Yole Derose, one of the most beloved folk singers in Haiti, wrote a song called "Koupe Kann" ("Cutting Sugar Cane").
"Cutting sugar cane. You’re going to cut sugar cane. I’d rather much you cut sugar cane here at home. But they don’t want you to stay here. They sold you like an animal."
A woman pining for a lover sold into the Dominican bateyes (sugar cane plantations). I was young and couldn’t grasp the depth of her lyrics but the melancholy in her voice conveyed pain. Decades later, that song is more relevant than ever.
By now you’ve heard of the conflict between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. It’s complicated, steeped in a tense and at…
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