20691: Esser: Self-Determining Haiti: The American Occupation (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: D. Esser torx@joimail.com

Africana
http://www.africana.com

March 22, 2004

Self-Determining Haiti

History repeats itself, as this 1920 article by James Weldon Johnson
demonstrates.

Once again there are US troops in Haiti, in the bicentennial year of
the world's first black republic. They were there from 1915-34, and
in 1994, each time, ostensibly, to quell anarchy and establish
democratic rule. But the real story has never been that simple, or
that noble.

In fact, James Weldon Johnson's 1920 exposé for The Nation,
"Self-Determining Haiti" argued that the US really has been quite
ignoble. The damning assessment, printed below, was remarkable from
such a temperate aristocrat. James Weldon Johnson was born in Florida
in 1871 to cultured, assimilationist parents. By 1920, Johnson had
already been an attorney, an educator and a diplomat. He had
co-written "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing," now known as the Black
National Anthem, and had written Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man,
published in 1912.

Johnson visited Haiti just as he became the first black executive
secretary in the struggling National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People, naively believing that the NAACP could be a model
for Haitian political organization. He died in 1938, still hoping to
see Haiti rise. Instead, as scholar Brenda Gayle Plummer has written,
"Haiti prefigured the modern Latin American experience and provides a
classic example of how national aspirations... were derailed." — Kim
Pearson

Self-Determining Haiti: The American Occupation

By James Weldon Johnson

First published in The Nation, Aug. 28, 1920

To know the reasons for the present political situation in Haiti, to
understand why the United States landed and has for five years
maintained military forces in that country, why some three thousand
Haitian men, women, and children have been shot down by American
rifles and machine guns, it is necessary, among other things, to know
that the National City Bank of New York is very much interested in
Haiti. It is necessary to know that the National City Bank controls
the National Bank of Haiti and is the depository for all of the
Haitian national funds that are being collected by American
officials, and that Mr. R. L. Farnham, vice-president of the National
City Bank, is virtually the representative of the State Department in
matters relating to the island republic. Most Americans have the
opinion — if they have any opinion at all on the subject — that the
United States was forced, on purely humane grounds, to intervene in
the black republic because of the tragic coup d'etat which resulted
in the overthrow and death of President Vilbrun Guillaume Sam and the
execution of the political prisoners confined at Port-au-Prince, July
27-28, 1915; and that this government has been compelled to keep a
military force in Haiti since that time to pacify the country and
maintain order.

The fact is that for nearly a year before forcible intervention on
the part of the United States this government was seeking to compel
Haiti to submit to "peaceable" intervention. Toward the close of 1914
the United States notified the government of Haiti that it was
disposed to recognize the newly-elected president, Theodore Davilmar,
as soon as a Haitian commission would sign at Washington
"satisfactory protocols" relative to a convention with the United
States on the model of the Dominican-American Convention. On December
15, 1914, the Haitian government, through its Secretary of Foreign
Affairs, replied: "The Government of the Republic of Haiti would
consider itself lax in its duty to the United States and to itself if
it allowed the least doubt to exist of its irrevocable intention not
to accept any control of the administration of Haitian affairs by a
foreign Power." On December 19, the United States, through its
legation at Port-au-Prince, replied, that in expressing its
willingness to do in Haiti what had been done in Santo Domingo it
"was actuated entirely by a disinterested desire to give assistance."

Two months later, the Theodore government was overthrown by a
revolution and Vilbrun Guillaume was elected president. Immediately
afterwards there arrived at Port-au-Prince an American commission
from Washington — the Ford mission. The commissioners were received
at the National Palace and attempted to take up the discussion of the
convention that had been broken off in December, 1914. However, they
lacked full powers and no negotiations were entered into. After
several days, the Ford mission sailed for the United States. But soon
after, in May, the United States sent to Haiti Mr. Paul Fuller, Jr.,
with the title Envoy Extraordinary, on a special mission to apprise
the Haitian government that the Guillaume administration would not be
recognized by the American government unless Haiti accepted and
signed the project of a convention which he was authorized to
present. After examining the project the Haitian government submitted
to the American commission a counter-project, formulating the
conditions under which it would be possible to accept the assistance
of the United States. To this counter-project Mr. Fuller proposed
certain modifications, some of which were accepted by the Haitian
government. On June 5, 1915, Mr. Fuller acknowledged the receipt of
the Haitian communication regarding these modifications, and sailed
from Port-au-Prince.

Before any further discussion of the Fuller project between the two
governments, political incidents in Haiti led rapidly to the events
of July 27 and 28. On July 27 President Guillaume fled to the French
Legation, and on the same day took place a massacre of the political
prisoners in the prison at Port-au-Prince. On the morning of July 28
President Guillaume was forcibly taken from French Legation and
killed. On the afternoon of July 28 an American man-of-war dropped
anchor in the harbor of Port-au-Prince and landed American forces. It
should be borne in mind that through all of this the life of not a
single American citizen had been taken or jeopardized.

