Is American history sanitized, sanctified by truths mixed with half-truths, myths and distortions? Have our violent revolutions been as successful as often portrayed in our history courses? Have we avoided asking hard questions such as:
1. Do violent revolutions leave a tragic heritage of violence in society?
2. Do violent revolutions achieve political freedom for all citizens or only for an elite in society?
3. Does the common citizen fight and die in a revolution that ends up benefiting the elite, few of whom die in the revolution?
4. Is political freedom without economic justice worth the enormous death and destruction of a violent revolution?
In my reading of both U.S. and Haitian history, I have concluded that each extremely violent revolution, including the American Civil War, left a heritage of continuing violence and oppression that has been normalized in each society. In the U.S., it has been violence in numerous unjust wars and against other ethnic groups. In Haiti, an endless stream of dictators from Dessalines (1804) to Baby Doc (1986) have legitimated, normalized violence.
Both Haiti and the U.S. have statues of liberty proudly proclaiming their hard fought political freedom. But in America, it was primarily the case of an American founding father elite replacing a British elite. The poor and women were second class citizens at our founding and in some ways still are today. America, despite eloquent myths to the contrary, never has really been a government of the people, by the people and for the people.
In Haiti, Haitian tyrants/dictators and urban elite replaced the French colonial elite. Poor peasants continued to be exploited, often treated as semi-slaves. Political freedom was seldom accompanied by economic justice. Political freedom without economic justice is shallow, superficial.
In neither the Haitian nor the American revolutions was political freedom followed by economic justice? Is the mix of political freedom and economic oppression/death worth a violent revolution? An expert on Black History told me that never in American history have blacks ever had economic justice. Even after black American slaves were freed, they were immediately homeless, foodless and landless. Free, but one historian estimates that up to a million freed slaves died of disease and starvation, not war. Freedom and death, but not freedom and economic justice.
The French colonists created an export oriented economic system built upon plantations, slaves and sugar to benefit the French. In 1804, the victorious Haitian slaves took the existing French economic system and tried to make it work again because Haiti desperately needed cash to buy guns to keep the French from reinvading. They needed cheap and plentiful labor to make the plantation system work. So General/Dictator Dessalines turned to 'militarized agriculture'; in other words, the reinstatement of slavery. Can Christians devise a better way built around the biblical kingdom of God?
Monday, February 27, 2017
Wednesday, February 22, 2017
Why Do American Christians Fail to End Oppression and Ethnocentrism?
America was born in ethnocentrism and oppression and these social evils are still widespread in 2017. The church is doing little to end these damaging social evils; our thundering silence gives consent.
In every Sunday School class in America, children are taught to love your neighbor and the story of the Good Samaritan; but this stories don't seem to stick. When these children become adults, they discriminate against blacks---200 plus years of slavery and 100 years of segregation---; this is a colossal failure to love your neighbor. They also committed Indian genocide, stole nearly half of Mexico's land, killed a million Filipinos; colossal failures to love our neighbors.
According to Luke, when Jesus began his public ministry he highlighted two serious social evils---economic oppression and religious ethnocentrism. In 4:25-30, Jesus interpreted two familiar Old Testament stories: Elijah ministering to a starving Gentile widow and Elisha healing a Gentile leper. The Nazareth Jews were so enraged about this ministry to Gentiles that they tried to kill Jesus on the spot. Religious ethnocentrism trumped love your Gentile neighbor.
In chapter nine, Jesus and his disciples were walking through Samaria on their way to Jerusalem. They needed a place to sleep, but a Samaritan village refused to let them stay overnight. Peter and John, two of Jesus' closest disciples, were incensed; they asked permission to call fire down from heaven to destroy this impertinent village. But Jesus rebuked his own disciples for their evil intentions; he did not rebuke the Samaritan village.
Shortly after this negative incident, Jesus told the famous story now called the story of the Good Samaritan. Do you think Peter and John got the point? The American church still hasn't got the point.
Do we all enjoying being superior, playing God? I recall that in the third grade classroom experiment on discrimination---blue eyes, brown eyes---the superior children caught on within 20 minutes to the benefits of superiority. Why do we so often choose the privileges of superiority over the responsibilities of love?
The other social evil---economic oppression---seems to be equally persistent and pervasive. It seems to me that nine out of ten American Christians choose the benefits of oppression over the biblical principles of love and justice.
