By Pastor Rasheed Z. Baaith
“The murderer rises before it is light, that he may kill…and in the night he is like a thief.” (Job 24:14)
Haiti as a country is 127 years old or so. It began as a French colony named Saint Domingue. Its beginning as an independent country was launched by slaves determined to be free of French oppression and shackles no matter how great the sacrifice. Or how large the number of them who died in the revolution would be.
Haiti is the first and only country of African people to fight for and gain their independence in the Western Hemisphere. Haiti is the only place where slaves took their freedom by force and led the only successful slave revolt in modern times. That fact alone is worthy of acclaim and respect. Haiti’s place in our history is without parallel.
After freedom was seized the name of the colony, now a country was changed to the Taino name of Haiti or Ayiti in Kreyoi. The cost of emancipation for the new country did not come in blood only. Because the Haitians had defeated Napoleon with him losing 8,000 of the 31,000 who came with him and cost France Louisiana, France made Haiti literally pay for freedom. Though undefeated by France, Haiti agreed to pay.
Yet, despite such a bold and courageous birth, the country has struggled to survive from its very beginning. At the time of the Haitian rebellion, Haiti, because of sugar, coffee and a growing cotton trade, was the most profitable colony in the Western Hemisphere.
It is now the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. The main reason for that poverty is the 150 million francs France demanded as an indemnity from Haiti for refusing to be slaves. That’s an estimated $21 billion in today’s money. But France was not alone in this historic robbery. America and all of Europe participated in blackmailing Haiti by refusing to trade with the newly independent country. Haiti could never pay the principal and it was not unto 2010 that the “debt” was settled with France. After seeing all the damage done to Haiti by the earthquake, France forgave the debt. But I don’t think I’ll forgive France.
Still Haiti, since its inception, has contributed to its continuing lack of progress. Almost entirely because of corrupt, undisciplined, tyrannical leadership. In modern times it has proved to be a leadership so unprincipled it has not mattered how much foreign aid has been sent to Haiti or how many churches or NPOs dedicate themselves to the country, it does not seem to help better the conditions for the people.
After the earthquake in 2010 great amounts of money were pledged to Haiti, some of which has been spent properly and there are stories of rescues of the average Haitian citizen but not nearly enough. There was an estimated $14 billion dollars in damage to the country.
There is little question that Haiti’s problems for the most part are not of her making. None the less it is Haiti and those of us who are part of the African diaspora that have to solve her problems.
It is way past time for us to begin to think in global terms of how we are connected in ethnic terms. Everyone but us sees us with a singularity. We have devised our own tribal system. It allows us to be unconcerned about who looks like us but don’t speak the same language or live where we do. We are diminished by that thinking. And it obfuscates a unity we need now more than ever.