The overthrow of Guillaume and its attending consequences did not
constitute the cause of American intervention in Haiti, but merely
furnished the awaited opportunity. Since July 28, 1915, American
military forces have been in control of Haiti. These forces have been
increased until there are now somewhere near three thousand Americans
under arms in the republic. From the very first, the attitude of the
Occupation has been that it was dealing with a conquered territory.
Haitian forces were disarmed, military posts and barracks were
occupied, and the National Palace was taken as headquarters for the
Occupation. After selecting a new and acceptable president for the
country, steps were at once taken to compel the Haitian government to
sign a convention in which it virtually foreswore its independence.
This was accomplished by September 16, 1915; and although the terms
of this convention provided for the administration of the Haitian
customs by American civilian officials, all the principal custom
houses of the country had been seized by military force and placed in
charge of American Marine officers before the end of August. The
disposition of the funds collected in duties from the time of the
military seizure of the custom houses to the time of their
administration by civilian officials is still a question concerning
which the established censorship in Haiti allows no discussion.

It is interesting to note the wide difference between the convention
which Haiti was forced to sign and the convention which was in course
of diplomatic negotiation the moment of intervention. The Fuller
convention asked little of Haiti and gave something, the Occupation
convention demands everything of Haiti and gives nothing. The
Occupation convention is really the same convention which the Haitian
government peremptorily refused to discuss in December, 1914, except
that in addition to American control of Haitian finances it also
provides for American control of the Haitian military forces. The
Fuller convention contained neither of these provisions. When the
United States found itself in a position to take what it had not even
dared to ask, it used brute force and took it. But even a convention
which practically deprived Haiti of its independence was found not
wholly adequate for the accomplishment of all that was contemplated.
The Haitian constitution still offered some embarrassments, so it was
decided that Haiti must have a new constitution. It was drafted and
presented to the Haitian assembly for adoption. The assembly balked —
chiefly at the article in the proposed document removing the
constitutional disability which prevented aliens from owning land in
Haiti. Haiti had long considered the denial of this right to aliens
as her main bulwark against overwhelming economic exploitation; and
it must be admitted that she had better reasons than the several
states of the United States that have similar provisions.

The balking of the assembly resulted in its being dissolved by actual
military force and the locking of doors of the Chamber. There has
been no Haitian legislative body since. The desired constitution was
submitted to a plebiscite by a decree of the President, although such
a method of constitutional revision was clearly unconstitutional.
Under the circumstances of the Occupation the plebiscite was, of
course, almost unanimous for the desired change, and the new
constitution was promulgated on June 18, 1918. Thus Haiti was given a
new constitution by a flagrantly unconstitutional method. The new
document contains several fundamental changes and includes a "Special
Article" which declares:

All the acts of the Government of the United States during its
military Occupation in Haiti are ratified and confirmed.

No Haitian shall be liable to civil or criminal prosecution for any
act done by order of the Occupation or under its authority.

The acts of the courts martial of the Occupation, without, however,
infringing on the right to pardon, shall not be subject to revision.

The acts of the Executive Power (the President) up to the
promulgation of the present constitution are likewise ratified and
confirmed.

The above is the chronological order of the principal steps by which
the independence of a neighboring republic has been taken away, the
people placed under foreign military domination from which they have
no appeal and exposed to foreign economic exploitation against which
they are defenseless. All of this has been done in the name of the
Government of the United States; however, without any act by Congress
and without any knowledge of the American people.

The law by which Haiti is ruled today is martial law dispensed by
Americans. There is a form of Haitian civil government, but it is
entirely dominated by the military Occupation. President
Dartiguenave, bitterly rebellious at heart as is every good Haitian,
confessed to me the powerlessness of himself and his cabinet. He told
me that the American authorities give no heed to recommendations made
by him or his officers; that they would not even discuss matters
about which the Haitian officials have superior knowledge. The
provisions of both the old and the new constitutions are ignored in
that there is no Haitian legislative body, and there has been none
since the dissolution of the assembly in April, 1916. In its stead
there is a Council of State composed of twenty-one members appointed
by the president, which functions effectively only when carrying out
the will of the Occupation. Indeed the Occupation often overrides the
civil courts. A prisoner brought before the proper court, exonerated,
and discharged, is, nevertheless, frequently held by the military.
All government funds are collected by the Occupation and are
dispensed at its will and pleasure. The greater part of these funds
is expended for the maintenance of the military forces. There is the
strictest censorship of the press. No Haitian newspaper is allowed to
publish anything in criticism of the Occupation or the Haitian
government. Each newspaper in Haiti received an order to that effect
from the Occupation, and the same order carried the injunction not to
print the order. Nothing that might reflect upon the Occupation
administration in Haiti is allowed to reach the newspapers of the
United States.

