17176: Eliacin: Haitian Election

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Gerda Eliacin <essencebar1@yahoo.com>
----------------------------------------

Every night I spent hours reading your comments out there. I am a Haitian
American.  I was born in Haiti but live most of my life here in America.
Maybe
I became too  accustomed to the American politic, but I always thought
when
election is over you move on.
 President Aristid stole the election, so what? So did George Bush.  Do
you see
anybody in this country asking for re- election?  Support your leader. Let
him
finish his term and go forward from there.  Haitian  people are
always screaming "bloody murder" against all their leaders.  Even those
who
came to do good for the country.

How does the song go? "Revolution...all my people say....Revolution."
We are always revolting against something.

 . FREDERICK DOUGLASS, Dedication Ceremonies Delivered at the
World's Fair, in Jackson Park,
<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
/>Chicago, Jan. 2d, 1893.


"NO OTHER LAND HAS BRIGHTER SKIES. No other land has purer water, richer
soil,
or a more happily diversified climate. She has all the natural conditions
essential to a noble, prosperous and happy country. [Applause.] Yet, there
she
is, torn and rent by revolutions, by clamorous factions and anarchies;
floundering her life away from year in a laby rinth of social misery.
Every
little while we find her convulsed by civil war, engaged in the terrible
work
of death; frantically shedding her own blood and driving her best mental
material into hopeless exile. Port au Prince, a city of sixty thousand
souls,
and capable of being made one of the healthiest, happiest and one of the
most
beautiful cities of the West Indies, has been destroyed by fire once in
each
twenty-five years of its history. The explanation is this: Haiti is a
country
of revolutions. They break forth without warning and without excuse. The
town
may stand at sunset and vanish in the morning. Splendid ruins, once the
homes
of the rich, meet us on every street. Great warehouses, once the property
of
successful merchants, confront us with their marred and shattered walls in
different parts of the city. When we ask: "Whence these mournful ruins?"
and
"Why are they not rebuilt?" we are answered by one word-- <?xml:namespace
prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />


______________________________________________________________________________________



{Begin page no. 16}

a word of agony and dismal terror, a word which goes to the core of all
this
people's woes; It is, "revolution!" Such are the uncertainties and
insecurities
caused by this revolutionary madness of a part of her people, that no
insurance
company will insure property at a rate which the holder can afford to pay.
Under such a condition of things a tranquil mind is impossible. There is
ever a
chronic, feverish looking forward to possible disasters. Incendiary fires;
fires set on foot as a proof of dissatisfaction with the government; fires
for
personal revenge, and fires to promote revolution are of startling
frequency.
This is sometimes thought to be due to the character of the race. Far from
it.
[Applause.] The common people of Haiti are peaceful enough. They have no
taste
for revolutions. The fault is not with the ignorant many, but with the
educated
and ambitious few. Too proud to work, and not disposed to go into
commerce,
they make politics a business of their country. Governed neither by love
nor
mercy for their country, they care not into what depths she may be
plunged. No
president, however virtuous, wise and patriotic, ever suits them when they
themselves happen to be out of power. "



"....Manifestly, this revolutionary spirit of Haiti is her curse, her
crime,
her greatest calamity and the explanation of the limited condition of her
civilization. It makes her an object of distress to her friends at home
and
abroad. It reflects upon the colored race everywhere. "

Above are the words of Frederick Douglas in 1893.  It appears that nothing
have
changed from the 1800"s to the present, and that is a shame. The mass
population always blame the president. Let's face it.  We are a bunch of
"insane" people.  I pray to God that the new generation will make a change
to
secure our future existence.  It is time that "we the people" help our
country
shape up politically, economically and morally.  We have to realize that
one
man can not fix the country.  We all should come together.  It will take
all
those who live abroad  to work collectively.  Take for example "Jamaica".
an
island much smaller than Haiti.  The Jamaicans contribute millions of US
dollars to their home land every year.  They do it through sponsoring.  I
am
sure if every Haitians living outside of Haiti would contribute $1.00
(just one
dollar) toward rebuilding of roads, feeding the poor, and building homes
for
the homeless our problems would be half way solve.
A friend of mine from West Africa asked me, "why can't Haitians help their
own
country? Export goods from Haiti to sell in the US or other countries?"
That
alone would generate economic empowerment to Haiti and give work to the
fellow
Haitians living there.  Another words "buy Haitian goods."
Let me leave you with this word. As Frederick said  Haiti's failure is a
failure to black men and women every where.  Keep that in mind, Support
your
president. Support your country.   Aristid full term. Even though I don't
agree
with all his ideas.

Essencebar1@yahoo.com