Haiti’s current state of instability gave Democratic Rep. Marie Woodson little to cheer about during Haitian Heritage Month as the Hollywood, Fla., legislator searched for how to quell the unrest so it will be possible to visit her native country once again.
Gang violence shut down the country’s airports for three weeks starting in March and regularly scheduled flights have yet to resume beyond a handful of departures. The situation has Woodson desperate to tap into the wisdom of Gen Z about possible solutions that could heal the chaos-torn country and raise awareness of its history as the first independent Black republic in the world, the first independent state in the Caribbean and the second independent state in the Western Hemisphere after the United States.
Gen Z “is a completely different generation … who have been exposed to so much more,” Woodson said. “I truly believe that they might have some ideas and recommendations. And I want to give them a platform where they can share that. And maybe, hey, who knows? One of them might come up with a solution that might work.”
She, with multimedia journalist Tania Francois, CBS News Miami and executive producer of “Impacting Communities,” held a “Conversation with Gen Z on Haiti” Tuesday night at the South Regional Broward College Library in Pembroke Pines. Youth ages of 17-27 were encouraged to attend.
Woodson, who left Haiti in the 1980s because she felt the country’s political corruption limited her options, said she wouldn’t feel right celebrating anything about her homeland right now.
Seeing a roomful of Haitians listening to the Queen of Haitian Song, Emeline Michel, perform at Miramar Cultural Center last Friday, had her thinking about what could have been if people like her hadn’t left.
“We are contributing to all levels of the United States of America,” Woodson said. “We are in public office. We are doctors. We have lawyers. We are teachers. We clean the hotels. We have nurses … Just think if we could have been in our country doing what we are doing here – God knows Haiti would have a different face.”
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