"Antigang"
A Poem By Johnson Aristide
Translated by Mambo Racine Sans Bout
Copyright 1994, all rights reserved
No reproduction without permission of author or translator.
Johnson Aristide, no relation to former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, is a
pro-democracy activist, journalist, and poet presently living in Port-au-Prince. He is also leader of
the Organisation Soleil de la Justice Pour la Liberation du Peuple Haitien, the "Organization
Sun of Justice for the Liberation of the Haitian People". During the military regime of
1991-1994, he was twice arrested and once kidnapped. All three times, he was brutally beaten and
tortured. During one episode of torture at the infamous "Antigang", a police station adjacent to
the National Palace, he kept himself from going insane from pain by composing the following
poem in his mind.
Johnson Aristide remains politically active, and is participating in the campaign for the return of
documents confiscated by the U.S. military from the Port-au-Prince office of FRAPH, a
neo-Duvalierist paramilitary terrorist organization which was active during the Cedras regime.
The
documents name prominent American supporters of the military regime, and include trophy
photos of torture victims.
Johnson is presently completing work on a book of poetry and prose, written in French, Haitian
Creole, Spanish, and English.
ANTIGANG
by Johnson Aristide
Antigang sun of death,
Life would flourish in a transparent globe,
If it wasn't for you.
Look how the nightengale doesn't sing anymore.
Antigang you are neighborhood guys,
Stop drinking tears from the people's eyes.
Master Midnight and Cemetery* ask you to have mercy,
The little birds have no tears left any more.
Antigang you are black African men too.
God's sun shines on you.
There should be no slaves any more!
Now there's no more cord left to tie up our bellies when we cry.
Life turns into hell for us,
Hell turns into paradise for you.
Antigang takes a little cocaine,
To lose it's conscience and morals,
In that hour it becomes King Lucifer,
In the house of the Iron Rose**,
What you hear is all the families screaming.
Antigang the butterfly doesn't carry news down here anymore.
The butterfly is in prison because it's news is the truth,
One day she'll be freed, news lovers will hear the news,
The truth will spread, and then all the victims will have justice.
Antigang how many little birds ribcages have you squashed already?
How many zombi souls have you already hidden in your strongbox?
The rain will fall, it will carry salt, the zombis will taste it and wake
up!
The flood will come down,
And they will say Antigang, behold your reward...
(Jacmel, March 1994)
*Master Midnight is a type of spiritual entity called by some a djab.
Cemetery (Cimitiere) is a Vodou lwa.
** The House of the Iron Rose, Kay Wozanfe in Creole, is a famous secret society temple near Grand Goave.
For testimony by Johnson Aristide recounting the events of one of his incarcerations, see Testimony of a Haitian Pro-Democracy Activist. For information on
current cases of human rights violations committed against Haitians in Haiti and in the United
States, see Human Rights Watch: Haiti.
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