World owes more to Haiti than people know
Americans are so generous.
Whenever international disaster strikes, America drops her problems and comes to the rescue with her red, white and blue cape.
We should be proud of ourselves, right? Let’s give ourselves a pat on the back.
How about giving them something more? Try everything that America and other countries have stolen from them in the first place.
The Nation of Haiti (formerly known as Hispaniola) was “discovered” by Christopher Columbus in December of 1492.
The Taino Indians already living in the area were coerced into slavery after the land was colonized and stripped of its gold.
Upon the arrival of the Europeans, new chronic infectious diseases were introduced to the Caribbean community.
The immune system of the Indians were unfamiliar with these diseases, which resulted in thousands of deaths.
As the Taino Indians were on the verge of extinction, the Spaniards needed a way to keep slavery productive to keep their economy stable.
After King Charles V authorized drafting African slaves, the first ships of Africans were brought around 1517.
Decades later, France came onto the scene and attempted to colonize Hispaniola.
Without any major dispute, France and Spain divided the land with the 1697 Treaty of Ryswick. It is one of the reasons why the people of Haiti are still fighting in civil wars today. France sucked the remaining wealth from the land.
The slaves didn’t gain independence until they revolted in 1804 in the Haitian Revolution.
It didn’t take long before other countries attempted to intervene with Haiti’s affairs.
That’s when the United States passed the Monroe Doctrine — stating that Europeans can’t intervene with the affairs of the Americas and failure to obey will result in America intervention.
The United States occupied Haiti from 1915-1934, protecting it from other countries while the U.S. took its small perks from the nation.
After the U.S. withdrew from Haiti, the nation never settled the perpetual corruption to develop a stable government.
Haiti was robbed, colonized and abandoned. Sounds like the African story.
America’s European ancestors colonized this nation, and now America has her back turned away from Haiti as if it’s not her problem.
Christian Televangelist Pat Robertson had the nerve to say that Haiti is being punished due to its pact with the devil.
How much more punishment can Haiti take after being colonized, robbed and depleted by a natural disaster? Those people were lost before the earthquake and nobody cared.
After the media flooded our televisions with coverage of the tragedy, Americans got out their cell phones and donated their money to aid the victims.
Yet we complain about the recession and how nobody has any money.
Aren’t we great? We possibly saved a life only using our fingers. If you were asked to fly to Haiti to volunteer, would you go?
America contributed to the poverty of this nation. Maybe we should pray for people to stand up and give back what their ancestors stole from them.
