Sunday September 20, as part of the 262nd anniversary of the birth of Emperor Jean-Jacques Dessalines (September 20, 1758 - September 20, 2020), Founding Father of the Haitian Nation, the former Consul General of Haiti in Chicago Lesly Condé delivered a thoughtful message that we invite you to share :

Message from Lesly Condé

"Dear fellow citizens everywhere,

Dear friends of Haiti,

Now is the time to celebrate the two hundred and sixty-second birthday of a Haitian hero of universal dimensions who still does not receive a good fraction of the honor that his clairvoyance, his endurance and his extraordinary bravery deserve.

It is an anniversary that all Haitians must mark with the greatest pride because this Father of the Haitian Nation is the very definition of the kind of man that the whole world should welcome as a model of heroism.

Jean-Jacques Dessalines was indeed born into slavery on September 20, 1758. For perfectly understandable reasons, we do not know anything about his childhood and young age. It must be said that our historians of a certain period have never presented Dessalines in a clearly laudatory manner. It is therefore not surprising that generations of Haitians have seen the Father of our Nation as an ordinary soldier rather than a hero of planetary dimensions.

For having been born in the dehumanizing conditions of slavery, and breaking all barriers to become General-in-Chief of an indigenous army which routed the slave forces of France, Jean-Jacques Dessalines showed extraordinary qualities which place him in a league far above that of the much admired conquerors.

He is a true liberator whose vision has served as an inspiration to other liberators. Today we celebrate the birth of the Father of our Nation; a hero like no other.

In these difficult times, hold on to our identity. Let's remain proud of Dessalines who made us what we are."

Lesly Condé

Former Consul General of Haiti in Chicago

(August 26, 2004 - May 25, 2018)

HL/ HaitiLibre