Eulogy

By Jonathan Demme

My dear friend JEAN LEOPOLD DOMINIQUE grew up in a land of oppression. He came of age under Francois ("Papa Doc") Duvalier. But this product of the privileged "elite" fell passionately in love with his country and its vast peasant population. After studying in Paris, Jean worked to help his countrymen better cultivate their soil, enrich their crops--and by extension empower their lives.

He was jailed and tortured for his activities, and on his release he found work at Radio Haiti. Two years later, he bought the station. Jean's mission was to harness the power of the airwaves as an instrument of social change. He introduced two ingredients to his country's broadcast stew. He brought Creole, the language of the uneducated population, where only French, the language of the elite, had been heard. And with this came news. Real news. In Jean's words, "People decipher the foreign news and digest it in their own culture. For them, information--this became their life."

Twice he fled into exile; twice he returned. As the political situation deteriorated over the past decade, Jean remained at the microphone, perhaps quixotically, speaking with the voice of the people, for the people and to the people until that voice was tragically silenced.

--Jonathan Demme, director