Carl Justelecturing at Diaspora Vibe Gallery in Miami. Photo: CAW Magazine

It started with two pictures: one with Haitian refugees, and the other with Cuban refugees who were at the U.S. military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, at the same time. Both were waiting and hoping to be giving entry into the United States. However, the two refugees received absolutely different treatments.

The book and photo exhibition, Havana and Haiti: Two Cultures, One Community show the similarities in both Haitian and Cuban cultures, history and daily life. "That one community is all of us. When I refer to the community I'm not referring to Miami, I'm referring to the global community," says Carl Juste.

Carl Juste, the photojournalist who started this project, brought together 28 photos of Haiti and Cuba taken by seven photographers. These were not pictures taken purposely for this project. They were pictures taken for different occasions and at different times. In the book and photo exhibition, each thematic picture of Haiti is placed next to a picture of Cuba with the same theme to show how similar Haiti and Cuba are. The pictures express work, hope, it may be despair, or sense of home. Some photographs were shot as long as 19 years ago.

To complete the book, Carl sent a set of two pictures of Haiti and Cuba to 16 writers and asked them to write what they see and feel. "What I got back, I could not have planned. I received these beautiful essays that were universal. And the book is designed specifically for that. You don't have to be of Haitian or Cuban descent to understand it. You just have to be a human being, and you would gravitate towards it." shared Carl Juste.

Sometimes by looking at the pictures one cannot tell which ones were taken in Cuba and which ones in Haiti.

Carl Juste started this project by questioning his identity. His mother was Cuban and his father was Haitian. "I've always felt like my feet were on two islands at the same time. One foot was in Cuba, one foot was in Haiti. When I arrived from New York to Miami, I noticed the disparity in which each group was treated and I asked myself why. These people have such a common history--colonialism, slavery... and why wouldn't they be treated alike? And then I looked at my skin and the answer was very obvious to me. We were not white enough."

The Havana and Haiti: Two Cultures, One Community photo exhibition will be launched in May 2010 at a museum in New York, and will travel to Washington and Miami. The exhibit will be shown in museums and in other venues. A few months after the launch at a museum, it will be showcased at a gallery. "It's easier to have a conversation at a gallery. It will allow people to be free to speak and to respond to the work. We'll have a panel, we'll speak." says Carl Juste.

The photo exhibition will be anchored by the launch of the Havana and Haiti: Two Cultures, One Community book. "The book will be the gathering point, the epicenter, he reason why we have a discussion," says Carl Juste. The participants in the book will be part of a panel that will respond to questions about immigration, human rights, and try to expand that conversation to become inclusive of other people. Carl Juste believes that if "the Haitian issue" and the "the Cuban issue" follow the South Africa model and are presented as "a human issue," people can attach themselves to it.

"The main message of the book is that there exists a common ground. Pain in any part of the world is the same. What this hemisphere has chosen to do which is driving these countries away, I'm trying to put them together." says Carl. He continues: "It's not a book about pretty pictures. It's a very academic book"

The Havana and Haiti: Two Cultures, One Community project will continue with a play. "I am going to take the same concept and find a Cuban and a Haitian playwright. They will do a five minute play on each parley. Fourteen parleys, 90-minute play. Between the animations, there will be a performance by Cuban and Haitian performing artists. It could be music, It could be a dance piece, it could be a monologue," shares Carl Juste.

The play is going to be called Mi Ami. Mi from Spanish meaning My, and ami from French meaning friend. Together it forms the word Miami. French and Spanish are languages spoken in Haiti and Cuba, respectively.

The play will be based on these two groups of people who were at Guantanamo.

The idea comes from the first set of pictures: the Haitians and Cubans who were in Guantanamo at the same time. Carl Juste said: "Look at this physical common ground. The sense of disillusionment, the sense of frustration, and the sense of hope they both had it in their eyes."

"But what impressed us were the Cubans' dreams of coming to Miami to start a new life and the Haitians that were returned to their old life," says Carl Juste. What he is referring to is the preferential treatment that Cuban refugees have traditionally been given in comparison to the Haitian refugees due to the U.S. policies. Cubans are immediately given asylum, whereas the Haitians are returned to their country to face, potentially, political persecution.

During the course of 12 months, Carl Juste and his team are going to select 24 local, regional, and international organizations that serve the needs of Cubans and Haitians. Part of the proceeds from the box sets, lithos, and posters will go to certain charities.

Carl Juste is an award-winning photojournalist of Cuban and Haitian descent living in Miami. He works for Miami News and Miami Herald.

Carl's family left Haiti in 1965 and lived in New York before moving to Miami in 1973.

Carl has been interested in news ever since he was a young kid, but photojournalism "chose him," as he says, during his college years.

Carl is one of the founders of Iris Photo Collective, a group of photographers dedicated to documenting people of color and their relationships to the world.

He shares: "Photography allowed me to extend my world. Every time I say: Wow! this Haitian kid from Carrefour (a district in the city of Port-au-Prince, Haiti) is photographing the Pope. This Haitian kid from Kafou (the Haitian Creole of Carrefour) is on Air Force One, in Iraq, and Afghanistan. I'm talking to Michael Jordan. Here's Bill Clinton, here’s George Bush, and all these things are happening to this Haitian kid from Kafou. It blows my mind. I explain especially to the Haitian kids that you can travel anywhere you are willing to walk."

"I always believed that the pictures are mirrors of one's values. What we don't like about a picture, what we don't like about art, is pretty much what we sometimes fear," adds Carl Juste.