According to Luke 4:18-19, the assignment of the Spirit-filled church is this: release the oppressed by doing Jubilee justice. At times, the American church does pretty well at temporarily relieving the pain of oppression by doing charity. A good first step, but also a deceptive one if the church thinks its task is done. But the command is release, not just relieve. Release means to end oppression, not just put a band aid on.
The American church has a shallow theology of oppression, justice and the present and social dimensions of the kingdom of God. Most of the abolitionists failed to connect freedom with justice.
The book of James has the best description of oppression in the NT, but James 5:1-6 is ignored. 5:1-6 is a powerful word to the "arrogant rich" who in "piling up wealth" have "piled up judgment. How have they done so? "All the workers you've exploited and cheated cry out for judgment." Also "the groans of the workers you used and abused."
James 1:27 declares the pure religion ministers to the oppressed poor, i.e., orphans and widows. But the churches were doing the exact opposite! They were honoring the rich IN CHURCH and they were segregating the poor and the rich IN CHURCH.
Later in James 2, James tells the godless church it should combine love and justice, faith and works. So again the question for the American church is: Why do Christians so often choose religious ethnocentrism over love and justice? Why do we choose economic oppression over love and justice?
In every Sunday School class in America, children are taught to love your neighbor and the story of the Good Samaritan; but this stories don't seem to stick. When these children become adults, they discriminate against blacks---200 plus years of slavery and 100 years of segregation---; this is a colossal failure to love your neighbor. They also committed Indian genocide, stole nearly half of Mexico's land, killed a million Filipinos; colossal failures to love our neighbors.
According to Luke, when Jesus began his public ministry he highlighted two serious social evils---economic oppression and religious ethnocentrism. In 4:25-30, Jesus interpreted two familiar Old Testament stories: Elijah ministering to a starving Gentile widow and Elisha healing a Gentile leper. The Nazareth Jews were so enraged about this ministry to Gentiles that they tried to kill Jesus on the spot. Religious ethnocentrism trumped love your Gentile neighbor.
In chapter nine, Jesus and his disciples were walking through Samaria on their way to Jerusalem. They needed a place to sleep, but a Samaritan village refused to let them stay overnight. Peter and John, two of Jesus' closest disciples, were incensed; they asked permission to call fire down from heaven to destroy this impertinent village. But Jesus rebuked his own disciples for their evil intentions; he did not rebuke the Samaritan village.
Shortly after this negative incident, Jesus told the famous story now called the story of the Good Samaritan. Do you think Peter and John got the point? The American church still hasn't got the point.
Do we all enjoying being superior, playing God? I recall that in the third grade classroom experiment on discrimination---blue eyes, brown eyes---the superior children caught on within 20 minutes to the benefits of superiority. Why do we so often choose the privileges of superiority over the responsibilities of love?
The other social evil---economic oppression---seems to be equally persistent and pervasive. It seems to me that nine out of ten American Christians choose the benefits of oppression over the biblical principles of love and justice.
According to Luke 4:18-19, the assignment of the Spirit-filled church is this: release the oppressed by doing Jubilee justice. At times, the American church does pretty well at temporarily relieving the pain of oppression by doing charity. A good first step, but also a deceptive one if the church thinks its task is done. But the command is release, not just relieve. Release means to end oppression, not just put a band aid on.
The American church has a shallow theology of oppression, justice and the present and social dimensions of the kingdom of God. Most of the abolitionists failed to connect freedom with justice.
The book of James has the best description of oppression in the NT, but James 5:1-6 is ignored. 5:1-6 is a powerful word to the "arrogant rich" who in "piling up wealth" have "piled up judgment. How have they done so? "All the workers you've exploited and cheated cry out for judgment." Also "the groans of the workers you used and abused."
James 1:27 declares the pure religion ministers to the oppressed poor, i.e., orphans and widows. But the churches were doing the exact opposite! They were honoring the rich IN CHURCH and they were segregating the poor and the rich IN CHURCH.
Later in James 2, James tells the godless church it should combine love and justice, faith and works. So again the question for the American church is: Why do Christians so often choose religious ethnocentrism over love and justice? Why do we choose economic oppression over love and justice?
Tuesday, February 21, 2017
Haiti and James: Where Was The Church?
Systems of oppression can continue on largely unchallenged and unchanged for generations. Two U.S. systems of oppression come to mind: the wealth gap doubled under President Reagan. The unjust and damaging wealth gap continued on under Presidents Bush, Clinton, Bush and Obama. Neither a Democratic nor a Republican president ended economic inequality. The same could be said of the unjust mass incarceration of young black males. The American church did little to stop either system of oppression.
