An unbroken agony caused by an unending oppression---of both blacks in the U.S. and blacks in Haiti. Randall Robinson writes the following about Haiti: "The Haitian economy has never recovered from the financial havoc France (and America) wreaked upon it, during and after slavery." "Slavery had long since ended, but wealth remained concentrated." Much the same could be said about the black economy in the U.S. Still not convinced? Then read the following books/article in this sequence: God So Loved the Third World: The Biblical Vocabulary of Oppression by Thomas Hanks; "The Case for Reparations," by Ta-Nehisi Coates; The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander; An Unbroken [Haitian] Agony by Randall Robinson. Then write two papers: Oppression in the New Testament and Justice in the New Testament.
Twice in history, after the 1791-2004 Haiti slave revolution, after the 1986 people's revolution which forced the dictator Baby Doc to leave the country, these United States of America could have and should have joined with poor Haitian blacks and helped them create a just democracy. Instead, however, twice, a U.S. elite joined with an Haitian elite to continue the endless oppression of poor Haitian blacks; plutocracy/dictatorship won, not democracy. If there is a divine judgment for nations as well as individuals (see Mt. 25), the U.S. will be severely condemned because when it could have done justice, instead, it chose and did evil. It neglected justice and the love of God; Jesus chastised the Pharisees for this type of evil.
In both Haiti and the U.S, we create and recreate new systems of oppression which neglect justice and the love of God. The more I study each nation's histories, I see frighteningly similar evil patterns. Michelle Alexander, in her book The New Jim Crow, argues that in the U.S. systems of oppression such as slavery and segregation weren't really eliminated but only redesigned, today as mass incarceration and the expanding racial wealth gap as well as the predatory mortgage housing loans by banks. Sadly, few American Christians understand what is really going on and why. Which means they are doing little to stop this social evil.
For a full history of Haiti written by a professional historian, I recommend Haiti: The Tumultuous History---From the Pearl of the Caribbean to Broken Nation (2010) by Philippe Girard; he regards Aristide as a hypocrite, just another in a long line of dictators. For recent history, I recommend Haiti's New Dictatorship: the coup, the earthquake and the UN occupation by Justin Podur; he is pro-Aristide, seeing him as an authentic leader of the poor. For recent history, I recommend An Unbroken Agony: Haiti, from Revolution to the Kidnapping of a President (2007) by Randall Robinson; he also is pro-Aristide, an eyewitness of his kidnapping. All three authors see Haiti currently as a broken, dysfunctional nation. Podur quotes Girard:
"Although I disagree completely with Philippe Girard's point of view as expressed in his history of Haiti, I do agree with him on some of the prescriptions at the end of his book: "the answer to this oft-mentioned question---what the U.S. should do to help Haiti---is simple: as little as possible. U.S. farmers do not need to donate rice to hungry Haitians---this will undercut the local rice industry. U.S. taxpayers do not need to bankroll the Haitian government---this will make the business of running Haiti too lucrative and desirable. U.S. troops do not need to patrol the streets of Port au Prince---this will give rise to an understandable nationalist outcry. US. ambassadors do not need to select politicians they deem to be best suited for Haiti's future---it is up to Haitians to set up their own governments."
All histories are partial, selective at best; some histories have an ethnic or ideological or gender bias. Presidents, generals and dictators are highlighted whereas the common person is neglected. Was Martin Luther King a good guy or a bad guy? Whites at a bible school cheered when King was assassinated because they saw him as a dangerous radical, a socialist or communist sympathizer; others, including myself, regard King as a good guy, an American hero living out love and justice. The same with Aristide: some see him as a bad guy posing as a good guy (Girard); other see Aristide as a genuine good guy. As history gets written, one will discover strong differences of opinion on many persons and issues. So a person needs to read several different histories of Haiti to gain a variety of perspectives.
Justin Podur writes the following about histories of Haiti:
"Sometimes [historical] narratives are created that cannot be reconciled with all the facts. Which facts are selected, or which facts emphasized, is a matter of ideology. From the facts of Haiti's politics from 2000-2010, or 2004-06 in particular, two different stories have been created, and propagated, in North America. One story is associated with most of the mainstream press, the governments of the U.S., Canada, and France, and a large number of well-funded non-governmental organizations in Haiti and internationally. This is a story of Haiti's President Jean-Bertrand Aristide getting elected, becoming a dictator, and leaving in the face of a popular uprising. The other story is associated with the ousted government of Aristide, its supporters . . . and a small number of independent journalists and researchers. This is a story of Aristide being undermined, overthrown in a coup, kidnapped, and the popular movement that brought him to power being brutalized."
