March 31, 2010
Dear Valerie,
It's been a while. I haven't seen you since since June 1974 in front of Hibbard Hall. Z. Chin, T. Cook, you and I were saying goodbye. I saw you in a recent alumni magazine and thought, I know that woman..
I'm living in Haiti. I've been here since 1985. Things are bad down here. If they weren't this bad I would never be disrupting you from your busy schedule. The UN Donor Conference today is a sham. Please find a way to get the imput of everyday Haitians in the decision making process. I understand that Bill Clinton has been given this piece of the Foreign Policy Pie but unfortunately folks "trying to help" Haiti are being played by folks who have brought Haiti to the status of "Poorest Nation in the Western Hemisphere". There has to be some fundamental change here.
I originally came to Haiti to play music and to research Rhythms. My mother, if you may recall is Haitian. As I said, I have been living here since 1985 and I've been through countless COUP's, massacres, two US invasions, Two UN occupying forces, countless devastating hurricanes and now one indescribable killer EarthQuake. The two elections held here last year were fraudulent and yet no International Organization, including the UN, spoke out. I expressed those views to the UN Secretary General's Spokesperson and at a meeting at the Supreme Court in Washington DC last year. I've visited Washington DC on numerous occasions in reference to Haiti. I'ld rather just play music and chill at my small but comfortable hotel but sometimes INJUSTICE rears it's ugly head and I feel i have to make a stand and take some time from the pleasures I find in life.
My musicians are sleeping in tent cities. My hotel staff are mostly living in tents. I talk to the journalists, I talk to the Haitian People, I talk FOR the Haitian People, I talk to embassy folks, I talk to local grassroots organizers and I talk to diplomats. SOMETHING IS DEFINITELY WRONG DOWN HERE and I want things to get aired out before major decisions are made after this Donors Conference. I'm calling out to you. I hope you understand. Forgive me for anything I may have said or done..
This is a desperate Cry For Help..
Yours truly,
Richard
Richard Morse
Port-au-Prince, Haiti