and stated that Haiti was not cursed, except for one. Smith, a political science professor, said “Haiti is cursed in a sense that it has been cursed by other countries because Haiti used to be the richest country in the world and then they had to buy their freedom from France and landed in debt.” 

The Haitian Revolution has often been described as the largest and most successful slave rebellion in the Western Hemisphere.

If it was not for their decision to rebel against the French and take their freedom back, many people of African descents would not have decided to fight for their freedom. This is directly linked to African Americans because Haiti created the domino effect of fighting for one’s freedom.

After the panel discussion, the floor was opened up to the students who had burning questions. Questions were asked to panelist about on a wide variety from the difference between voodoo to why Haiti is important now.

There was even a miniature debate between two of the audience members about Christianity.

The panel discussion came to a close, but not before the Jay-Z ticket giveaway. Malcolm Eustache, president of Project Haiti ended the program and said, “We all sat down and decided that we needed to do something, not a rally but an event that would educate students about Haiti.

They saw the earthquake and the devastation it caused to Haiti, but they don’t understand what made the earthquake so devastating was the condition that Haiti was in prior to the earthquake.”

If you are interested in joining Project Haiti please contact Malcolm Eustache at [email protected] or Syene Jasmin at [email protected].

• Chelsea King