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"I only want the brave to stay with me. Those who wish to become once again French slaves can make their way out of this fort. Those on the contrary who wish to die as free men may take their place around me" -- Jean Jacques Dessalines, Haiti's founding father, speaking at Crête-à-Pierrot, March 11, 1802

See also, Jean Jacques Dessalines His ideals, what he stood for, the women who influenced him, his legacy remembered on Sept. 20th, his birthday; The Story of Janjak- the greatest hero to ever lived and Kouwòn pou Defile by Michel Sanon.

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When Napoleon's general Leclerc ordered Henri Christophe of Haiti to surrender Cap Haitian. General Christophe, following the orders of Toussaint declared: "We will not surrender until it is reduced to ashes and even on the ashes, we will continue to fight."

The Haitians did not surrender. They faced down a European armada- 50,000 French soldiers with US support, arms, an embargo and navy blockade against them.

Today, the sell-out Haiti Diaspora, like those who came in the warships with Leclerc's army, are at the UN or with the NGOs, the Oligarchy and the technocrats. Two million people are living homeless on the ashes of Port au Prince. Clinton has so many titles in Haiti no one can keep up. But still, we will not surrender. Even on these ashes, we continue to fight for freedom.

Right now we're at Crête-à-Pierrot.*

The indigenous soldiers of Haiti, at home and abroad are outgunned and outnumbered.

You know how the story ends! Before Dessalines had returned with
reinforcements, the indigenous soldiers, led by husband and wife -Mari-Jann and Commander Lamartinière, running out of water, food and supplies, made a way out of no way to escape to safety by one the most brilliant military maneuvering acts of courage during the struggle for freedom and independence by the people of Ayiti.

Are you brave enough to stand with the indigenous of Haiti? How deep is your rage? Shall we eternally be the history of rape on this planet? Or, continue to fight, even on these ashes?

Ezili Dantò of HLLN
Sept. 24, 2010
For HLLN's FreeHaitiMovement - Dessalines is Rising, September 20th to Oct. 17th commemorations

_{Mari-Jann and Lamartinière at Crête-à-Pierrot}

*12,000 French soldiers outgunned and outnumbered 1,000 from Haiti's indigenous army, on the bloody days at the famous and decisive battle of Crête-à-Pierrot. The Haitians left behind the white prisoners and their wounded. Showing no similar honor, the French proceeded to massacre all the wounded Haitians who had to be left behind when the Haitian troops escaped the seige.

"Neocolonialism in Haiti started with the assassination of Haiti’s founding father, Jean Jacques Dessalines in 1806 and the treacherous Petion/Boyer reigns. The free mulatto Affranchis, educated in military schools in France, would forbid the name of Haiti’s founding father to be spoken for 42-years during their reign where French ecclesiastic colonialism took hold in haiti. As the Black generals and Haiti’s indigenous army were destroying Leclerc’s French army, the capricious Alexander Petion, for survival reasons, (notably after Dessalines’ show-of-force victory against Leclerc’s French army at Crête-à-Pierrot in March 1802, et al) secretly came together, on October 12, 1802, with Dessalines at Arcahaie to support Haiti’s Black indigenous army’s cause. But this was only after Leclerc’s betrayal and capture of General Toussaint Louverture and Toussaint’s forcible deportation (to die at Fort de Joux in France’s Jura mountains in 1803)." - Excerpted from, The Haitian union forged at Bwa Kayiman is the Unity That's Never Wavered

I am the History of Rape by Ezili Dantò of HLLN

Video: A Black Woman’s Smile by Gray El: Spoken Word

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Three ideals of Jean Jacques Dessalines, Haiti's founding father: 1. All Haitians shall hence forward be known only by the generic appellation of Blacks.

2. Self-Defense is a human right. "I have avenged America" - the name “Ayiti” means ancient sacred highland and is both a Black and Taino term.

3. Ayiti shall be a Black-ruled Independent nation

(See, Three Ideals of Dessalines, Dessalines' Law and, Haiti Rejects Bourgeois Democracy.)

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What's in a name?
Some names horrify enslavers, tyrants and despots, everywhere.....

Triumphant and proud, free and sovereign. Not humbled by the enslavers lash nor beaten by the greatest armies of his time. He left this legacy to us. He said:

“Recall everything I have sacrificed to fly to your defense - relatives, children, wealth, so that now the only riches I possess is your freedom. Recall that my name horrifies all those who are enslavers, and that tyrants and despots everywhere only bring themselves to utter it when they curse the day I was born. Remember, if you should ever discard or forget the law that the God who watches over your well being has dictated to me for your happiness, you will deserve the fate that inures to ungrateful peoples. "
--Jean Jacques Dessalines, Haitian Act of Independence, January 1, 1804

(Translation by Ezili Dantò for HLLN's FreeHaitiMovement - Dessalines is Rising, Oct. 17th commemorations .)
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French version:
"..rappelle-toi que j’ai tout sacrifié pour voler à ta défense, parents, enfants, fortune, et que maintenant je ne suis riche que de ta liberté; que mon nom est devenu en horreur à tous les peuples qui veulent l’esclavage, et que les despotes et les tyrans ne le prononcent qu’en maudissant le jour qui m’a vu naître ; et si jamais tu refusais ou recevais en murmurant les lois que le génie qui veille à tes destinées me dictera pour ton bonheur, tu mériteras le sort des peuples ingrats."

MORE BACKGROUND LINKS:

Jean Jacques Dessalines - The women who influenced him, his ideals and legacy remembered (born, September 20, 1758, assassinated Oct. 17, 1806)

"I HAVE AVENGED AMERICA" - Jean Jacques Dessalines

The Story of Janjak: The Greatest Hero who ever Lived

Three Ideals of Dessalines

Dessalines' Law

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Haiti's First Declaration of Independence

Vodun Konbit and Vodun Lakou

October 17, 2009 - Haiti's Holocaust and Middle Passage Continues

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They made us know the way to jail / Shut us in their concentration camps / But we have not lost sight of our goal / We are a people of resistance / Slavery, occupation, nothing has broken us / We have slipped through every trap / We are a people of resistance" --Annette Auguste (Sò Ann)