Trials and Tribulations in Little Haiti

Six months after a Biblically destructive earthquake, Lil Haiti: The Untold Story is a much-needed affirming tale about the Haitian people. The play’s tour of Florida has made headlines. It’s the autobiographical account of playwright Damien McKnight, an African-American kid who contravened unwritten code in the 1980s by befriending Haitian...

By Penn Bullock

July 22, 2010

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Six months after a Biblically destructive earthquake, Lil Haiti: The Untold Story is a much-needed affirming tale about the Haitian people. The play’s tour of Florida has made headlines. It’s the autobiographical account of playwright Damien McKnight, an African-American kid who contravened unwritten code in the 1980s by befriending Haitian immigrants over basketball in Miami. It was such a hateful time in the city’s history that students had a weekly “beat up a Haitian” day at Edison Middle School, where McKnight grew up. Outside the racist cesspools of comment threads on the Sun-Sentinel, much has improved since then thanks to the perseverance of Haitian-Americans — a perseverance that has been displayed on an incredible scale back in their native country.

Lil Haiti: The Untold Story will be performed at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Coral Springs Center for the Arts (2855 Coral Springs Drive, Coral Springs). Tickets cost $20. Call 786-413-8045, or visit coralspringscenterforthearts.com.
Sat., July 24, 8 p.m., 2010

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