A few highlights from the Q&A with Pras Michel and cohosted with Cathy Lee Jones:
Pras: Human existence is all about hope. That’s why we get up every morning, because we believe that the next day is going to get better. Right? Whatever you believe in. If you don’t have that then there’s no need to get up. I think the Haitians, in regards to Sweet Mickey, they knew he was dancing around with the diapers and that he’s kind of a clown, but they believed that maybe he was going to bring change. And change can just be the fact that who they wanted to vote for got respected. To them, that’s enough of a change.
Q: Has he brought change?
Pras: Not the kind of change that at least I would have hoped for. But, I‘m one of those people who is always looking on the bright side and I think the bright side is that their vote was counting and he lasted for four years. Because normally in Haiti, if they don’t like that they’re doing, you’re out. Exiled.
Jones: Explain that to them, because a lot of people in America don’t know how you can be actually elected and then during your tenure you can be kicked out?
Pras: Well it’s not really getting kicked out. I mean, that’s how Haitians are. See, democracy is something that Haiti first got in 1990, that’s when they elected the first democratic president. So, whenever you take that democracy and you dump it on a society that’s not used to it, it takes them awhile. It’s like feeding a baby. You can’t feed them a steak, right? You’ve got to chop the steak down and give them little pieces. What happened in Haiti before was that they were like ‘we don’t like this guy’! Exiled. But at least now they’re starting to say, ‘Ok, we voted for him, he might not be exactly what we thought, but we’ve got to deal with it and make our change on the next election’.
Q: I would just like to know, what is your next venture? You did the documentary on the homelessness on skid row, and how Haiti? What’s next?
Pras: I’m one of those people that believe that I am so tremendously blessed. I believe in that. So I try to use, minus all the spotlight, my situation to try and help. I think people in America, the things we complain about- it’s because we have luxury. I call it a luxury of complaints. You go outside of America and you’re like, wow.
-Allison Manolis
