Maintaining a Haitian Identity
As Detroit’s Haitian Community grows and evolves, it finds itself grappling with a number of issues. Among them are how to maintain Haitian identity in a context where the community is small and its second-generation members are engulfed within a non-Haitian professional and cultural environment. This is a particularly important question in an environment where Haitians have deliberately identified with other Caribbean immigrants as part of a strategy to increase their power and influence as a community.

Few members of the younger generation Haitian Network reportedly speak Creole.

Language and Food
Few members of the younger generation Haitian Network reportedly speak Creole. While language is an important marker of ethnic identify, food is another. Despite an apparent attempt among some younger generation members to open a Haitian restaurant in Detroit, ultimately, the effort did not succeed. In response to speculation that perhaps a Haitian restaurant could attract a non-Haitian clientele, it was noted by several Detroit Haitians that there are already a number of Jamaican restaurants and carry-outs, suggesting, perhaps, that the Caribbean ‘exotic’ food market in Detroit is limited and already taken. Or perhaps some of Detroit’s Haitians have begun to view Jamaican food as an adequate substitute for Haitian cuisine? Curiously, it was interesting to note that at the Haitian Network’s Halloween Masquerade Ball, no ‘real’ Haitian food, such as beans and rice (pwa diri), conch (lambi) or fried pork rind (griot) were served. To learn more about Haitians and Haitian food in Detroit and Espoir Board member Dr. Jean Alce, CLICK HERE.

Music
At the same party, however, Haitian music was in ample abundance, played, curiously, by a DJ originally from Sierra Leon! Over the course of a brief visit to Detroit, a number of references were made to the dichotomy within the community between Haitian kompa music and American hip-hop. All, it seemed, enjoyed a good kompa, whereas it was the younger generation that was equally drawn to American soul sounds. Detroit is, after all, Motown! Curiously, there seems to be some sentiment among Detroit’s Haitians that girls are more interested in Haitian cultural expression than boys.

How will the baton of leadership within the community be handed from the current generation of leaders?

Passing the Baton of Leadership
Another issue facing Detroit’s Haitians is how the baton of leadership within the community will be handed from the current generation of leaders, represented by the members of Espoir, to the next generation, represented by the Haitian Network. At least one member of the Espoir generation admitted becoming “tired” after two or more decades of carrying the baton. As this generation prepares to pass leadership to the younger generation, however, there is some concern that the younger ones have not yet done enough to earn the baton.

A very real issue in Detroit is the future of the Espoir Caribbean Center and its myriad of activities. Over the past year the organization has struggled to maintain the publication of its newsletter, Krik Krak, and with the Haitian bicentennial rapidly drawing near, concern about the organization’s ability to respond clouds the future. Finally, there is the issue of the Center itself, a property won after a long and successful struggle. Real estate requires maintenance and constantly covering recurrent costs, like the utility bill. Where will those resources come from in the future?

Relating to Haiti
Finally, as in all Haitian-American communities, reflections on the best and most appropriate way to relate to Haiti and its issues are never far from the surface. The ties that bind seem alive and well in Detroit, as remittances still flow from the metropole to the homeland and ‘real time’ contact is maintained through parish twinning, medical mission visits, and personal travel.

Surprisingly, however, it appears that most of the more-established professionals of the Detroit Haitian community have not developed particularly close ties with the more recent “sent” arrivals, or refugees, who were resettled in Lansing and Grand Rapids in the mid 1990s. “We were approached through church agencies in the mid-1990’s to see if we could take some of the refugees in, in Detroit,” relayed one member of the Detroit community, “but we had to decline. We really didn’t have the capacity or the resources to resettle refugees in the city.”

Inevitably, some of the more recent arrivals from Haiti have begun to have a presence in the community. Whether or not this presence will grow stronger, and what overall impact it will have on the community in terms of its own identity and its maintenance, leadership within the community, and the relationship of Detroit’s Haitians with Haiti, are questions to be tracked into the future.