This post will update as each podcast is published.
A 12‑Week Journey Into the Unseen, the Unspoken, and the Misunderstood
Fridays · June 12 — August 28, 2026
7:30 PM · Radyo Konpa WLQY 1320 AM (South Florida)
8:00 PM · Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2571746
This summer, we're going deeper than the headlines, deeper than politics, deeper than clichés. For 12 weeks, we peel back the layers of Haitian history, identity, psychology, and survival.
Three months. Twelve Fridays. On Haitian Soul.
MONTH 1 — Hidden Lives of Haitian Icons
Stories behind the legends. The human behind the hero.
Week 1 · June 12 — Sins of Haiti: Dared to Be Free (Part 1)
A look at the moment Haiti committed the “crime” of freedom.Already published.
In this powerful opening episode of the Summer 2026: Under the Haitian Skin series, we begin a 12‑week journey into the unseen, the unspoken, and the deeply misunderstood layers of Haitian history. The Sins of Haiti: Dared to Be Free revisits the moment Haiti committed what the world once treated as an unforgivable crime: the audacity to claim freedom. Told entirely in Haitian Creole, with transcripts available for translation and accessible to listeners with intermediate Creole proficiency, this 30‑minute episode blends poetic narration, humor, and historical truth as Souvni and Valentin guide us from the arrival of Columbus to the rise of a revolutionary people who refused to break. This summer, from June 12 to August 28, join us every Friday at 8 PM as we peel back the layers of identity, psychology, survival, and spirit that live under the Haitian skin. Listen on the podcast at https://www.buzzsprout.com/2571746 and visit our Page for English summaries and additional insights.
Week 2 · June 19 — Sins of Haiti: Punished for Freedom (Part 2)
The price Haiti paid, and still pays, for daring to be first.Already published
There are moments in history when a nation stands so boldly in its truth that the world cannot ignore it. Haiti’s independence in 1804 was one of those moments. A nation of formerly enslaved Africans rose up, defeated the greatest military powers of their time, and declared to the world that they were human and free. It was a declaration that shook the foundations of every empire built on slavery.
But instead of celebration, Haiti received silence. Instead of recognition, it received punishment and isolation. This is where Part 2 of our series, The Sins of Haiti: Punished for Freedom, begins.
In this episode, Souvni and Valentin explore the global backlash that followed Haiti’s victory. Haiti was not punished because it failed. Haiti was punished because it succeeded. Because it dared to do what no enslaved population had ever done. Because it shattered the economic backbone of empires. Because it threatened the idea that slavery was permanent and necessary.
France returned with warships and demanded “reparations” for losing enslaved people. The United States refused to recognize Haiti for decades, terrified that the flame of Black freedom would spread to its own shores. European nations closed their ports, blocked trade, and treated Haiti like a contagion. Haiti became the world’s forbidden experiment, a free Black republic that had to be quarantined.
When Haiti refused to collapse, the punishment intensified. The U.S. Marines invaded in 1915, seized Haiti’s gold reserves, and installed an occupation that disrespected Haitian culture, religion, and humanity. They mocked the Haitian's religion. They restricted speech and assembly. They imposed their ideology while exploiting Haitian labor and resources. They did not understand the people they occupied, and they did not care to.
And when they were done, they wrote the story. They spread lies portraying Haiti as cursed, chaotic, and incapable of self-governance. They erased their own role in the destruction and blamed the victim. They created a narrative that still shapes global perceptions of Haiti today.
This episode exposes the hypocrisy, the racism, the economic sabotage, and the political games that shaped Haiti’s image. Through humor, storytelling, and historical truth, Souvni and Valentin remind us that Haiti’s struggle was never about incompetence. It was about punishment, power, and a world that could not accept Black freedom without trying to crush it.
Yet despite everything, Haiti survived. Haiti endured. Haiti remained Haiti. And that is the miracle the world never expected.
Follow the Tiktòk reel for week 2
Visit our English Companion page for more insights on Week 2
La Famille Pòt — Celebrating Freedom Without Thomas Jefferson
Through laughter and satire, the family exposes the hypocrisy of nations that feared a free Black republic. And they celebrate anyway, with griyo, kleren, and pride
To balance the weight of history, this week’s skit brings humor to the truth. The Pòt family prepares a grand Independence Day celebration and invites nations from around the world. One by one, the powerful countries decline, or pretend Haiti does not exist. Thomas Jefferson cannot find Haiti on his globe. France stays silent. Other nations hide behind excuses.
