Note: The majority of this interview was conducted in Haitian Creole.
Haitian-American musicians J. Perry and Michaël Brun came to WYSO on Saturday, May 3, 2025, to be interviewed by WYSO Community Voices Producer Gerly Philidor.
They performed at a fundraiser for the Haitian Community Help & Support Center at the John Legend Theater in Springfield.
"The work that they're doing is so incredible," Brun said about the Haitian Community Help & Support Center. "And to have a resource that allows... people to find the support and advocacy and the ability to exist without having additional stress when it's already stressful enough being a legal immigrant in the country, I felt like myself as an immigrant as well, to be able to in any way help get the message out, that's my goal, that's why I do what I do as an artist, is to bring the beauty of our country to as many people as possible."
Viles Dorsainvil, the co-founder and executive director of the Haitian Community Help & Support Center, James Pepitho Fleurijean, the center's board chairman, and Yola Lamarre, the program director of the Haitian Community Network in Columbus, also participated in this interview.
Haitians in the Heartland is produced at the Eichelberger Center for Community Voices at WYSO.
