Potsua to the moon, Merci, Pierre Vernier, Pou' nous arrivons à second annual Haitian Flag Day in Nourish Al. This is becoming a quick tradition. Nous sommes à Saint-Nouapile, pour son cornet, nous fait un pil, et pour le nouivilar, à Saint-Cur, donc merci its contributions. It's not just to New Rochelle, but in particular honoring the people who have been here today. Thank you, Maryam. And I'm very excited to celebrate the Haitian community and its contributions. It's not just to New Rochelle, but in particular honoring the people who have been here today. Thank you, Maryam. And I'm very excited to celebrate the Haitian community and its contributions. Thank you, Maryam and Bon Swat to everyone here this evening. Just really excited to celebrate the Haitian community and its contributions, not just to New Rochelle, but in particular honoring the resilience, heritage, and achievements of the Haitian community, recognizing the legacy of the world's first black republic and its impact on global freedom and justice. City of New Rochelle is also proud to recognize May 18th as Haitian flag day in addition to celebrating Haitian Heritage Month, acknowledging the history, culture, and accomplishments of the Haitian people. I know I'm joined here by my colleague, Councilman David Peters, and Councilman Bernstein-Austrean-Austrean-Loye, and we're just thrilled to be a part of a city that on and on. Oh. And representing Shelley Mayer's office, Christine, It's the... Peace and peace. And just grateful, really, to have such diverse representation. But also, I know we're happy to celebrate all of the diversity of New Rochelle. It's what makes it strong, it's what makes it fun. And it's always great to learn from others. So, really happy to be here, happy to offer this proclamation on behalf of the Haitian community in New Rochelle. And I think next up is our city-aid manager, Oman Lendez. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you to our staff for putting this together. It's a lot of work that goes into it. And they do a really great job. Thank you for the Haitian community here in New Rochelle and all your contributions to this city. With Celebrate Haitian American Month, a time to honor really rich culture and lasting impact of this community within New Rochelle. It's a blend, right? It's a nice fabric that the Haitian community provides to the Nourishel to blend of African, European, Latin influences that really add to the diversity of this city. So I really wanna thank you for that. And it's really proud to have this community here in Nourishel. A couple of things that stand out for me, Haitian community,ian community, I grew up with a lot of friends who are Haitian, went to school with a lot of Haitian vampires that came from Haitian descent. And there was always a, for me, that stood out was the family ties. It was the respect for older people, the importance of education. A lot of my friends, education, education, education, and it was like serious. And that really stood out to me. So it's an honor to be here, enjoy the day, and congratulations to our Haitian students today that we're highlighting today and thank you. Read something from the proclamation. The City of New Shell acknowledges the many Haitian students who have reached significant academic milestones this year. demonstrating perseverance, discipline, and cultural pride. That kind of flowed right into the us honoring our graduates, but we're going to do that a little later, because the way we have it is the guest speaker's going to go next. We have Pastor Jude Oguest. He is from one of our prominent churches in New Rochelle. This is the seven day Adventist church on Union. They've been in existence for quite a while. A lot of my families are members of that church and they're pillars of this community. In fact, we have a television program, IT premier class, which is on TV now, but really started in Nurechelle with many of the members from the Eden Church. So without further ado, we're bringing Pastor Jude Oguse to the Mike, where is he? Oh, there he is. And he's going to give us a quick history of Haiti. The thing to remember with this, we're celebrating our Haitian flag. I wanted to say, even though there's a lot of us, our hearts are very heavy because there's a lot going on in our country. And I think this, we can take this opportunity to start to figure out how we're going to start to turn things around again. So yes, we're celebrating our flag, but we're not oblivious to the state of our country and what needs to be done. Okay? Thank you. And Pastor Gidogis, thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. We are illiterated that you guys are here today to support the Haitian flag that we are celebrating and we are grateful that our mayor, Mr. Herbert, can be here and our city manager, Melendez and all of the city officials. We are so happy that you can be here to celebrate with us. And somebody say about history. A generation which ignores history has no past and no future. So on that note, we are going to give you a brief history of Haiti. As you guys know, some of you know, Haiti is called the Pearl of the Antilles. Before Christophe Columbus discovered, there were the Indians who used to live in that land. And most of them were called the Tyno and the Chiboney. They were the most dominant Indian living in that land at that time. At that time, Columbus, who was an explorer, convinced the king, president, and the queen, Isabella, to support his quest to find a better route to China. Because at that time, they used to go to different continent for trade. And also, the monarchy wanted to influence, expand its influence in the West and this. How did Columbus land in Spain? He was looking for gold and new wealth, and they said that Columbus, while he was going there, he used three boats, big one. The name was the center of Maria, Pinta, and Nina. And from all of