27176 Fwd: Morse (reply) to Rossier regarding rumors (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

Posted by Morse

Dear Nicholas,

I understand what you're saying. And I agree with you. That's why when  I
hear a rumor I say it's a rumor. I don't say its fact. Sometimes when I  pass
along a rumor its to give you a feeling for the actual  situation.

 Back in 1997 one of my dancers said <they're handing out guns>  in the
neighborhood (referring to the Tokyo section of Delmas 2). I  considered that
to
be
a rumor even though a good source told me it was  happening. Eventually it
was confirmed that the gun distribution program was  going on in Belair, Cite
Soleil and even as far North as Gonaives. I  suspected who was behind the
program but it wasn't till I talked to gang members  working as fixers for
journalists that I was able to confirm a lot of my  suspicions. I also talk to
musicians from those neighborhoods who played in  <ban a pieds> and <rara
bands>. The
whole process took a couple of  years. To this day I don't have any actual
proof but I'm not in any doubt as to  who handed out those guns. You'll know
soon
enough yourself. As a musician,  and as an American with a Haitian mother I
have access to many different worlds.  I use that access to better understand
my environment. Most journalists, by the  way, don't play the rumor game and
can't play the rumor game.

As for why <my city> can't <get it right>, well, we're working  on that but
we're fighting centuries of western tradition and you can't expect  change to
happen over night. We had legal racial segregation in the United  States as
recently as the sixties. That's only forty years ago.

Richard Morse