Posted on by Californiacontrarian

In Haitian Creole … “Nap Vini”

I would guess that just about everyone is familiar with Don McLean’s song, American Pie, which was initially released back in 1971. 

It starts out:

“A long, long time ago

I can still remember how that music

Used to make me smile”

Those lyrics reminded me of an caper of sorts that some friends, my wife, and myself mischievously carried out many years ago. Back then we were young and adventurous, and we snuck into a wedding reception. Who were the bride and groom? We had no idea. All we knew was that we heard good music, people were dancing, and the door was open. Now we did not partake of any of the food and drink, but rather took advantage of the open door, and figured, “What the heck!”

How could this “open door antic” of many years ago have any relevance to today’s world? Think about the classic line from Field of Dreams … “If you built it, they will come,” and transition to “if the door is open, they will come.” That is what happened with our reception caper, and that is what is happening now at our southern border. The border is open and the Haitians are coming.

For those of you not geographically inclined, it is an extremely long way from Haiti to our southern border. How did these thousands of people get here from Haiti? What are the possibilities?

By air? Although possible, unlikely as we would be talking about hundreds of airplane journeys from Haiti to accommodate all of these people. Who could be financing these air trips?

By sea? Again extremely unlikely as they would first have to be transported by boat from Haiti to the Yucatán  Peninsula, as they certainly did not swim. From there they would have to walk to the southern Texas border. While the walking part is possible, who could be financing these boat trips?

The third possibility is that they did not come from Haiti. By this I mean that they did not come directly from Haiti. Impossible, you say. However there is one striking piece of evidence to support this thesis … many of “these Haitians” are speaking Spanish, and most Haitians who live in Haiti speak Haitian Creole or French.

As background, most of us are at least tangentially aware of Haiti’s long-standing problems and natural disasters. 

According to Townhall:

“Many Haitians have left the country and settled in other countries in Central and South America, especially Brazil and Chile. Other evidence that the majority of Haitians are not coming directly from Haiti are the discarded identification documents found on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande. The reason Haitian migrants discard their ID cards on the Mexican side is to obscure from asylum reviewers that they were already safely and prosperously situated for years and years before coming for the American upgrade.”

So here it looks like these “we used to be Haitians” are now singing their own rendition of that Don McLean classic in multiple languages … “Hi, hi, American Pie.” As with our dancing caper, if we strain our ears at the border we hear from those few who still speak Haitian Creole, “Nap Vini!” (“we will come!”)

9/25/21

www.californiacontrarian.com

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