History of Haiti---In Broad Strokes
In Luke 1:53 (The Message), Mary is speaking, echoing the Old Testament teaching on the Sabbath and Jubilee justice years:
"The starving poor sat down to a banquet, the callous rich were left out in the cold."
From Randall Robinson, An Unbroken Agony; quoting Canadian Denis Paradis: "the [Haitian] rich are so rich. . . . " Robinson summarizes Haitian history in this way: Haiti is "arguably the Caribbean's most racially segregated and class-riven society." In 2004, Robinson wrote: "Slavery had long since ended, but the country's wealth remained concentrated in the closed fists of the very few whose families and descendants had seized and held onto it since the early 1700s."
From Acts 4:32-35, The Message:
"The whole congregation of believers was united as one. . . . They didn't even claim ownership of their own possessions. No one said, 'That's mine, you can't have it.' They shared everything. . . . not a person among them was needy."
Haiti has been oppressed for 500 years by "Christian" nations:
1500-1700 Spanish oppression: Indian genocide and African slavery.
1700-1804 French oppression: African slaves.
1804-1900+ French oppression: Debt slavery.
1804-1900 Joint U.S. and French oppression
1900-2014 U.S. the dominant oppressor; Haiti was our political and economic puppet; our rich allied with the Haitian rich.
When the Haitian slaves revolted and threw out the French, the slave trade from Africa as well as the British and American slavery was going strong. The new Haitian nation was ostracized and feared by all western nations, but especially so in America. American slave owners feared a similar revolt in America. For the past 200 years, America has tried to control, directly or indirectly, Haitian politics and economics. For our benefit, with the Haitian oppressed poor the victims. Domination and dictatorships prevented democracy from taking hold.
Rebuild and Release
Luke 4:18 calls the church to "release the oppressed." Christian Community Development excels at rebuilding poor communities, but normally it does little to pressure the rich oppressors to release the oppressed. Amos, Isaiah and Jeremiah, also Jesus (read all of Luke) as well as Gandhi and King did pressure the rich oppressors to release the oppressed. In order to end the unbroken agony of Haiti's poor, the church must do both: rebuild poor communities and also release the oppressed. The unrepentant rich must be exposed and challenged.
Contrary to popular and scholarly opinion, systems of oppression in both Haiti and the U.S., really don't get eliminated, only redesigned. The redesigned system remains in the control of the rich oppressors. The church has not followed Jesus' order to release the oppressed. Far too often, religious people have participated in the oppression (the Temple and the Pharisees), honored the oppressors (James 2), or ignored the oppression (spirituality without justice, Isaiah 58).
Releasing the poor by doing CCD is a good and necessary reform; releasing the oppressed requires revolutionary transformation, a radical leveling of the socioeconomic patterns (Sabbath year, Jubilee year). President Lincoln freed the slaves, a necessary reform, but he did not destroy the ideology of white supremacy, white superiority. Lincoln himself believed in white superiority; his ideal solution to the 'race problem' was to send freed slaves back to Africa, not to send white oppressors back to Europe. Lincoln never repented and changed his belief in white superiority; neither did most white abolitionists.
Paul Farmer has written a book on the history of Haiti entitled The Uses of Haiti, 1994; the following excerpts are from his book:
Yolanda Jean, a Haitian refuge detained on Guantanamo, is quoted: "look at what [the U.S.] did to us in 1915 [Marine occupation], and I'd respond 'But that was a long time ago, and things have changed.' And yet I've come to see that there really hasn't been any change. . . . We are not human to them. . . . They use us as they see fit."
"The Uses of Haiti is a critique of U.S. foreign policy toward the [oppressed] poor not only of Haiti, but of all of Latin America."
Jonathan Kozol said this about The Uses of Haiti: it "reveals the limitless brutality with which the richest nation in the Western Hemisphere has fostered misery and death within the poorest." He uses words such as "ruthlessness," "collusion with the agents of state terror," and "crushing Haiti's people." Sounds like Pharaoh in Exodus 1.
