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Saturday, July 21, 2012

I'm African, but the little kids at the orphanage in Haiti call me blanc because I'm a foreigner. How do I say "I'm not white. I'm black like you"?

I find this a little funny :)

Are you light-skinned?
You know, my brother's barber of more than 17 years is nicknamed 'blan'.  He's not white.  He's 100% Haitian with just a little lighter skin than me.  All his clients, including me, call him 'blan'.  I don't even know his real name.  And I know of at least two more Haitians nicknamed 'blan' because of their light skin.
I also know of two Haitians women nicknamed 'grimèl' after their light skin.  And it doesn't stop there.  Scores of Haitians I know are nicknamed after a physical feature that they have (and I'm pretty sure this doesn't just happen in Haiti).  We Haitians can be so politically incorrect :)

So, if you are light-skinned, it might not be a 'foreigner' issue, it might be a skin color issue.
I hope telling the kids that might help them to see you as a "moun nwa", but they might not see it that way.

I'm not white.  I'm black like you.
Mwen pa blan.  Mwen se yon moun nwa menm jan avè w.

1 comment:

  1. Hahaha! Yes, you are right, I am light-skinned. The American orphanage director told me that the kids call all the foreigners that (but since most of the foreigners are white I guess that's why he thought it was a foreign thing). LOL! Thanks for the clarification :)

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