Ayiti: The Awakening Opens Our Eyes to Haitian History
When I met Sage Love, we were gathered in an intimate discussion led by The August Project on the progress and development of Haiti following the catastrophic 2010 earthquake. There, Sage shared his thoughts on working against developing a “savior complex” by listening to the people in Haiti instead of thinking we know how to help them. Points were made during that conversation and absolutely so in his film – Ayiti The Awakening.
Ayiti: the Awakening is a film by Sage Love from Brooklyn, New York. Haiti’s rich culture can be felt throughout the 30 minute film with the featured music, garb, movements, and spiritual elements included in the film. The film revisits the impact the earthquake had on our beloved Ayiti along with the robbery of the funds that were raised to provide relief. It also shows the moments before the “most spiritually fulfilling experience” Sage has had as he visited the home of his great-great grandfather, Jean-Jacques Dessalines. Yes THE Jean-Jacques Dessalines! Dessalines is one of four Founding Fathers of Ayiti. He is who declared us an independent nation on January 1, 1804.
Throughout this film, native Haitians and those of the Haitian Diaspora shared their accounts and thoughts concerning the “awakening” of Ayiti. One commentary that stood out to me was led by Ayitian historian Jean Masseau Nerolien who made reference to the origins of our black and red flag Ayitian flag. Our current flag is similar to the French flag with its red/white/blue colors. Nerolien believes keeping these colors means we’ve turned our back on our ancestors and are ungrateful. “Its like we reward France for torturing us when we were enslaved.” He claims for true freedom, we must return to our original flag, the red and black vertical flag founded by Dessalines himself. Imagine if all Haiti’s problems could be solved with the change of the flag!? It could all be so simple.
The Awakening shows the humanity of Haiti while giving an authentic view into our beloved land. I would love to see more films like this. It’s our responsibility [the Haitian Diaspora] to open the eyes of those who still don’t understand who we are as Haitians and where we’re rebuilding from. Most recently, Ayiti: The Awakening won 2020 ”Karen Owes Short Documentary Film Festival Award” by the Kwanzaa Film Festival, and “Best Diaspora Documentary Short” at the Silicon Valley African Film Festival so thankfully we’re on our way. Thank you to Sage Love for allowing me to review this great project! Watch this film here, and stay updated with his work here.
Thanks for reading!