Quotessence
Home / Authors / Edwidge Danticat
Edwidge Danticat

Edwidge Danticat Quotes

Author

Filter quotes by topic

AllPeopleHaitiWritingIfsThinkingDeathSometimesSaidBookHaitianKnowsWayChildrenStoriesYearsCountryGriefLossMourningTrying

Famous Edwidge Danticat Quotes

“One of the things that sparked my interest in this is the case of Emmanuel Constant, who started a militia called FRAPH that was backed by the CIA. FRAPH killed thousands of Haitians in the early 1990s. Now while Constant is living comfortably in Queens, other Haitians are being deported. I wanted to see how those who have been bruised by people like that deal with coming face to face with their torturers.”

PeopleHas BeensWantedFacesInterestDealsCasesConstantQueensCiaFace To FaceMilitiaBruisedEmmanuelLiving Comfortably
Author:Edwidge Danticat
Create image

“We still have our people working in the cane fields in the Dominican Republic. People are still repatriated all the time from the Dominican Republic to Haiti. Some tell of being taken off buses because they looked Haitian, and their families have been in the Dominican Republic for generations. Haitian children born in the Dominican Republic still can't go to school and are forced to work in the sugarcane fields.”

PeopleChildrenHas BeensStillsSchoolBornTakenGenerationsFieldsRepublicBusHaitiHaitianDominican Republic
Author:Edwidge Danticat
Create image

“The whole military structure in Haiti that existed until the early 1990s was put in place by the American occupation. At the top there were Southern white officers, who led an army that crushed the indigenous resistance - the cacos. A high-ranking U.S. officer said when he arrived, "To think these niggers speak French!" Later, Haitian officers attended the notorious School of the Americas at Fort Benning. The threat from the U.S. is something that is always hanging over people's heads: If we don't behave, we'll have occupation again.”

PeopleIfsThinkingSaidWholeSchoolSpeakWhiteMilitaryArmyStructureThreatResistanceBehaveOccupationOfficersSouthernIndigenousCrushedHaitiNotoriousRankingFortsHaitianSpeaks French
Author:Edwidge Danticat
Create image

“When people think about this religion, they'll say "voodoo" this and "voodoo" that in the way the Hollywood movies show it: the sticking of pins in dolls. It's very different than Vodou - which is a religion that comes to Haiti from our ancestors in Africa. I want to differentiate it from the stereotypical, sensationalized view that we see of the religion.”

PeopleThinkingWayWantDifferentShowsViewsHollywoodAncestorPinsDollsHaitiDifferentiateHollywood MoviesVoodoo
Author:Edwidge Danticat
Create image

“It seemed from the media that we were being told that all Haitians had AIDS. At the time, I had just come from Haiti. I was twelve years old, and the building I was living in had primarily Haitians. A lot of people got fired from their jobs. At school, sometimes in gym class, we'd be separated because teachers were worried about what would happen if we bled. So there was really this intense discrimination.”

PeopleIfsYearsSometimesHappensSchoolJobsClassTeacherMediaBuildingAidsDiscriminationIntenseWorriedGymTwelveHaitiGym Class
Author:Edwidge Danticat
Create image

“The justification - the idea that we have a right to invade another country and determine another people's destiny - is frightening. And I fear really for the future of that occupation. What happens now, and twenty years from now, and forty years from now, given our case? People in the United States may feel like when we don't see it on CNN twenty-four hours a day, it sort of disappears. But it doesn't disappear for the people who have to live under occupation - and their children and their children's children.”

PeopleFeelsYearsMayChildrenIdeasCountryStatesHappensGivenHoursUnitedDestinyCasesUnited StatesFourTwentiesDetermineDisappearFortyOccupationFrighteningJustificationCnn
Author:Edwidge Danticat
Create image

“After the Dance was my first attempt at nonfiction. I'd never really participated in carnival, and I really wanted to go. It sounded like a wonderfully fun thing to do. And I wanted to write something happy about Haiti, something celebratory. And going to carnival gave me a chance to do that, because it is one of the instances in Haiti when people shed their class separation and come together.”

PeopleWritingFirstsWantedTogetherFunChanceClassSeparationInstanceThings To DoNonfictionShedHaitiFun ThingsCarnivals
Author:Edwidge Danticat
Create image

“Often when you're an immigrant writing in English, people think it's primarily a commercial choice. But for many of us, it's a choice that rises out of the circumstances of our lives. These are the tools I have at my disposal, based on my experiences. It's a constant debate, not just in my community but in other communities as well. Where do you belong? You're kind of one of us, but you now write in a different language.”

PeopleThinkingWritingKindDifferentChoicesLanguageCommunityCircumstancesDebate
Author:Edwidge Danticat
Create image

“It's not a matter of whether the reviews of your books are good or bad, it's about being taken seriously, both as a woman writer and as a writer of color. Also, it worries me when people point to a couple of women writers or writers of color who get some attention - and I am sometimes pulled into that category - to prove that others are getting a fair shot. It's like those people who keep saying that racism no longer exists in this country because Barack Obama was a President of the United States.”

PeopleBookCountrySometimesPresidentAttentionWorryTakenCoupleProveRacismBarack
Author:Edwidge Danticat
Create image

“We all have a tendency to over generalize our individual experiences. After I've published something, I'll meet someone who says, "I'm Haitian, and I don't know this, so it must not be true." Even if we're talking about a work of fiction. I've gotten very angry myself reading many things about Haiti. We're not a monolithic group; no group is. Also, it's important to keep in mind the genre in which we are writing. Fiction is full of invented stories about exceptional people in exceptional situations. Those situations are not always cheery or celebratory.”

PeopleWritingMindImportantReadingIndividualSituationBeing TrueExceptionalHaitian
Author:Edwidge Danticat
Create image