Brother, I'm Dying

On Sunday, October 24, 2004, the third military operation commences in Bel Air between the UN forces, “so-called peacekeepers” (153), and the local gangs. In protest, “people were pounding on pots and pans and making clanking noises that rang throughout the entire neighborhood” (154). After the shooting has died out, Joseph decides to hold the morning service despite the fighting. However, during the service, the Haitian riot police storm the church, looking for gang members. Several officers take position on the church roof, and the fighting continues for another half hour.

Joseph’s neighbors mistakenly believe he has taken money to allow the police to use the church, and they label him a traitor. Since the police killed 15 people from the roof, the neighbors decide to bring the bodies to Joseph so he will pay for their burial, as well as for treatment of the wounded. Joseph gives them the money he has saved to leave there for teachers’ salaries, as he was planning to leave for Miami in five days. Gang members wish to take revenge on him, so he sends his family away from the house and the neighborhood, back into the village of Léogâne.