Philly and Port-au-Prince, my two homes, have seen the rise and fall of major political mobilization in the last few years. I often ask myself whether we’ve taken the time to learn all the lessons these moments and movements have to teach us. In May of 2025, I had a chat with James Beltis. He is an organizer who has been at the forefront of some of the social movements in Haiti over the last few years, including the Petro Caribe movement. He has a great way of breaking down what’s happening and helping us focus on what’s essential.  

Haiti enters its 222nd year of independence under conditions that echo a long history of repression. As we celebrate this January 1st, the events of 2025 come into sharper focus. 5 months ago, while fireworks consumed American skies during the weekend of July 4, a more menacing blaze lit up Haiti’s capital as flames reduced the famed Oloffson Hotel to ashes. Like many homes and businesses in Port-au-Prince and other parts of the country, the hotel was abandoned as elite-backed paramilitary forces escalated their violent tactics.

There has been a mass exodus of migration from Haiti to cities like New York, Miami, Philadelphia, Boston, etc. This may seem random and arbitrary to the random observer, but this has been a steady result of years of imperialism and government neglect, and the Haitian people have been singing about it the entire time. 

There are no memories before soup joumou. There is no marker in the mind for when this food was introduced to my body. As long as I’ve been collecting the trinkets of my days as souvenirs in my mind, there has been pumpkin soup.