Justin Podur, author of Haiti's New Dictatorship (2012), makes the same argument that Alexander did for the U.S. for Haiti, though not using the same language; dictatorships (systems of political and economic oppression) don't get eliminated, only redesigned, renamed, under new oppressors, the U.S. being one of the latest oppressors. In the Foreword, sociology professor William Robinson states it this way:
"In this world of globalized capitalism and U.S.-led intervention, dictatorship is called 'democracy' and enslavement is named 'freedom'. Nowhere is the cynical duplicity of the twenty-first century world order more apparent than in the travails of the Haitian people. This is a people who rose up in revolution two hundred years ago to throw off the shackles of slavery and who have not stopped struggling since to achieve a better life and defend its dignity, all the while in the face of successive dictatorships and foreign predation."
"Justin Podur now offers us a study on this struggle in its contemporary manifestations, examining the crucial period from 1991 to 2010. He traces the rise of the Lavalas movement of the poor majority under the leadership of Jean-Betrand Aristide and the implacable campaigns waged by the United States and other foreign agents to destroy this movement, overthrow Aristide, and reconstitute the power of a tiny local elite. He unmasks the transnationalization of U.S. intervention under the banner of 'donors', the United Nations, other international agencies, and the global media monopoly."
"The machinations of power and domination include state and paramilitary terrorism against the popular movement, systematic human rights violations, UN occupation, the orchestration of electoral shams, disinformation campaigns, and economic blackmail."
Next, a brief chronology of Haitian history:
* 1825-1947 payment of a huge reparation/idemnity debt to France; debt slavery replaced physical slavery; little money left over to invest in Haiti's economic growth and educational development. "Saddled by these crippling debts, Haiti was hardly able to move forward."
* 1915-34 U.S. Marines occupied Haiti for reasons of political and economic dominance.
* 1957-1986 Ruthless dictators, Papa Doc and Baby Doc, ruled with some U.S. support.
* 1986 Popular revolt overthrew Baby Doc.
* 1987 A good constitution was created.
* 1990 Aristide was elected, but he was opposed and overthrown by the Haitian elite and the U.S.
* 1991-94 The first coup against Aristide
* 1994 Aristide returns to govern, but U.S. undermines him.
* 2004 Aristide overthrown a second time with U.S. help.
* 2006-2010 Preval regime.
Brian Concannon, director of the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti, endorses Haiti's New Dictatorship in this way:
"Podur's book explains how a country that is nominally democratic suffers under the yoke of a 'New Dictatorship' in which international actors [primarily the U.S.] and their Haitian elite partners leave the majority of Haitians with little effective influence over their own economic and political affairs."
If you think the term dictatorship to describe current Haitian affairs is too strong, you might prefer dominance by a wealthy Haitian elite. The wealthy top one percent in any society have a good chance of dominating both the economic and political sectors, sometimes even the religious sector. During NT times, in a theocracy, a religio-politico-economic elite controlled and corrupted the Temple and turned it into a den of robbers. In 2014, in the U.S., in a democracy turned plutocracy, an economic elite controls or influences the political process either through buying elections or creating laws or through lobbying. In Haiti, since independence in 1804, an Haitian elite, usually through dictatorships, but recently through "democracy" in cooperation with foreign powers frustrate the democratic process in order to maintain political and economic control. Here is how Podur describes it:
"Haitians have lived under dictatorships for much of their recent history. As dictatorships do, they terrorized the population, bankrupted the treasury, and caused lasting damage to society. Haiti's best-known twentieth century dictators were the Dulvaliers, 'Papa Doc' and 'Baby Doc'. . . . The nightmare of the Duvalier dictatorships ended in 1986, when a popular movement, which came to be known as Lavalas, threw them out. Among the leaders of this movement was Jean-Bertrand Aristide, twice president of Haiti, twice overthrown in coups. . . . dictatorship has several elements: the use of violence and the centralization of power . . . also impunity . . . the violations of human rights go unpunished. . . . wealth, financial and economic power is concentrated in the interests of the regime. . . . According to these criteria, Haiti is again living under a dictatorship. This is true even though there were elections in 2006 and again in 2010/11, even though there is nominal freedom of press and assembly, and even though there is an extensive international aid effort in the country. As I will show, Haitians have no effective say over their own economic and political affairs. Their right to assemble and organize politically is sharply limited. Human rights violations are routine and go unpunished."