those three boats, they said that center of Maria is still on the water in Haiti. As a matter of fact, somebody recently just found like the remain of that both in Haiti. They said that Christopher Columbus first landed in Haiti, even though it wasn't the plan. And when Christopher Columbus and the X-Royer came, what happened? The native, they look at them as God because they have never seen somebody dressed differently like them. And they said that during the next 40 years, seven million of the Indian, they died. Because why? Because of mistreatment. And and because of that they are to bring slave from where from Africa to replace them and they say the travel from Africa to the West and this lasted one month and that one month was a disaster What happened? Some of them died during the travel, right? Because some of them were sick. Some of them had contagious diseases, and they passed it to each other. And also, they were on top of each other. So because of that, many of them died. But the few of them who made it, they were served, they were being used as slaves. Transition from Spain to France. First of all, the Spaniard came and now they made way forward for France. They say in 1697, the Treaty of Wichkin gave the island to France. Hed is called the Pearl of Antilles. The colony became what? A producer of sugar and coffee. And for you guys from Hayd, or if you haven't tasted like a Haitian coffee, this is the best coffee in the world. They went to that? Yes. Yes. That's the best coffee in the world. So, the French, what did they do? They bought slave from Africa. Before that, they were only 2000 slaves. When friends took over, they were about half million. And those slaves, they used to work 12 hours a day with no break. When we go to work, we always have 30 minutes break after 67 hours. But these people, they work 12 hours, no break, and they work seven days a week. But they were still courageous. They still did what they had to do. And they had no right. And the slave they were seeing as what as human properties. During that time, there were different classes. The first class that was there, it was called what? The blanc, that's the French, the white noble. They were like the rich people. They own slaves. They own many slaves. The second one were called what? The French, the free, the one who bought their freedom. And the third one was the slave, who had no right. They were just being used to make profits. The French Revolution had its impact on the island. The French Revolution in the year of 1789 gave the slaves of the island of Ispanuela an opportunity to revolve against friends. They killed their master. The slogan was coupé dead, chopped their head off, boulequed, burned their houses. That was one way for them to fight again, the French people, the colonists. And we're going to have somebody, a very famous man, that most of you guys heard about, to say, L'Uverte, he fought against the colonists and he free the slaves. They say Napoleon had a brother-in-law, his name was Charles Leclerc. He wanted to stop that rebellion. So they said what, a fleet of 86 sheep, and 22,000 soldiers, what happened? They were going to destroy the Haitian revolution. But thank God at that time, there had something called the yellow fever, where most of the French, it was a raining season, most of the French soldier, they died because of that didn't go against the Haitian revolution. That was a very important part of the war. And they say in 1882, Tussard Lovetti was arrested and sent to France where he died in prison in 1803. One of the most famous quote that we at Haitian student back in Haiti, we are too late. In French it's say, by over thought in English it's say, by over thought in me, you have only defeated the charm of the tree of freedom. It will go back because it's too deep, numerous, and vivacious. I'm not saying that my brother or my brother is not going to be able to live in the same way. But you will be able to support your own efforts to improve your life. If you guys were in Haiti, do you remember that good? That we are to learn and memorize by heart. Another important person was Georges DeSalin. He was the first president of Haiti, where Haiti declared its independence in 1804. Haiti was the second country in the Western hemisphere to be free after the U.S. in 1776. As a matter of fact, if you do American history, you will learn that during the civil war, we have so many Haitians coming from Haiti to help, right? To help fight against the North so we can free. So now, one of the reasons we have Juntian next month is because what? It's because the Haitian have the freedom of this leave in the United States. And the history of Haiti, the history of subjoum during slavery, only the colonists could eat that soup. After the independence, the first thing that we did was to eat that soup. Nowadays, every two, every January first, to celebrate our independence, we eat And this is one of the best soup that you can. If you don't believe me, next time, I'll ask one of your Haitians to give you some Haitian soup. So, Jean-Jacques DeSalle indicated himself as Emperor. But the mistake that he made is that he wanted to keep the people enslaved for financial gain. Henry Christophe was the successor of the Salin and he built the army to prepare for what? For another French attack. So I have to go a little bit fast. In 1820, he committed suicide. The next president was president Sharp here, why? They say in 1817, there was a ship that had a lot of sleep going to Cuba from France. What he did, he free, those slaves. Since then, they say, we are not going to pass by Haiti because if we do,, men is going to free all of the slave. So because of that, the people had to go to a different direction. Sadly, in 1825, friends acts Haiti to pay them 150 million before to recognize the property and lost to recognize our independence and loss of property. And they say the