Earlier: Katia’s full performance of the Star-Spangled Banner.

More thought out description follows….

A couple of hundred miles from the fireworks in Miami, thousands of children are lying outside, with no hope of a roof over their heads, let alone clean drinking water, sewer systems or any medical infrastructure to speak of. Natural disasters are awful, and their effects can be felt decades later. Yet Haiti’s state of dystopia began well before the January quake. The country is easily on the top five worst countries in THE WORLD for quality of life: besides the lack of the very basic infrastructure listed above, Haiti claims title to the highest AIDS rate in the world. Not Africa. Not Sumatra. Haiti, a Caribbean island far closer than other nations fiercely defended by the U.S.’s adherence to the Monroe Docterine, and more importantly, the nation’s promise that this time we would not simply apply a band-aid and prepare to come back within ten years. We have promised the people of Haiti, a proud and vibrant population held hostige to decades of corrupt rule and a complete lack of stable government, that this time we would be there for the long haul. This time we would not leave until we had set the country on a course to have open access to safe drinking water, a modicum of medical treatment and the beginnings of a real, local industry.

Six months later, the IDP camps remain overflowing with displaced Haitians. The question of rebuilding is near ludicrous: What was there to begin with?

This Independence Day, as we celebrate our nation’s first test of her true global sphere of influence and the proof that the United States was truly a home to the free and the brave (defeating the greatest naval power in the world, then then British Empire), we must also remember that our actions to repel foreign interference in our commerce included a strong comittment to protect those nations in the Caribbean that were powerless to fend off professional Navies and invasionary forces. That commitment remains solidly in place today, and it is further strengthened by our immediate response to the earthquake’s devastation, and a promise of continued support until the island nation could survive without our help.

It has been months since the 35,000-strong troop presence on the ground and the 22-ship armada (the best medical care in Haiti’s history) has left. As we sing our national anthem, a song whose lyrics speak with deep reverence for perceviering against impossible odds, how can we celebrate honestly if we are not able to keep basic promises to a desperate people? If, one day, the United States fell victim to poverty and exploitation, would we not expect those who pledged continued assistance to hold true to their word?

While we have our own problems at home with the disaster in the Gulf and the wars in the middle east, let us not let the tireless efforts of those men and women who received no-notice orders to pack and deploy within hours, with no information to give their families as to when they would return, become a useless excercise. We must prove to the world that we are not a nation of quitters; that when we say we will help we do so, and we do so with the resources only a super-power such as the United States can bring to bear.

This is the greatest nation on the planet. How can we sit idly, pat ourselves on the back and simply forget the millions who have been promised relief, and yet still remain crowded in the filth and disease of severely overcrowded tent cities? We are not a people who do things simply because it will make us look good. We are a people who have made difficult decisions, and has taxed our young servicemen and women with the consequences of those decisions. Let’s not let that sacrifice go to waste.

Katia Cadet, a Haitian-borne, Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter, has been fighting for our continued work in Haiti ever since the night of the quake. The very next day she was in the studio recording a song she wrote for her relatives and neighbors trapped under the rubble. She sang in creole, and pledged, that day to put the release of her debut solo album on hold so that she could use her unparalleled talents of musical genius and vocal brilliance, to help rally support for her homeland. Six months later, her album remains unreleased (now scheduled for this fall) and never does she for a moment forget her promise to Haiti to help; as recently as last weekend, Katia used Caribbean Fashion Week in Jamaica, where she was THE headline act, as a moment to recruit more help in the fight to keep Haiti alive.

She has personally raised over a third of a million dollars of donations for Haiti but she knows that such a sum, although seemingly enourous for one person, is nothing compared to the massive challenges Haiti must overcome.

When we returned from Jamaica, we talked of how best to keep the unique window of opportunity for Haiti given by a global interest in the country from disappearing. Although borne in Haiti, she calls America her home, and it is with genuine passion that she looks upon this nation and its people, and sings for us our national anthem. Let us honor those ideals inherent in the song. Let us show the world that we can do some good when there is good to be done.

People are dying in our backyard. We are honor bound as humans, citizens of the global community and most importantly, part of the greatest nation in the history of the world to reach out to our neighbors in need, and to help them with action, not mere lip service.

If Katia Cadet is willing to put her dreams on hold to help others, the very least we can do is to listen to her plea to help her, and to live up to our name of the land of the free, and the home of the brave.

This is her un-cut performance of the Star Spangled Banner, a rendition with no vocal processing, no multi-million-dollar studio spaces and engineers. She gives us simply her heart and beauty; let us take note, and live up to our promises, keep our word as a country, and to pull together as a nation for those who will otherwise surely die because we were too busy to bother looking over across the street.

We must live up to our word, or our promises globlally are meaningless. This Fourth of July, let’s show the world that when we pledge our support, we never cut and run. As the sun sets on the night of the fourth, let us give the people of Haiti the gift of knowing that they too will see a brighter future in the dawn’s early light.

Best,

Benjamin

(I’m attaching a link to her performance; her personal appeal to the nation will follow as soon as it is ready to distribute. I’m giving you the heads up on the a little early, but any help I can get to spread Katia’s appeal to America is very likely the difference between life or death for many thousands of Haitian children, now homeless and hungry and looking North, desperate for our promised return.)

I carry my camera everywhere. Sometimes it’s awkward, but I become a walking advertisement for my work. I’ve gained several clients just by chance meeting “so you’re a photographer…” Anyway, last week I went through a little boot camp and shot only monochrome; mainly during a brunch with the ever lovely Mandy. Why shoot B&W? Composition. Where motion picture deviates most from still is composition. There are so many tricks you can get away with in still (gallery above of last week’s practice, lots of examples of “getting away with things”). So back to normal street shots: Finally I kinda get why musicians practice scales.