Creating these messes that go from administration to administration and then you swoop in and clean them up - with that heroic Delta force - people not realizing that they were always there but doing different things than what we see them doing at the moment.

I think it's hard for an outsider to capture the flavor of a community and all its nuances, so ultimately Haitian-Americans need to start sharing intimate accounts of their stories.

Toni Cade Bambara said: “Writing is the way I participate in the struggle.”

I would hate for people to generalize about every Haitian from something that one Haitian did, or a group of Haitians did.

The people did not elect me. I speak with one voice that may echo other people, but I am part of a group of people. That's not distancing yourself from a community, that's also allowing the space for others to speak for themselves.

I think novels just really show us the deepest parts of people's hearts, and you cannot walk away anymore and say, "I don't know."

They say behind mountains are more mountains.