The rich-poor wealth gap was terrible during New Testament times. This is why the book of James was fiercely anti-rich. James 5 describes the oppression with this strong language:
"A final word to you arrogant rich: Take some lessons in lament. You'll need buckets for the tears when the crash comes upon you. Your money is corrupt and your fine clothes stink. Your greedy luxuries are a cancer in your gut, destroying your life from within. You thought you were piling up wealth. What you piled up is judgment.
"All the workers you've exploited and cheated [oppressed] cry out for judgment. The groans of the workers you've used and abused are a roar in the ears of the Master Avenger. You've looted the earth and lived it up. But all you'll have to show for it is a fatter than usual corpse. In fact, what you have done is condemn and murder perfectly good persons, who stand there and take it." The Message.
And to top it off, the church itself was imitating the godless world---honoring the rich oppressors and disrespecting the oppressed poor. See James, chapter two.
Unfortunately, this passage of Scripture accurately describes the nation of Haiti; read Haiti, State Against Nation. A small, rich, urban elite controls the economic system of Haiti; they have exploited the poor peasants for generations. Papa Doc and Baby Doc were brutal, corrupt dictators, but the economic oppression started well before and continued after their dictatorships. Haiti has long suffered from an enduring and deep-seated system of oppression. Where was the church?
Some quotations from the book, Haiti: State Against Nation:
"At the bottom of the social scale, but vitally important for the entire nation, was a peasantry divided into several strata: landless people, sharecroppers, small proprietors and rich peasants. Together, these men and women did the work and furnished almost all the country's wealth. . . . most of the fruits of the peasantry's toil were seized by the alliance of the rulers and merchants and transferred abroad. In Haiti, the peasantry is the nation.
"Any solution to the Haitian crisis must face the peasant question. It must find its roots in the resources of that peasantry, the very same resources that have contributed to the fortunes of thousands of Haitians and foreigners during a century and a half of unbridled exploitation."
The rich-poor wealth gap was terrible during New Testament times. This is why the book of James was fiercely anti-rich. James 5 describes the oppression with this strong language:
"A final word to you arrogant rich: Take some lessons in lament. You'll need buckets for the tears when the crash comes upon you. Your money is corrupt and your fine clothes stink. Your greedy luxuries are a cancer in your gut, destroying your life from within. You thought you were piling up wealth. What you piled up is judgment.
"All the workers you've exploited and cheated [oppressed] cry out for judgment. The groans of the workers you've used and abused are a roar in the ears of the Master Avenger. You've looted the earth and lived it up. But all you'll have to show for it is a fatter than usual corpse. In fact, what you have done is condemn and murder perfectly good persons, who stand there and take it." The Message.
And to top it off, the church itself was imitating the godless world---honoring the rich oppressors and disrespecting the oppressed poor. See James, chapter two.
Unfortunately, this passage of Scripture accurately describes the nation of Haiti; read Haiti, State Against Nation. A small, rich, urban elite controls the economic system of Haiti; they have exploited the poor peasants for generations. Papa Doc and Baby Doc were brutal, corrupt dictators, but the economic oppression started well before and continued after their dictatorships. Haiti has long suffered from an enduring and deep-seated system of oppression. Where was the church?
Some quotations from the book, Haiti: State Against Nation:
"At the bottom of the social scale, but vitally important for the entire nation, was a peasantry divided into several strata: landless people, sharecroppers, small proprietors and rich peasants. Together, these men and women did the work and furnished almost all the country's wealth. . . . most of the fruits of the peasantry's toil were seized by the alliance of the rulers and merchants and transferred abroad. In Haiti, the peasantry is the nation.
"Any solution to the Haitian crisis must face the peasant question. It must find its roots in the resources of that peasantry, the very same resources that have contributed to the fortunes of thousands of Haitians and foreigners during a century and a half of unbridled exploitation."
Saturday, February 18, 2017
U.S. Elite and Haiti Elite
When our founding fathers fought the Revolutionary War and won, an American elite of rich, white males replaced the British elite of rich, white males. White, Anglo-Saxon ethnocentrism and oppression against Native Americans, African slaves, women and the poor continued; the Revolution, supposedly fought for freedom for all, did not end ethnocentrism and oppression.