president of that time, why are we to pay 90 million friend without asking the people for advice. And that was one of the reasons the people where really going after him. And they say, that money now, we put $21 billion today. And he couldn't pay that money. So what did they do? They taxed the people and they asked the USA and Germany for loan. And finally, we finished paying that loan in 1947. But that thing crippled the Haitian economy. Crippled the Haitian life because we were strong all by that death, which was now about 20 billion. From 1915 to 1934, it was also the time of the Great Depression. Did you know that many American family in the left, the US, to go to Haiti for work? Do you have a restore? They left the US to go to Haiti for a better life. And they say that we are the American occupation from 1915 to 1924 under President Rojo Wilson. Why one of the reason is that the US didn't want Germany to interfere in Haitian affairs. Our culture, 65.9, our Catholic, 19% are protested. We have about 10,000 Muslim, believe it or not, that's good. And we have 60% of Haitian practice, some element of Voodoo. Education, for the last 15 years, our education has gone down. And sadly, because of the political approval, most people cannot go to school right now. The food, we have one of the best mangoes. And one of the mangoes mangoes, mango, mud of rasek. That's one of the best. So we have coconut. People from the south, we have tom tom, Pizimi, Pekli's, Chaka, Legim, Lalo, Grio, Kuparet, Dos MT.M.P.P. Lee, Chaka, Lekim, Lalo, Grio, Couparet, Duce Marcus, Tassou, and so on. Historic of the flag. When we first get our independence, the flag that we had was what? Was black and red. And what did they do? They took this pot out of the flag. And they said that the person who put the flag together was Cartoon Floren who put the Haitian flag together with the help of this island. In our flag, the blue we present liberty, equality and foreignity. And the blood, we present what, sacrifice during the revolution. So not shell, this is the Haitian history, and thank you for listening, and thank you for being a good student. Okay, so thank you, Pastor Jude. I know. Okay, so I wanted to say quickly, Christine had to leave from Shelley Mayor's office, but this is very important information that these flyers that we gave you. If you need any help, housing, legal help, this is something that they've set up with the county. It's a QR code for you to, I don't like using those things, but that's just the times. So for you to get assistance. So I wanted to say that for her, she had to go to another event. So Sesh, she loves you. All right, here you go. So that's the right time to read this. OK, so this is right from the proclamation. The City of Nureshow acknowledges the many Haitian students who have reached significant academic milestones this year. Demonstrating perseverance, discipline, culture, cultural pride. And with that, I will give it to Councilman Peters, would read the names. Okay. I'll come. Well, first of all, I just want to say very quickly that I know all of us here at City Hall and the mayor and others, we've been commenting a lot around and really appreciate the history lesson. One of the best parts of this celebration of the different cultures and groups here in our city has been the history that we've learned from you. So we really want to thank you for that. It's been wonderful. But today is also our day of recognition for students or the many accomplishments that they made in graduation. So having said that, the first certificate of appreciation, okay, I can do that. I can do that. Okay, just read the names. This is from elementary school. So from elementary school, we have, if they're here today. If they're here, you know, you can come up and get it. So you know, one of the things with these new format is to honor having an honoree so when they asked us the committee who do we want to honor? We said quickly that our kids is our pride and joy just like City Manager will said that education is very important to us. So us highlighting the accomplishments, the graduating classes of 2025 to us represents our real progress. So that's where we're coming from. And it's something that we'll do every year. So from elementary school, we have Erza Basquen, who is a Webster kindergarten. Is she here? A lot of the kids aren't here because they have activities, parents couldn't get off of work. Some of them are graduating as we speak. But we do want to list their names and let them know that we are thinking of them and very proud of them. It's beautiful. What's the next one? Kisha Christine DeSine. Yes, it's Kisha here. That's my little cousin. Notice the last name. Nephtali Michelle Webster. Oh. Oh. Me, me, Shail, Simkins, did I pronounce that right? Yeah, yeah, is Michelle Simkins. Did I pronounce that right? All right. Hi, this is here. Congratulations. The Son of our very own assistant principal at the high school Valerie Kudet-Symkin. Yeah? Yeah? Yeah? Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Lisa Senville. Congratulations.. Orch. All right. Hi, Liza. Congratulations. Hey, you're on, Lisa. You're welcome. Let me just read one of the certificates, what it says. So what we're handing out just so that you are aware of what our students are getting is that in honor of your wonderful achievement and all the hard work you've done in school The City of New Rochelle proudly celebrates your graduation during Haitian Heritage Day You have shown great effort pride and love for your heritage and we are so proud of you Your success reminds of us of how important it is to dream big and keep trying even when things are hard I you did around us her bit mayor of the city of New Rochelle, applaud your success and enjoy you bring to your school, your family, and your community. Always remember. Bignou, faire la force. Unity makes strength. Keep shining, keep