The Haitian people justly complain that not only is the convention
inimical to the best interests of their country, but that the
convention, such as it is, is not being carried out in accordance
with the letter, nor in accordance with the spirit in which they were
led to believe it would be carried out. Except one, all of the
obligations in the convention which the United States undertakes in
favor of Haiti are contained in the first article of that document,
the other fourteen articles being made up substantially of
obligations to the United States assumed by Haiti. But nowhere in
those fourteen articles is there anything to indicate that Haiti
would be subjected to military domination. In Article I the United
States promises to "aid the Haitian government in the proper and
efficient development of its agricultural, mineral, and commercial
resources and in the establishment of the finances of Haiti on a firm
and solid basis." And the whole convention and, especially, the
protestations of the United States before the signing of the
instrument can be construed only to mean that that aid would be
extended through the supervision of civilian officials.

The one promise of the United States to Haiti not contained in the
first article of the convention is that clause of Article XIV which
says, "and, should the necessity occur, the United States will lend
an efficient aid for the preservation of Haitian independence and the
maintenance of a government adequate for the protection of life,
property, and individual liberty." It is the extreme of irony that
this clause which the Haitians had a right to interpret as a
guarantee to them against foreign invasion should first of all be
invoked against the Haitian people themselves, and offer the only peg
on which any pretense to a right of military domination can be hung.

There are several distinct forces — financial, military, bureaucratic
— at work in Haiti which, tending to aggravate the conditions they
themselves have created, are largely self-perpetuating. The most
sinister of these, the financial engulfment of Haiti by the National
City Bank of New York, already alluded to, will be discussed in
detail in a subsequent article. The military Occupation has made and
continues to make military Occupation necessary. The justification
given is that it is necessary for the pacification of the country.
Pacification would never have been necessary had not American
policies been filled with so many stupid and brutal blunders; and it
will never be effective so long as "pacification" means merely the
hunting of ragged Haitians in the hills with machine guns.

Then there is the force which the several hundred American civilian
place-holders constitute. They have found in Haiti the veritable
promised land of "jobs for deserving democrats" and naturally do not
wish to see the present status discontinued. Most of these deserving
democrats are Southerners. The head of the customs service of Haiti
was a clerk of one of the parishes of Louisiana. Second in charge of
the customs service of Haiti is a man who was Deputy Collector of
Customs at Pascagoula, Mississippi [population, 3,379, 1910 Census].
The Superintendent of Public Instruction was a school teacher in
Louisiana — a State which has not good schools even for white
children; the financial advisor, Mr. McIlhenny, is also from
Louisiana.

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. While I was there, the President himself was obliged to
borrow an automobile from the Occupation for a trip through the
interior. The Louisiana school-teacher Superintendent of Instruction
has an automobile furnished at government expense, whereas the
Haitian Minister of Public Instruction, his supposed superior
officer, has none. These automobiles seem to be chiefly employed in
giving the women and children an airing each afternoon. It must be
amusing, when it is not maddening to the Haitians, to see with what
disdainful air these people look upon them as they ride by.

The platform adopted by the Democratic party at San Francisco said of
the Wilson policy in Mexico:

The Administration, remembering always that Mexico is an independent
nation and that permanent stability in her government and her
institutions could come only from the consent of her own people to a
government of her own making, has been unwilling either to profit by
the misfortunes of the people of Mexico or to enfeeble their future
by imposing, from the outside a rule upon their temporarily
distracted councils.

Haiti has never been so distracted in its councils as Mexico. And
even in its moments of greatest distraction it never slaughtered an
American citizen, it never molested an American woman, it never
injured a dollar's worth of American property. And yet, the
Administration whose lofty purpose was proclaimed as above — with
less justification than Austria's invasion of Serbia, or Germany's
rape of Belgium, without warrant other than the doctrine that "might
makes right," has conquered Haiti. It has done this through the very
period when, in the words of its chief spokesman, our sons were
laying down their lives overseas "for democracy, for the rights of
those who submit to authority to have a voice in their own
government, for the rights and liberties of small nations." By
command of the author of "pitiless publicity" and originator of "open
covenants openly arrived at," it has enforced by the bayonet a
covenant whose secret has been well guarded by a rigid censorship
from the American nation, and kept a people enslaved by the military
tyranny which it was his avowed purpose to destroy throughout the
world.


About the Author

James Weldon Johnson was a writer, diplomat and political leader; an
early secretary of the NAACP, Johnson was also an important cultural
figure during the New Negro era. Kim Pearson is an award-winning
teacher, magazine writer and author of the blog Professor Kim.
.