Week 3 · June 26 — A Day in the Life of Jean Jacques Dessalines
Not the emperor — the man.There are moments in history when a name becomes more than a name. It becomes a mirror, or maybe a burden, and even a warning. For Haiti, that name is Jean‑Jacques Dessalines.
In Week 3 of our Summer 2026 series, Under the Haitian Skin, we step into a single day in the life of the man the world thinks it knows, but rarely understands. This episode is not about the myth, the propaganda, or the caricature. It is about the human being who lived beneath the uniform, legend, and the fear others projected onto him. Dessalines was not born with a sword in his hand. He was born in chains. He grew up breathing the smoke of burning cane fields, listening to the screams of people who looked like him, carrying the weight of a world that told him he had no value. The scars on his chest were not medals of war, they were the handwriting of a system that tried to erase him before he ever had a chance to exist. And yet, he rose.
In this week’s episode, Souvni and Valentin walk us through the emotional truth behind Dessalines’ life. We look at the truth that history books often skip. We explore the psychological scars he carried, the betrayals that shaped his distrust, and the propaganda that turned a liberator into a villain in foreign eyes. We also meet the man behind the fire, the one who found tenderness in Marie‑Claire Heureuse, the one who carried the voices of the dead in his dreams, the one who woke up every morning with the weight of a nation on his shoulders.
Dessalines was not a monster. He was a survivor. And survival has a language of its own. To lighten the heaviness, this week’s episode ends with a new chapter of La Famille Pòt, where Tika paints Dessalines with three faces. What begins as a family joke becomes a moment of revelation: a man who lived through fire cannot have just one face.
This is the heart of Week 3. To understand Haiti, you must understand Dessalines. To understand Dessalines, you must understand the world that made him. And to understand that world, you must be willing to look beneath the skin, the smoke, the scars, and the silence.
Join us for this powerful journey into the soul of a man who refused to die in chains, and the nation that carries his shadow, his courage, and his contradictions.
Week 4 · July 3 — January 1st, 1804: The Night After Freedom
What happens the day after the impossible becomes real?After the roar of cannons and the silence of victory, Haiti woke to its first morning of freedom. Souvni on the Mike takes listeners inside that dawn, the moment when the enslaved rose expecting the bell, the whip, the command, and found only quiet. Souvni and Valentin explore how that silence became the sound of rebirth. Elders faced the weight of rebuilding, youth wrestled with identity, and women carried the nation forward with care, love, and soup joumou, the forbidden dish turned symbol of liberation.
The episode closes with La Famille Pòt in a comic echo of history. Ovila storms the market for the last squash, defending her right to make soup joumou for her family. When she learns there’s no oxtail left, she vows to fight again. Through laughter and memory, the show reminds us that freedom is not just a date in history but a daily act of courage, persistence, and joy.
MONTH 2 — The Haitian Condition
Migration, identity, survival, and the psychology of a people who refuse to break.
Week 5 · July 10 — The Sh@#!thole Generation
A raw look at the generation raised under global disrespect.Week 6 · July 17 — A Deportation Journey
A story told backwards: from arrival to the moment everything changed.Week 7 · July 24 — Where Do Doctors in Haiti Go for Healthcare?
A window into class, trust, and survival.Week 8 · July 31 — The Haitian Immigrant Blueprint
The unwritten rules every Haitian carries.
MONTH 3 — Behind the Scenes of Haitian Society
The people, forces, and spiritual logic that keep Haiti alive.
Week 9 · August 7 — The People Who Make Haitian History Without Being in the History Books
The invisible pillars of the nation.Week 10 · August 14 — The Psychology of Haitian Pride
Why we brag, why we hide, why we survive.Week 11 · August 21 — Haitian Spirituality: The Real National Language
The logic beneath the religion.Week 12 · August 28 — Haiti Under Our Skin: Season Finale
A closing reflection on who we are, who we’ve been, and who we’re becoming.
FEEL HAITI. UNDER THE SKIN.
This summer, don’t just listen to Haiti — come feel Haiti.
Scotland played Haiti in the 2026 World Cup. I hope Haiti grows economically and peace wise.
ReplyDeleteWe wish our team well into the next game with Morocco on June 24th.
ReplyDelete