learning, and never stop believing in yourself. We're excited to see all the amazing things you will do next. So each and every person is coming up. You see that? So this next one, the next one is Melvin Pierre, graduating from Webster. Is Melvin here? Okay. What's the next one? Oh, that was Neptale Michel. I don't think she's here. Okay. And then Erzah Baskin. Erzah? That's a famous last name. OK. And that's graduating. She's graduating from a webster. So now we're going to go to middle school. And Alba Leonard is like all of them graduating from Alba Leonard. Okay. So just as Allison. Allison Joseph. Allison Joseph. Alba Leonard. All right. Genesis Michelle. I'm gonna bring a lot of these to the churches where you, these young folks are always frequent. Malika, June, Miss Lee Shawls. See, I couldn't say those names with that flair, that's why I wanted to- Malachi Senes. I know exactly where they are. They are celebrating another Senays. You'll see her name later who's graduating from college so they can't be here. Yes. Nia Meia, Alexis. So that was our middle school out Ballendered everyone was from Al Ball Leonard. There's a trend here, guys. So now we're going to do Nearshell High School. Manassai Simkins, right? All right. Manassi. We're going to sing. Yo, they won English on you. Manassi. We're going to sing let me hear. Congratulations. Graduating from the high school. Woo. Matthew Saviou. Oh, I'm sorry. I high-bat you, Matthew. Thank you, Matthew. You've gone to University of Albany. I'm sorry. Thanks for graduating from the High School. Thank you, Matthew. And I'm sorry, I didn't know. He's going to Maris College. Yes? Great. Gabrielle Marsle. She's going to Morgan State. Melissa Joseph. She's going to a Maloy University. I am a Mayor left. This family recently had a hardship if you remember the building in Eastchester. They were part of that. So congratulations with her. Chris Stanley, Joseph, he's going to Westchester Community College. I remember him telling me he's very interested in medicine and military. And he just got here a year ago. Yes, yes. Yes. Miss Jean, not here going to SUNY Buffalo. Joseph Fonsois, Joseph here. He's going to Cornell. Like they have a lot of activities. Tajir Fernan, which is my nephew, he's going to Utica. He has a game. He couldn't come. All right. So now we're going to Utica he has a game he couldn't come all right so now we're going to the college graduates we're not missing anybody all right we have Lauren L. Medi Accounting from Lehman College. Violet de Zier, computerist, is she here? Oh yes! I'm going to go to the next page. I'm going to go to the next page. I'm going to go to the next page. I'm going to go to the next page. I'm going to go to the next page. I'm going to go to the next page. I'm going to go to the next page. So she's graduating from computer science degree from university at Albany. This is my baby. Demir de Sain Balate, electrical engineer from university of Buffalo. He's graduating Saturday. So come Friday after with the bat.'m outta here. Yeah. And then who else is the last one, but not least? Jessica Sinerius, as I mentioned, she's graduating literally today. And she's graduating from University of Albany also. And she's studied biology, I believe she's premed. Thank you. Yeah. So let's give everybody a hand please. Let's give everyone a hand. This is wonderful. Thank you. And the poem. Yes. Okay. So now we have a special treat for you. From one of our Haitian community members, as soon as she heard that we were doing this, was very interested in sharing with us a poem of the d'Apple. We have a Giselle Bruno. Will you like to come up Giselle? She's going to come. Thank you. While she's coming up here, I just wanted to point out one more thing, Pastor Wussel, he did such a good... Pastor Wussel, Pastor Wussel, Pastor Wussel, did such a great job. But I want to make sure everybody caught those flags, right? The Nina, the Pinta, the Santa Maria, right? Which I think most of the time when we learn that, we think they landed here in the United States. Understand that what's being said is they landed in Haiti. And so if we ever missed the connection with Haiti in the history of America, that right there should solidify it for you. And one of the boats is still underneath our waters in Haiti. So understand where those three ships that we learn very well, where they landed. Alright, thank you. So here we have for the poem, the Gapoum from Gisele we know. I diesel. to be able to define the soldier I'm in the front of the in the blood of the blood. In the name of the Father, in the name of the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the God, I pray, in the name of God, in the name of God, in the name of God, in the name of God, in the name of God, in the name of God, in the name of God, in the name of God, in the name of God, in the name of God, in the name of God, in the name of God, in the name of God, in the name of God, in the name of God, in the name of God, in the name of God, in the law of law, I feel like I'm going to the law of my father. I feel like I'm going to the law of my father. I feel like I'm going to the law of my father. I feel like I'm going to the law of my father. I feel like I'm going to the law ofant of the immortal, where, the body of the good Lord, the light and the light. You are the man, the light and the energy. And you are the one who has the freedom. And you can always be the Lord, the glory. Thank you. So again, we want to thank you for being here for this wonderful celebration and it is not over. We're asking each and every one of you for refreshments to continue to go into the Ritanda as you leave. Don't just go to the elevator and go downstairs. There's life, life refreshments awaiting you all in the Ritanda. Stay a little while,, and enjoy. So thank you for coming out. We appreciate you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.