MrsChaddie - Bonjou! This was posted on Facebook by some of my Haitian friends. Can you help me understand it and the cultural feelings behind it? Un nègre riche est un mulâtre et un mulâtre pauvre est un nègre Mesi e Bon Fet Drapo!

Hi MrsChaddie, It actually says: 'A rich negro is a mulatto and a poor mulatto is a negro.'  It's an idiom from way back, when there where different social classes in Haiti based on the percentage of black blood running  in one's vein.

This idiom mainly states that Wealth is important, or Money talks.  Or you can even translate it as:  Money is power (in Haitian colonial times of course).