FBA and ADOS

“I’m only saying it because I was born and raised in Haiti. I came here when I was twenty for college.”

“You’re not Foundational Black American nor an American Descendent of Slaves. Why do you champion the ideas of both?”

Whenever I walk down the streets in Wilmington, they don’t say, ‘Oh, I bet she’s Haitian.’ They just think I’m black. I’m an American.”

“Now.”

“Since six years ago,” she said. She was a midnight dream with ebony eyes.

“I’m enjoying this conversation, who did you say brought you over here?”

“I took a raft with holes in the bottom and twelve other people. No! I boarded a plane.”

“Do you envy Black Americans?”

“I do. In a good way. We had a major revolution that overthrew the French and we’re still the poorest country in the Western hemisphere.”

“Okay, so you want to be an African American, an FBA, ADOS?”

“I’m proud of my land despite our economic situation. I’m proud to be an American now. I’m proud to be the first person in my family to graduate college. America provided that for me. My skin color still paints me as an American Negro. It’s a badge of honor when people call me American.”

Jokson Dale looked at Nadege Delva and smirked.

“What?” she grinned.

“I don’t think you have earned your right to be FBA or ADOS.”

“I haven’t. I’ve claimed my right as an American for a few years.”

“But the FBA is far more advanced and you’re riding our coattails. You’re sopping up our biscuits.”

“I don’t think so. While I’ll never be in the lineage of Americans, I can support and bolster the role of African Americans in this nation. Despite being Haitian, I can ensure that I can fight for them. Haitian Americans have contributed to this country as—”

“As what? With what? A bowl of rice and some ackee fish?”

“See, that’s not fair—”

“Sure it is. You’re benefitting from the sweat of slaves in the country that said all men should be free.”

“I get it. I get it. You’re going to pin decades of oppression on the fact that Haiti didn’t do anything for the slaves in the US.”

“Well, what did your ancestors do?”

“They were too busy getting the slavers off their own backs to consider the idea of other lands. It was bad enough that we had to endure all of that.”

“We’? What do you mean ‘we’?”

“I mean them. The collective is we. I didn’t mean that. Excuse me.”

“No, I was just saying because FBA and ADOS hold onto a lot of collectivist principles. That’s sort of the way it goes.”

“Shouldn’t you focus on more individualistic goals?”

Dale shook his head. “It’s about the group. We must sustain the group and let the individuals fall where they may.”

“Don’t you find that to be horrific?”

“No. I think it’s survivalist.”

“So you’re saying that in order to form a group, the individuals come in second? That they have no bearing other than to support the collective? Are you American?”

“I was born in Lewes, Delaware so that’s what makes me an American.”

“Maybe on paper, but you’re worse than the people who put other people in chains. I slip up in speech, you mar your action.”

“That’s nothing. You’re still Haitian trash that came to these shores to exploit and fool white people into thinking you're black. You ain’t black.” Nadege’s eyes became saucers.

“How dare you say that I’m not black. And it’s just my skin. It’s my heritage, my lineage. I don’t care about being lumped in but I’m aware of my position on this earth.”