Sunday's Haitian Flag Day. But the mood leading up to May 18 is anything but celebratory

Miami Herald

17-05-2025

Two days before one of Haiti's biggest national holidays, the streets in the heart of Miami's Haitian community are unusually quiet. Few cars move up and down Northeast Second Avenue flying giant-size blue and red flags as has been customary and few patronize the sidewalk vendors selling Flag Day T-shirts, caps and bandannas.
'Last year, there were more people who came. This year, things are slow,' Farilia Antoine, an artist and vendor said as she was arranging her wares on a table along Northeast Second Avenue and 59th Street.
The mood, according to vendors and the few seen out venturing in Little Haiti on Friday, could best be summed up by a mural not far from where Antoine stood, located at the southern end of the Little Haiti Cultural Complex.
'Anmweyyy,' the all too common cry of unbearable pain, screams in bold letters in Haitian Creole as a hand with a broken chain grabs the country's bi-color flag. Underneath, the phrase, 'Haiti Is Suffocating,' is written in Creole.
May 18 has long been a celebration of Haitian identity and heritage, and the country as a nation. The date commemorates the creation of the first Haitian flag in 1803 in the town of Arcahaie, where the white was reportedly ripped from a French flag and the blue and red stripes were sewn together by heroine Catherine Flon to represent the union of Blacks and mulattoes, the two main groups in Haiti's fight for independence from France.
It's a day that usually overflows with pride and celebration that marks Haiti's path from enslaved nation to free Black republic and symbolizes Haitians collective identity.
But as the Caribbean nation suffocates under the lawlessness of gang rule, and Haitians in the United States face the threat of being returned under President Donald Trump's mass deportation promise, many are approaching the moment with mixed feelings, and a mood that is more somber than celebratory.
'I don't feel at ease; with the way things are in Haiti I can't be at ease, at all,' said Linda Louis, strolling in front of the Little Haiti Cultural Complex.
Originally from Croix-des-Bouquets, Louis, 42, said 'it brings tears to my eyes' when she thinks of Haiti, and her once bustling community on the eastern outskirts of Port-au-Prince. Like the town of Arcahaie, which has been made off-limits by the widespread violence, Croix-des-Bouquets is now controlled by violent gangs that are burning businesses, shuttering schools and attacking cities.
'I can't even go to my country,' she said.
Things are not necessarily better here. Louis, who has two teenagers, a preteen and her mother living in Haiti, arrived in South Florida two years ago from Brazil after making the dangerous 7,000 mile trek on foot with her two young sons, now ages 5 and 4.
Both kids donned the flag's colors on their T-shirts and heads, the younger in a bandanna and the older in a construction paper crown of blue and red.
'They are proud to be Haitian,' Louis said. 'They wanted another T-shirt to put on for Sunday, but I don't have any money.'
Like many of the more than half million Haitians in the U.S. currently living under the threat of deportation back to Haiti, Louis says she is feeling the financial and emotional weight of the Trump administration's decision to roll back immigration protections for the community despite their homeland's turmoil.
'I don't see clearly yet,' she said, adding that while her kids are basking in their pride over being Haitians, she doesn't feel the celebratory spirit.
Conflicting emotions over Haiti Flag Day
Evelyne Bital, who moved to the U.S. over 30 years ago and is involved in promoting Haitian culture, has mixed emotions when it comes to May 18. She is approaching the day with both 'pride' and 'a heavy heart.' She's proud of how Haiti achieved nationhood, by defeating the world's most powerful army at the time, but her heart is heavy 'because of what our country has become now.'
'I feel that we should be in a better place. The country should be flourishing and doing way better than where we are now,' said Bital, who recently opened a store, Lobey Art and Travel, in Little Haiti to showcase the culture. 'So I have a heavy heart just commemorating that day, but I want to keep our pride alive, so that's why I opened the store because I want people to continue seeing what we can do.'
Still, for many Haitians, May 18 is somber reminder of what has been lost and how their once vibrant nation is now facing collapse.
'How is it that we go from a very thriving nation, where, at one point, Haiti was one of the main tourism countries in the world, everybody was going to Haiti just to enjoy a piece of the Caribbean, to now, where, for the most part, the people who are destroying that particular country are the people themselves?' said Nelda Augustin, owner of N'Tea Shop inside the Caribbean Marketplace in Little Haiti. 'So how could one not feel disappointed? It's disappointing.'
She hopes Haitians use the commemoration to do some self-reflecting.
'Don't look into the next person and ask why they're not helping us, or what did they do to us, or what is wrong with the rest of the world,' Augustin said. 'The message needs to be self-reflection. You need to look within first and try to find a reason as to why. We need to reflect on ourselves and find a way to solve our own problems.'
During an evening celebration at Sounds of Little Haiti on Friday night, the new head of the Little Haiti Cultural Center, Dasha Saintremy, asked the crowd for a moment of silence for Haiti.
READ MORE: France forced Haiti to pay for independence. 200 years later, should there be restitution?
The evening had featured a live performance by Haiti's legendary Tropicana Orchestra, whose longevity after 62 years has made it one of the country's most popular musical groups. Its distinct big band sound and rhythms attracted both young and old on Friday night including Haitian konpa fans pushing walkers.
'There used to be beautiful Haitian Flag Day celebrations in Haiti when I was young,' Milva Celeger, 89, said as she looked at the young people in the crowd dancing to music by the street band Rara Lakay.
But in spite of the music, the mood was still somewhat solemn, with some Haitians saying they are not yet ready to dance.
'All of the flags being waved in the U.S. is not enough,' Djenane St. Fleur, the vice president of the Haitian American Chamber in Broward, said. 'We need to do more, we need to be more focused and be more impactful and...we're doing the same thing, the dancing, the food, but we need to be impactful.'
Staying home this year
Haitians have tried to bring out the joy this month, from art galleries to children's readings to galas. But community leaders and event organizers acknowledge that a lot of people are not going out.
For some its economic, while for others it's fears of immigration raids, whether real or rumored in the world of social media postings.
The month's biggest event, the Haitian Compas Festival, for example, downsized to a smaller venue this year from Bayfront Park to The NoMi Village in North Miami. Ticket pre-sales failed to take off and regular attendees began canceling over fears of traveling to Florida, some say.
Still, some made the trip anyway for the celebration of Haitian music and culture on Saturday. Delphine Moss, 30, who lives in Paris, has been vacationing in Orlando since the end of April. She made the trip down to Miami for Compas Fest, she said, in order to soak in the culture.
'I love Haitian Flag Day and I love the culture,' said Moss, who was born in France of Haitian descent.
'Haitian Flag Day is a powerful reminder of who we are as a people — resilient, proud and rooted in the fight for freedom,' North Miami Mayor Alix Desulme said, noting that his city has sponsored a multitude of events to celebrate this month.
As both mayor and a Haitian American, Desulme said he hears his residents' concerns about the immigration crackdown and feels their frustrations over what's unfolding back home in Haiti. His own family hails from Arcahaie, where once again the Haitian government will not be able to travel to celebrate Flag Day because of gangs' control of roads.
'The political instability, the violence, and the lack of basic resources are devastating and what's more painful is the lack of coordinated support from the international community, especially from the United States,' Desulme said about Haiti.
But even with the challenges facing Haiti, Desulme said he shares the hope that Haitians will come together 'not just in celebration of our flag, but in a renewed commitment to advocate for our people both here and back in Haiti.'