Much the same thing happened in Haiti. Haitian oppressors replaced French oppressors. The plantation/slave economic system the French established---sugar and coffee as export crops---and the taxation system set up, tariffs on exports and imports, was continued by the victorious Haitian General Dessalines. Apart from garden crops for subsistence, there was no other economic system---only the one the French had established. There was no other taxation system for the new Haitian government to use to buy arms to prevent the French from reinvading Haiti. Neocolonials continued the economic and tax system the French colonialist had set up.
Next, some quotations from the book Haiti: State Against Nation:
"Up to 1802, in the name of the state, revolutionary generals brought back into cultivation many plantations abandoned by their white owners, encouraged white planters to remain on others, and imposed on a population devoted to the peasant labor process a repressive labor system the Haitian historians have baptized ("militarized agriculture."). To the newly liberated masses, the work regime instituted by the revolutionary state was not so different from the slavery they thought they had left behind."
"The leaders wanted export crops; the [peasant] cultivators wanted land and food. The leaders wanted a country with plantations expanding on hundreds of acres; the cultivators dreamed simply of larger garden crops."
"If Haitian leaders showed contempt for the [peasant] masses, European and U.S. leaders showed contempt for all Haitians, leaders and masses alike, and a total disdain for the independence they had so courageously won."
"Haiti was an agricultural exporter, yet imported primarily agricultural products. . . . It was a country born of a revolutionary war, yet one subordinated to the military powers of Europe and the United States."
During the 1700s, the French colonists set up an export-import oriented economy; the same with the tax system.
During the 1800s, the Haitian elite, generals, dictators continued the same economic and taxation system.
During the 2000s, Haiti imports around 50 percent of its food, and most of its taxes come from customs duties.
Conclusion
1. The oppressive historical past haunts the sociological present.
2. In most cases, systems of oppression don't really end; they merely get redesigned and run by new oppressors.
Much the same thing happened in Haiti. Haitian oppressors replaced French oppressors. The plantation/slave economic system the French established---sugar and coffee as export crops---and the taxation system set up, tariffs on exports and imports, was continued by the victorious Haitian General Dessalines. Apart from garden crops for subsistence, there was no other economic system---only the one the French had established. There was no other taxation system for the new Haitian government to use to buy arms to prevent the French from reinvading Haiti. Neocolonials continued the economic and tax system the French colonialist had set up.
Next, some quotations from the book Haiti: State Against Nation:
"Up to 1802, in the name of the state, revolutionary generals brought back into cultivation many plantations abandoned by their white owners, encouraged white planters to remain on others, and imposed on a population devoted to the peasant labor process a repressive labor system the Haitian historians have baptized ("militarized agriculture."). To the newly liberated masses, the work regime instituted by the revolutionary state was not so different from the slavery they thought they had left behind."
"The leaders wanted export crops; the [peasant] cultivators wanted land and food. The leaders wanted a country with plantations expanding on hundreds of acres; the cultivators dreamed simply of larger garden crops."
"If Haitian leaders showed contempt for the [peasant] masses, European and U.S. leaders showed contempt for all Haitians, leaders and masses alike, and a total disdain for the independence they had so courageously won."
"Haiti was an agricultural exporter, yet imported primarily agricultural products. . . . It was a country born of a revolutionary war, yet one subordinated to the military powers of Europe and the United States."
During the 1700s, the French colonists set up an export-import oriented economy; the same with the tax system.
During the 1800s, the Haitian elite, generals, dictators continued the same economic and taxation system.
During the 2000s, Haiti imports around 50 percent of its food, and most of its taxes come from customs duties.
Conclusion
1. The oppressive historical past haunts the sociological present.
2. In most cases, systems of oppression don't really end; they merely get redesigned and run by new oppressors.
Friday, February 17, 2017
Haiti and the U.S.: Mythologies About Freedom
In both Haiti and the U.S., citizens wax eloquent about the glory of freedom with some justification; both fought vigorously to gain their freedom. But much of their talk about freedom is divorced from the brutal reality of oppression and may even serve unintentionally as cover for oppression.
In the U.S., after the abolitionist movement, the Emancipation Proclamation and the brutal Civil War, free slaves walked off their plantations. As they crossed the property lines, instantly the freed slaves became homeless, foodless and landless. Hungry and subject to disease, these freed slaves died in large numbers; one scholar estimates a million slaves died. Freedom and death, an odd coupling. For a brief period of time after the Emancipation, freedom and justice were combined as Jubilee justice or "40 Acres and a mule." Soon this brief experiment with justice vanished. For most of U.S. history, freedom and justice have not been combined. Instead, it has been freedom and black inferiority, freedom and black oppression, freedom and black death.
