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Notes from America with Kai Wright

Wash. Rinse. Repeat. Haiti and International Aid

Notes from America with Kai Wright

WNYC Studios

News Commentary, Politics, History, News

4.41.5K Ratings

🗓️ 23 August 2021

⏱️ 51 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Haiti’s recent tragedies revive a conversation about disaster, aid, and how people recover. Then, a discussion about perspective on the 30th anniversary of the Crown Heights riots. After a 7.2 magnitude earthquake rocked Haiti’s southwestern region, many of us were left wondering -- what does it mean to best support Haiti through disaster? And if the global community has donated so much humanitarian aid to prevent devastation, why does it keep happening? Is Haiti cursed? Guest host Nadege Green confronts history, anti-blackness and the way forward with Dr. Marlene Daut, professor and Associate Director of the Carter G. Woodson Institute for African American and African Studies at the University of Virginia. Listen as they explore the origins of Haiti’s image as a “cursed” country and how that image is rooted in anti-blackness. Then, we turn to a conversation with playwright Anna Deveare Smith about the unrest that gripped Crown Heights, Brooklyn almost 30 years ago. How are social narratives shaped, and can we benefit from a shared one that celebrates difference? Companion listening for this episode: Collective Loss, Collective Care We’re looking back at a year with Covid-19 to reflect on our tremendous losses and the remarkable ways communities have come together to take care of themselves. Blackness (Un)interrupted Our Future of Black History series concludes with conversations about self-expression. Because when you carry a collective history in your identity, it can be hard to find yourself. “The United States of Anxiety” airs live on Sunday evenings at 6pm ET. The podcast episodes are lightly edited from our live broadcasts. To catch all the action, tune into the show on Sunday nights via the stream on WNYC.org/anxiety or tell your smart speakers to play WNYC. We want to hear from you! Connect with us on Twitter @WNYC using the hashtag #USofAnxiety or email us at [email protected].

Transcript

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0:00.0

This is the United States of Anxiety, a show about the unfinished business of our history and its grip on our future.

0:08.0

Developing right now destruction and death in Haiti.

0:10.0

After one of the most powerful earthquakes this country has ever seen.

0:14.0

Among the crowds were slogans against the United States and the United Nations,

0:19.0

accused of supporting the ruling power. In Haiti, it appears death is never too far away.

0:29.0

Union for the force. In Union, there is strength and Laura Haitians will need that strength more than ever in the days and weeks ahead

0:40.6

they got together and swore a pact to the devil.

0:44.0

They set the way for everybody to be free.

0:47.0

They did not believe because of the color of the skin

0:49.0

they should be slave of somebody else.

1:01.0

Welcome to the show. I'm Nadeh Green filling in for Kai who's out this week. Many of us are still reeling from the surge of headlines and crisis

1:04.3

coming from all across the world. The Taliban has taken control of Afghanistan and

1:08.8

Haiti is reeling from a catastrophic earthquake, political instability,

1:13.3

and recent rainfall from Tropical Storm Grace

1:16.0

that left a flurry of flash floods in its wake.

1:18.9

Headlines demand our attention,

1:20.7

but in this hour we also take some time to consider news events from 30 years ago.

1:25.0

Ka sat down with MacArthur Genius and actress playwright Anna Devir Smith to talk about Crown Heights and her play fires in the mirror. But first, we're going to stay with

1:36.3

Haiti for a bit and really unpack the reality of what it means to help. From its founding in 1804, Haiti bears the honor of being the only Black

1:45.2

Republic created from a successful slave revolt that freed all enslaved people

1:50.4

in the country. Haiti has also experienced its share of political and

1:54.4

weather-related disasters. We've been here before. In 2010, an earthquake struck

...

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