Noam Chomsky says: "It tells the truth about what has been happening in Haiti, and the U.S. role in its bitter fate."
"Haiti was once a virtual paradise, rich in resources. . . . now it is the very symbol of hopelessness and despair."
"Woodrow Wilson's invasion of Haiti . . . reinstituted virtual slavery " for 19 years.
"Most journalistic writing is filled with potent myths, distortions, half-truths."
"The U.S. and Haiti are something other than the richest and poorest countries in the hemisphere; they are also its two oldest republics. Rarely, in fact, have two countries been as closely linked. Haitians, by and large, are fully aware of this historical fact. But the citizens of the U.S., by and large, are oblivious to these links."
"Despite its nominal independence, Haiti could not escape the shackles of foreign domination."
Thomas Jefferson once said, "I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just."
CUBA AND THE UNITED STATES
Are Haiti and Cuba geographically much too close to the U.S. for their own good? I am afraid so; past history is a tragic story of domination, exploitation and oppression. Without U.S. repentance and change, which is highly unlikely, the future is likely to be more of the same. Despite pious, self-righteous talk about exporting democracy, the reality will be domination; unjust actions speak much louder than eloquent words about freedom and democracy.
From 1492 to 1902, Spain dominated and exploited Cuba.
From 1902 to 1959, the U.S dominated along with internal dictators.
From 1959 to 2014, the Castros and Communism.
From Indian genocide to African enslavement (ended in 1896). Prior to the Spanish American war, "Cuba was particularly dependent on the United States which bought 82 percent of its sugar." In the 1930s, the Spanish made up 10 to 20 percent of Cuba's population. "By 1895, these capital investments [U.S.] totaled $50 million dollars in sugar, tobacco and mining. Although Cuba remained Spanish politically, economically it became increasingly dependent on the United States." In 1898, Congress declared war on Spain to "liberate Cuba."
Thomas Jefferson, the American tyrant who owned hundreds of slave, probably raped slave women, initiated the idea of the Indian Removal Act as early as 1776 resulting in many Trails of Tears. Jefferson also wanted to "annex" (conquer and colonize) Cuba. At the same time, he had the gall to criticize British tyranny, to write a declaration of independence from British tyranny. Utter hypocrisy! The tyrant demanding freedom at the same time he was oppressing others.
I am glad T.J. was a deist, not a theist; I would be embarrassed to have him as a fellow theist. But the Puritans were theists equally as ethnocentric and oppressive so what difference does it make.
The Revolutionary War replaced one set of tyrants with another set of tyrants, a British WASP elite with an American WASP elite, a government of the elite, by the elite and for the elite; more plutocracy than democracy. So Cuba is in great danger of the American 1 percent swallowing it up economically and indirectly politically. The Caribbean, after all, is an American lake with all the islands our pawns, our puppets. Neo-colonialism make borders quite irrelevant.
Repentance by the self-righteous American nation is quite rare; president Carter is one exception; he did give the Canal back to Panama. But I am afraid that Cuba will have to make an unpleasant choice between neo-colonialism and communism. I doubt that the U.S. will remain neutral. Cuba is too tempting a materialistic target. The U.S. will cast a huge dark shadow over Cuba, dimming the bright tropical sun.
I will let the Reverend Bill McGill, Afro American pastor from Des Moines, Iowa, have the final word (1996):
"The Christian Coalition should stop preaching the lie that this country was founded on 'Christian' principles and values, and teach their children that only a godless people would be responsible for Indian genocide and African enslavement."
So beware, Cuba and Haiti. Be very wary of the endless, pious propaganda about America being a Christian nation. It never has been; it is not now. It is a godless, pseudo Christian nation. A few scattered biblical followers of Jesus Christ and his just kingdom, but until there is massive repentance and restitution on the scale of the city of Nineveh, God can not and will not bless America.
America, do justice or face judgment; the time is short.
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