By Kelly Curry
For Carnival of the Heart

For the sake of the African and the Taino who gave their lives so that she would be reborn
Haiti

I became intrigued with Haitian history and culture when I learned that it is the only nation in the world born of a slave revolt. Fascinated with my own people’s struggle for freedom here in North America after slavery, I realized immediately that what Haitians had done was no easy feat. I was bedazzled by the tenacity of the tiny island nation, populated by African slaves and a sprinkling of indigineous Taino; who in 1804 championed a struggle for liberation from the brutality of French and Spanish goliaths.

The tropical spot of land between Cuba and Dominican Republic, which had been known as Hispaniola, was reborn with the intention and fire for freedom. The new free people, a complex mixture of African and Taino cultures renamed their island, Haiti, in honor of the Taino brothers and sisters who had been mostly wiped out by the infections and diseases brought by the Europeans. The horrifying reality of the French and Spanish quest for riches and power is that it re-shifted world patterns of socialization forever; introduced racism; de-peopled Africa; all but erased nations of original peoples all over the globe; tore families apart; made murder a part of day to day life; and boiled cultures down to their most essential elements. Haiti said “no more” and under the poised command of Toussaint l’Ouverture, the young black general, these beautiful people on the tip of the ocean, went on to become the first and only black republic in the world. Thomas Jefferson, author of the American Declaration of Independence, is said to have been so undone by the liberation, that he vowed to devote the rest of his life to ensuring its demise; “Never was so deep a tragedy presented to the feelings of man … I become daily more and more convinced that all the West India Island will remain in the hands of the people of colour, and a total expulsion of the whites sooner or later take place. It is high time we should foresee the bloody scenes which our children certainly, and possibly ourselves (south of the Potomac), have to wade through and try to avert them.” Two years later, in a letter to Aaron Burr, Jefferson compared the Haitians to assassins and referred to them as “Cannibals of the terrible republic.”*

Jefferson was definitely afraid of a black planet. Plus he was hip to the notion that the Haitian situation was a clarion call to liberation for African slaves everywhere. The United States, just up the coast a little and across the water from Haiti knew that a nation of free black people so close in proximity to her own shores, would threaten the rule of the black people on her shores. The proceeds from slavery provided the economy for the foundation of the modern world. The United States, like the French and the Spanish built gilded cities; filled the coffers of standing armies; funded artistic and cultural movements from the energy squeezed out of the body and blood of the African slave engineering sustainable crop techniques and toiling under the hot sun. Because the US economy so soundly relied on slavery, it could not allow the mere insinuation that its black people venture towards freedom.

The attitude that a liberated Haiti is bad for the business of keeping black folks in their place in America prevails, even one hundred and some odd years after the abolition of slavery in America (even though Mississippi just ratified the thirteenth amendment to end slavery in 1995-no joke). It seems like Jefferson got his little wish and for the last two hundred years Haiti has been portrayed by the media and the US government as this wild; dark; strange; voodoo practicing (check Pat Robertson’s recent claim); cannibalistic outpost of savage black people and currently “the poorest country in the western hemisphere”; another mistruth; fabricated hyperbole, carrying over and punctuating colonial attitudes that black people cannot function independently.

All of these things have worked to eclipse the reality that Haiti has been crippled by the same old Goliath network that will attempt to squeeze every essence of independence and fire of freedom from her bosom until she is stamped down to nothing. All of these things have worked to eclipse the reality of the human rights abuses and atrocities committed against the Haitian people since the revolution, over two hundred years ago; embargos imposed by the US; a world monetary debt including interest for funds she never even received; a US occupation from 1915-1934; manufacturing giants like Disney and Kmart using her children to labor at slave wages; again and again invasions by French, German, US forces who got into the habit of

bankrolling domestic thugs and gangs to overthrow democratically elected Presidents (most recently President Aristede in 2004) so they could somehow maintain the grip of the little country that refused to give in.

Having even a bit of an understanding of Haiti’s history and her quest for economic and political stability in the shadow of her beautifully poetic and marvelous beginning, juxtaposed all the brutality that took place to keep her down and all of the natural disasters that have occurred in the last twenty years or so, is heartbreaking. When I heard about the earthquake and heard American journalists via CNN calling it “the poorest country in the western hemisphere,” I just started crying, right there in the cafeteria, in front of everyone. I am always aware of the children who grow up in these very difficult circumstances and who suffer the real impact of this complex, coil of post-colonial meddlings, corruption, and the sinister belief that Haiti simply belongs in the pocket of European and American colonizers. During the days following the earthquake, when I saw the bodies of children being thrown into mass graves and heard that UN “peace keeping” forces were tear gassing crowds of people lined up at their doors for food, my heart broke because of the loss of innocent life and in frustration because very few people know the history of why the infrastructure of the buildings are so weak and why the roads are so raggedy and why air-strips so antiquated and why the government is usually in such disarray. This history is so outrageous, that if it weren’t true, it would make for a great little mini-series. But it is true and what’s more outrageous is that even with the internet at our disposal, it is so little known.

As we move forward, understanding Haiti’s history and understanding the impact that outside forces have had on her ability to stand strong and tall is an essential aspect of supporting her right to be. Anyone wishing to help Haiti or go to Haiti or raise a dime for earthquake relief should endeavor to understand the basic truth that the burden is so heavy because giants have been pecking her apart now every day since 1804. It seems to me that Jefferson, from the grave, has mostly made good on his pledge to cut Haiti out of his little schpiel about rights; “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Only thing is that like most of us here in America, Haiti knew her rights it 1804. Haiti still knows them today. Even though every terrible harm imaginable has been done to keep her from this reality, dreams of true freedom and the pursuit of happiness still burn in the hearts of her people.

As we raise money and resources to assist the survivors and future generations struck by this major disaster in Haiti, it would be of great service to the people of that tenacious country, if we here in America, just a stone’s throw from her shores, who have so enjoyed the fruits of her struggle and her pain, educate ourselves about who and what she is. It will go along way in revealing who and what we are…really.

*The Curse on Haiti by Henry Louis Gates January 25th 2010, www.theroot.com/view/curse-haiti

Another wonderful source for information on the history of Haiti can be found at www.randalrobinson.com or in his book Unbroken Agony, Haiti, from Revolution to the Kidnapping of a President

Kevin Pina has done a film entitled “We Must Kill The Bandits” if you get ahold of this film, do a screening and invite as many people as you can. www.haitiinformationproject.net

Kelly Curry is the Director of Programming and Development for the Living Love Foundation
www.livinglovefoundation.org
Living Love’s mission is to build children’s self esteem by exposing them to their inner strength through the arts.