As a child in New York in the ’80s and ’90s, Patrick Eugène felt like being Haitian wasn’t something to be proud of. Growing up, he heard stories of how his mother, who emigrated from the island nation at the age of 12, was bullied for the way she spoke and dressed. Hoping to shield himself from similar experiences, he tried to mask his ancestry.
But in high school, he said, he was drawn to a club for Haitian students. There, he learned about his history and was soon wearing the Haitian flag to school in a show of pride. A few years later, he traveled to Haiti with his now-wife, who had also moved to the United States at 12, and fell in love.
“When you go there and you dive into the culture more and you meet the people, you realize they are the most elegant people,” he said. “They are so elegant and so prideful. It doesn’t matter what they have and what they don’t have. They are going to treat it like it’s gold and they’re going to walk around with this confidence that’s unmatched.”