A government of the people, by the people, and for the people is a genuine democracy; a government of the elite, by the elite and for the elite is a plutocracy, not a democracy. Yes, there is pervasive poverty in Haiti; yes, there is crippling corruption in Haiti. But what is behind these social problems. Overwhelming political, economic, racial and gender systems of oppression, primarily the white/mulatto rich oppressing the black poor. And the greatest tragedy of all is that there are few Christians with enough depth of biblical insight into oppression and justice so they can both understand the fundamental problems and then chart the path, create a blueprint toward a biblical solution.
Helping the poor effectively is more difficult than most people realize. Love is not enough; wisdom is also needed to guide love. Charity alone is not good enough; justice is required to replace systems of oppression. Few efforts in Haiti, even by missionaries, church and NGOs, have included wisdom and justice. Two books, When Helping Hurts and Killing with Kindness, document the errors of many well-meaning efforts to do good. One of the best ministries at rebuilding poor communities is the Haiti Christian Development Fund; HCDF's 25 year story can be found in At Home With The Poor.
When governments like the U.S. try to "help" Haiti, national self-interest often gets in the way and such governments often ally themselves with the rich elite of Haiti. Far too often U.S. government oppressors combine with Haitian oppressors and the results are disastrous. I would estimate that 75-90 percent of U.S. government attempts to "help" Haiti have hurt Haiti. Such help frustrates democracy. The result of stupidity sometimes; deliberate oppressive interference much too often.
In reading Haiti's New Dictatorship and An Unbroken Agony, I often felt shame and disgust about what my country was doing and why. Our unjust interference has been so bad, that I even have thought about renouncing my citizenship if that would do any good. Now some nuggets from An Unbroken Agony:
"Such was the staggering global significance of the only successful slave revolt ever mounted in the Americas. As a direct result of what the Haitian revolutionaries did to free themselves, France lost two-thirds of its world trade income. Napolean Bonaparte, with uncharacteristic despair, declared France done with empire, and a financially strapped French government offered to sell the Louisiana Territory to the United States for the bargain price of $15 million."
"Even before France leveraged the weak new state with crushing financial reparations in 1825, the United States and western Europe---including the Vatican---moved . . .in 1804 to cripple the fledgling nation socially, politically, and economically. . . . Unsurprisingly, the black peasant community---impoverished by centuries of French slavery and devastated by the war that ended it---found itself in a state of perilous social disrepair [social death]."
"As late as 1915, 111 years after the successful slave revolt, some 80 percent of the Haitian government's resources were being paid out in debt service [debt slavery] to French and American banks on loans that had been made to enable Haiti to pay reparations to France."
"In 1922, seven years into a nineteen-year American military occupation of Haiti that resulted in 15,000 Haitian deaths, the United States imposed a $16 million loan on the Haitian government to pay off its 'debt' to France. The American loan was finally paid off in 1947. Haiti was left virtually bankrupt, its workforce in desperate straits. The Haitian economy has never recovered from the financial havoc France (and America) wreaked upon it, during and after slavery."
"When President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and his wife disappeared on February 29, 2004, nearly two hundred years and two months after Jean-Jacques Dessalines declared Haiti a free and independent republic, 1 percent of the country's people held 50 percent of the country's wealth. Slavery had long since ended, but the country's wealth concentrated in the closed fists of the very few whose families and descendants had seized and held onto it since the early 1700s. Into this harsh social landscape of intractable economic and political inequity, Jean-Bertrand Aristide was born poor and black in 1953 in the south of Haiti."
Chapter 9 which has no title so I have named it "Race and Class, Rich and Poor", I found the most enlightening chapter of the book. It describes the deep and lasting impact of racism/ethnocentrism and socioeconomic oppression. The author Randall Robinson is Afro American, a lawyer, author and civil rights activist who is willing to take great risks for the cause of human rights and justice. The following quotations are from chapter 9:
"In Haiti today [as in the past], color remains as insuperable a barrier to social progress as ever. . . . Before he [Aristide] was elected for the first time in 1990, Haiti had two categories of citizenship, with one or the other kind indelibly noted at birth on a newborn's birth certificate. . . . The first category . . . was reserved for white, mulattoes and the city-born of means. The second category of citizenship was reserved for [poor black] Haitians born in the countryside."
"Haiti is arguably the Caribbean's most racially segregated and class-riven society. Even elements of the international community who defend the unseemly excesses of Haiti's wealthy were often shocked by the breadth of the divide that separates Haiti's rich from its poor. Paradis said that 'the rich are so rich there. . . . but the poor is unbelievable'.
Tragically, the U.S. has done more to preserve the race/class/culture divide than it has to help provide liberty and justice for all Haitians. The church, not much better, for the most part.
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