In the book, Haiti: after the quake, there is a foreword titled Neg Mawon with a picture of the Haitian statue of liberty. The foreword is written by a Haitian, Joia S. Mukherjee; it is a combination of honest history and eloquent mythology.
The first two paragraphs are the most concise, accurate statement about Haitian history that I have seen---about the righteous revolution of slaves, about the unending history of oppression. Strangely, this essay then moves from honest history to eloquent mythology "about what makes Haiti mighty: mighty without material wealth, without natural resources, without arable land, without arms." In other words, mighty in its poverty, illiteracy and inadequate nutrition!!
The earthquake did not destroy the free man Neg Mawon; "He symbolizes the complex history of the Haitian people: stolen from Africa, marooned on an island, and liberated through a brave and radical revolution. . . . Neg Mawon is the indefatigable spirit of the Haitian people. . . . a country whose spirit and people will never be broken."
But missing from this eloquent mythology is a statement about the Haitian church becoming an instrument of Jubilee justice that release the oppressed poor, a church that has combined freedom and justice. Haiti will become mighty only if justice is added to the mix. Mighty only if community development educates the illiterate, feeds the hungry and heals the sick.
The American church has also failed to end oppression, to do justice. An elegant mythology about our founding fathers who were oppressors will not release the oppressed, heal the trauma.
Neither eloquent historical mythology (freedom without justice) nor flawed Reformation theology (justification without justice) will release the oppressed. For 500 years since the Reformation, white European ethnocentrism and oppression have ravaged the world, killing and enslaving multiplied millions of person created in the image of God.
Graham Cray, author of an article "A Theology of the Kingdom," discusses the need for intervening justice; Cray writes: "The king was expected to make active intervention on behalf of those who could not secure justice for themselves. . . . Many other psalms link God's rule with a justice which actively intervenes on behalf of the weak and oppressed. . . . The prophets also portrayed God as the one who intervened to bring justice. . . . God's king (Jesus) will intervene to bring justice. . . . Jubilee . . . the image of an intervention to restore justice is clear."
In the U.S., after the abolitionist movement, the Emancipation Proclamation and the brutal Civil War, free slaves walked off their plantations. As they crossed the property lines, instantly the freed slaves became homeless, foodless and landless. Hungry and subject to disease, these freed slaves died in large numbers; one scholar estimates a million slaves died. Freedom and death, an odd coupling. For a brief period of time after the Emancipation, freedom and justice were combined as Jubilee justice or "40 Acres and a mule." Soon this brief experiment with justice vanished. For most of U.S. history, freedom and justice have not been combined. Instead, it has been freedom and black inferiority, freedom and black oppression, freedom and black death.
In the book, Haiti: after the quake, there is a foreword titled Neg Mawon with a picture of the Haitian statue of liberty. The foreword is written by a Haitian, Joia S. Mukherjee; it is a combination of honest history and eloquent mythology.
The first two paragraphs are the most concise, accurate statement about Haitian history that I have seen---about the righteous revolution of slaves, about the unending history of oppression. Strangely, this essay then moves from honest history to eloquent mythology "about what makes Haiti mighty: mighty without material wealth, without natural resources, without arable land, without arms." In other words, mighty in its poverty, illiteracy and inadequate nutrition!!
The earthquake did not destroy the free man Neg Mawon; "He symbolizes the complex history of the Haitian people: stolen from Africa, marooned on an island, and liberated through a brave and radical revolution. . . . Neg Mawon is the indefatigable spirit of the Haitian people. . . . a country whose spirit and people will never be broken."
But missing from this eloquent mythology is a statement about the Haitian church becoming an instrument of Jubilee justice that release the oppressed poor, a church that has combined freedom and justice. Haiti will become mighty only if justice is added to the mix. Mighty only if community development educates the illiterate, feeds the hungry and heals the sick.
The American church has also failed to end oppression, to do justice. An elegant mythology about our founding fathers who were oppressors will not release the oppressed, heal the trauma.
Neither eloquent historical mythology (freedom without justice) nor flawed Reformation theology (justification without justice) will release the oppressed. For 500 years since the Reformation, white European ethnocentrism and oppression have ravaged the world, killing and enslaving multiplied millions of person created in the image of God.
