New Systems of Oppression

The Puritans used violence against Native Americans, slaughtering whole villages, men, women and children.  This established a PATTERN of violence in American history---near genocide---for three centuries.  WASP's used violence against Afro American slaves for centuries.  Through violence, we "annexed" half of Mexican territory.  We have used military forces to dominate the Caribbean islands and Central American countries many times.  And there is the unwarranted use of violence against Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Haiti has a similar violent history beginning with the imperial/colonial Spanish, French and Americans.  This set a PATTERN for endless internal violence by Haitian leaders making democratic rule nearly impossible.  Most historical accounts of Haiti emphasize the external violence against Haiti---hundreds of years of oppression.  But there is also the internal violence highlighted by historian Girard.  Both external and internal violence have created what Orlando Patterson calls social death.

Both the U.S. and Haiti have alternated between freedom and oppression, seldom freedom and justice.  The British colonists who settled America practiced ruthless brutality against the Irish shortly before they came to the U.S.  Along with their Bibles, they brought generous amounts of ethnocentrism and oppression which they soon used against American Indians; they even called them "Irish."  The founding fathers violently obtained freedom from British domination, but internally, they did not establish justice for all; they did not "under God" provide "liberty and justice for all," for the poor, women, Native Americans and African Americans.

It took a violent Civil War to free the slaves, but Lincoln/Congress did not follow freedom with justice so soon neoslavery (segregation, sharecropping, incarceration and prison work gangs) became the new system of oppression.  Then the civil rights movement regained freedom for oppressed blacks, but the American church did not aggressively pursue justice so in the 1980s mass incarceration and the racial wealth gap replaced segregation as the new system of oppression.

American capitalism was a two-edged sword---marvelously productive, but often oppressive in the process.  There was enough respect for the Constitution, for law and order, that a climate of political stability was created; this created an environment for economic growth.

Haiti gained its freedom violently; political and economic violence then became a part of its history.  The oppressors changed faces, but the pattern was not one of justice.  Haiti has never consistently blended freedom and justice; even Aristide, who had the possibility of blending freedom with justice, soon resorted to abusive political power and the pursuit of money.

Neither the American church nor the Haitian church preaches and practices the gospel of kingdom of God justice.  Freedom without justice becomes hollow and shallow, often overcome by corrupt power and economic oppression.  There is a desperate need for a NT theology of society, a kingdom of God society, a beloved community built upon reconciliation and justice.