#2950: Antoine responds to another comment on Chirac's claim (fwd)

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From: Guy Antoine <GuyAntoine@windowsonhaiti.com>

Medard's correspondent claims:
"On the contrary, what he was saying is that Haiti was not a colony 
(in the way Martinique and parts of Canada and the US were). We 
were colonized by the french for only a few years (I'm not 100% 
sure how long) and Chirac's point is that theirs, unlike the Spanish, 
was not a lasting legacy in Haiti..."

I don't think that Chirac was saying what is implied in the above 
quote either. Could anyone help me in asking Chirac just WHAT 
he meant, before we speculate so wildly?

This is overreaching.  For my part, I prefer to take what the man 
said at face value, and not to read more into it.  What he said was
somewhat ambiguous ("Haiti HAS NOT BEEN a French colony"),
and deserves clarification, because in fact Haiti WAS a French 
colony FOR OVER A CENTURY (not for only a few years!!)

Let's set the matters straight, for the sake of historical truth. 
Haiti WAS a French colony for a century and a half, and the 
COLONIZATION of Haiti has had a PROFOUND AND LASTING 
(and in many ways, quite detrimental) influence on the History of 
Haiti and her people.  It serves no one to seek to minimize this.

Guy S. Antoine
Look thru & Imagine!
http://windowsonhaiti.com