Graham Cray, author of an article "A Theology of the Kingdom," discusses the need for intervening justice; Cray writes: "The king was expected to make active intervention on behalf of those who could not secure justice for themselves. . . . Many other psalms link God's rule with a justice which actively intervenes on behalf of the weak and oppressed. . . . The prophets also portrayed God as the one who intervened to bring justice. . . . God's king (Jesus) will intervene to bring justice. . . . Jubilee . . . the image of an intervention to restore justice is clear."
Thursday, February 16, 2017
Haitian Peasants: Victims of Oppression
This blog, Haitian Peasants: Victims of Centuries of Oppression, is based on my summary and interpretation of the book Haiti: State Against Nation by the Haitian anthropologist, Trouillot.
External Oppressors
1. Spain
1492-1697: 200 years of Spanish genocide and slavery.
2. France
1697-1804: 100 years of French slavery.
1825-1945: 100 plus years of French debt slavery, extortion.
1825-1900: French neocolonialism.
3. United States
1804-1862: diplomatic and political blockade/ isolation of Haiti, but not trade isolation.
1821: U.S.merchants supplied 45 percent of Haitian imports.
1862: U.S. diplomatic recognition of Haiti.
1890: U.S. supplied two thirds of Haitian imports.
1915-1934: U.S. military. political and economic occupation of Haiti.
1957-1986: U.S. support of the ruthless dictators, Papa Doc and Baby Doc.
1986-2017: Continued U.S. neocolonialism of Haiti, direct economic exploitation.
Internal Oppressors
1804-1986: long string of dictators, from Dessalines to the Duvaliers.
1804-1986: overly militarized nation, no democracy.
1804-1986: widespread violence.
1825-2017: rich, urban elite.
1825-2017: discriminatory customs taxes on imports and exports targeting peasants.
Internal Oppressed
1697-1804: Haitian slaves.
1804-2017: Haitian peasants, economic semi-slaves.
Oppression Conclusions
1. Often external and internal oppressors cooperated, colluded against slaves and peasants.
2. To my knowledge, no other country in the history of the world has experienced 500 years of unrelenting, traumatizing oppression, both external and internal oppression.
3. Even worse, during these 500 years of oppression, the church has ignored the 555 references to oppression in the OT and the 100 references to justice in the NT. The church has done little to end Haitian oppression, nor has the church done Jubilee justice in Haiti.
Anthropologist Timothy Schwartz:
"I've spent the past twenty years living and working as a part of the aid industry. Like so many people who've worked here, a sense of frustration and failure haunts me. I've watched the country sink deeper into a quagmire of misery and despair while I've accomplished nothing tangible to stop the process."
Fruits of Oppression
1. Poverty
2. Illiteracy
3. Corruption
4. Illness: According to Paul Farmer, 75 percent of Haitian voodoo is an ill-informed, desperate attempt to be healed. When there is access to modern medicine, Haitians will wait in line hours to see a doctor.
Three Requirements for Success in Haiti on Rebuilding Oppressed Communities
1. Biblically informed indigenous leaders; Isaiah 58:6ff and Luke 4:18-30.
2. Biblically informed community development; release the oppressed by doing justice.
OT Sabbatical/Jubilee laws that freed slaves. and canceled debts every seven years, restored land
every 50 years. NT kingdom justice: Mt. 6:33 "Set your mind on God's kingdom and his justice" NEB. Also Messianic passages in Isaiah: 9:7; 11:1-4; 16:5; 28:16-17; 42:1-4; 61:1-4. Also James, chapter two.
3. Minister in an oppressed community long term---at least a generation. There are no effective short term solutions to long term individual, family and community trauma.
External Oppressors
1. Spain
1492-1697: 200 years of Spanish genocide and slavery.
2. France
1697-1804: 100 years of French slavery.
1825-1945: 100 plus years of French debt slavery, extortion.
1825-1900: French neocolonialism.
3. United States
1804-1862: diplomatic and political blockade/ isolation of Haiti, but not trade isolation.
1821: U.S.merchants supplied 45 percent of Haitian imports.
1862: U.S. diplomatic recognition of Haiti.
1890: U.S. supplied two thirds of Haitian imports.
1915-1934: U.S. military. political and economic occupation of Haiti.
1957-1986: U.S. support of the ruthless dictators, Papa Doc and Baby Doc.
