13461: Saint-Vil tries again to bring focus: is White Supremacy at work in Haiti today? (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Jean Saint-Vil <jafrikayiti@hotmail.com>

Definitely, it seems white supremacist racism towards Haiti is too hard for
many to deal with at the level of sophistication that it requires. Somehow,
discussion of this serious topic has always been diverted towards simplistic
comments on whether “whites” have ever or never helped Haiti? Come on folks,
I am sure all the Ph.Ds on this list do understand quite well what I am
talking about.

To dress up a list of works of goodness accomplished by “whites” in Haiti is
far too naïve a response to propose to the question of whether foreign
policies applied in Haiti by the United States of North America, France,
Germany etc… are tainted by white supremacist ideology.

I am certainly disappointed to read Dr. Desmangles’ note listing the public
works completed during the 1915-1937 U.S. Military occupation to support his
argument that “whites” have made some significant contributions to Haiti.
Come on! With this kind of logic, Michèle Bennet Duvalier can also boast of
having contributed great things to Haiti (High School in Léogane, Fondation
Michèle Bennet etc…). Does Dr. Demansgles ignore the basic facts that James
Weldon Johnson (the great African-American writer) were denouncing as early
as 1920, when he told the world the ugly FACTS about how the great “public
works” of the U.S. occupation were accomplished:

“Haitians were seized and forcibly taken to toil for months in far sections
of the country. Those who protested or resisted were beaten into submission.
At night, after long hours of unremitting labor under armed taskmasters, who
swiftly discouraged any slackening of effort with boot or rifle butt, the
victims were herded in compounds. Those attempting to escape were shot.
Their terror-stricken families meanwhile were often in total ignorance of
the fate of their husbands, fathers, brothers.”

Mr. Weldon-Johnson was already fighting the myth of the “good white saviour”
which he knew was going to be served by these public works. So, he also
wrote: “It is true that at the time of the intervention, five years ago,
there were only one or two paved streets in the Haitian capital, but the
contracts for paving the entire city had been let by the Haitian Government,
and the work had already been begun. This work was completed during the
Occupation, but the Occupation did not pave, and had nothing to do with the
paving of a single street in Port-au-Prince.”
Furthermore, one must remember that the invaders had stolen the Treasury of
the People of Haiti and God only knows what else. Haitian taxes were being
collected. And, here is how some of that money was being used, according to
Weldon-Johnson:

“Many of the Occupation officers are in the same category with the civilian
place-holders. These men have taken their wives and families to Haiti. Those
at Port-au-Prince live in beautiful villas. Families that could not keep a
hired girl in the United States have a half-dozen servants. They ride in
automobiles -- not their own. Every American head of a department in Haiti
has an automobile furnished at the expense of the Haitian Government,
whereas members of the Haitian cabinet, who are theoretically above them,
have no such convenience or luxury.”
See: James Weldon Johnson, (Self-Determining Haiti series I to III) The
Nation 111 (Aug. 28, 1920). www.windowsonhaiti.com


It is obvious that a good portion of the Haitian elite collaborated with the
U.S. occupation – for the same reasons – today, a significant portion of
this  same “elite” caresses the dream of a return to occupation days. They
do not want to assume responsibility for the mess they have created in the
country. They want to be taken care of !

As for the value to be placed on the works of the “good” missionaries who
gave us the successive generations of  alienated, fratricidal,
europeaniza-zonbified intellectual elites who brought Haiti where it is
today…I can only imagine what Harry Belafonte would have to say about our
guys, if he thinks Colin Powell is a sell-out.

Again, the question raised in not whether individual so-called white human
beings have ever helped so-called “black” human beings in Haiti. This is too
simplistic a question.

The issue raised, in the context of all the Haiti-bashing campaigns, the
consular boycotts, the OAS comedy being played in front our very eyes –
putting at risk the lives and livelihood of 8 million people ---- is
whether, there is an element of White Supremacy at work in what the PUHS
(Powers Undermining Haitian Sovereignty) are currently doing, 2 years before
the 2004 celebrations?. Is the PUHS a symptom of this 500 year old
gangrenous evil called Global White Supremacy?

Here is a useful quote, as we ponder this question:

“I was taught to recognize racism only in individual acts of meanness by
members of my group, never in invisible Systems conferring onslaught racial
dominance on my group from birth.”
Peggy McIntosh, White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack,
www.whiteprivilege.com


<br><br><br>Jafrikayiti
«Depi nan Ginen bon nèg ap ede nèg!»
http://www.i-port.net/sd-in-j/



_________________________________________________________________
Surf the Web without missing calls! Get MSN Broadband.
http://resourcecenter.msn.com/access/plans/freeactivation.asp