1986-2017: Continued U.S. neocolonialism of Haiti, direct economic exploitation.
Internal Oppressors
1804-1986: long string of dictators, from Dessalines to the Duvaliers.
1804-1986: overly militarized nation, no democracy.
1804-1986: widespread violence.
1825-2017: rich, urban elite.
1825-2017: discriminatory customs taxes on imports and exports targeting peasants.
Internal Oppressed
1697-1804: Haitian slaves.
1804-2017: Haitian peasants, economic semi-slaves.
Oppression Conclusions
1. Often external and internal oppressors cooperated, colluded against slaves and peasants.
2. To my knowledge, no other country in the history of the world has experienced 500 years of unrelenting, traumatizing oppression, both external and internal oppression.
3. Even worse, during these 500 years of oppression, the church has ignored the 555 references to oppression in the OT and the 100 references to justice in the NT. The church has done little to end Haitian oppression, nor has the church done Jubilee justice in Haiti.
Anthropologist Timothy Schwartz:
"I've spent the past twenty years living and working as a part of the aid industry. Like so many people who've worked here, a sense of frustration and failure haunts me. I've watched the country sink deeper into a quagmire of misery and despair while I've accomplished nothing tangible to stop the process."
Fruits of Oppression
1. Poverty
2. Illiteracy
3. Corruption
4. Illness: According to Paul Farmer, 75 percent of Haitian voodoo is an ill-informed, desperate attempt to be healed. When there is access to modern medicine, Haitians will wait in line hours to see a doctor.
Three Requirements for Success in Haiti on Rebuilding Oppressed Communities
1. Biblically informed indigenous leaders; Isaiah 58:6ff and Luke 4:18-30.
2. Biblically informed community development; release the oppressed by doing justice.
OT Sabbatical/Jubilee laws that freed slaves. and canceled debts every seven years, restored land
every 50 years. NT kingdom justice: Mt. 6:33 "Set your mind on God's kingdom and his justice" NEB. Also Messianic passages in Isaiah: 9:7; 11:1-4; 16:5; 28:16-17; 42:1-4; 61:1-4. Also James, chapter two.
3. Minister in an oppressed community long term---at least a generation. There are no effective short term solutions to long term individual, family and community trauma.
Monday, February 6, 2017
Condensed Version of Haitian History
Condensed Version of Haitian History
1. Founded by a righteous, but violent, slave revolution.
2. Traumatized in very way by 500 years of oppression.
3. Feared by Thomas Jefferson as potential terrorists.
4. Extorted by France for billions.
5. Disrespected by the U.S. and internal dictators.
6. Re-shackled continually, politically and economically.
7. Failed by missions preaching and practicing a non-kingdom of God gospel.
8. Unrelenting struggle for freedom and justice by a proud people.
9. Rebuilding Fond-des-Blancs through Christian Community Development.
1. Founded by a righteous, but violent, slave revolution.
2. Traumatized in very way by 500 years of oppression.
3. Feared by Thomas Jefferson as potential terrorists.
4. Extorted by France for billions.
5. Disrespected by the U.S. and internal dictators.
6. Re-shackled continually, politically and economically.
7. Failed by missions preaching and practicing a non-kingdom of God gospel.
8. Unrelenting struggle for freedom and justice by a proud people.
9. Rebuilding Fond-des-Blancs through Christian Community Development.
Build the Wall
I fully support the grand idea a building a Wall on our southern border. I think Mexico will gladly pay for it.
As for the Wall, I want to build it 50 feet wider, 50 feet deeper and 100 feet higher than the planned Wall.
But there is one problem with the proposed Wall; it is illegal to build it on an illegal border. My Wall would be built on a legal border---on the north border of Texas, on the north border of Arizona, on the north border of California.
Mexico would regain half of its territory taken at gunpoint during the 1840s; so Mexico would gladly pay for this wall.
PS. At every milepost, on top of this wall, I would mount an anti-aircraft gun, facing north.
As for the Wall, I want to build it 50 feet wider, 50 feet deeper and 100 feet higher than the planned Wall.
But there is one problem with the proposed Wall; it is illegal to build it on an illegal border. My Wall would be built on a legal border---on the north border of Texas, on the north border of Arizona, on the north border of California.
Mexico would regain half of its territory taken at gunpoint during the 1840s; so Mexico would gladly pay for this wall.
PS. At every milepost, on top of this wall, I would mount an anti-aircraft gun, facing north.
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