22437: Mambo Racine On Criticizing Rape in Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Racine125@aol.com

I have been surprised, shocked really, to see the level of intellectual terror tactics directed against my comments and against me personally in posts here and in private emails, following my observations regarding rape in Haiti.  This is not a yahoogroup, for goodness sakes!  (giggle)
But seriously, claiming to represent my arguments with things that I never actually said, making those statements into straw men and then knocking them down does not in any way refute my position.  And for those of you threatening in private emails to forward my comments here to the Jacmel police, FEEL FREE!  Everyone knows where I live.
I and any other non-Haitian in Haiti or outside of Haiti has every right to criticize anything and everything that we find offensive, counterproductive, unsafe, or unhealthy about Haitian culture, or American culture, or Iraqi culture, or Canadian culture!  It is not merely a right, it is a duty to identify and work to correct social and cultural flaws wherever they are found.
Haitian political activists in the United States are certainly some of the most vociferous critics of the US and it's government, especially when it comes to immigration policy.  I vividly remember providing simultaneous interpretation for one immigration advocacy group which demonstrated outside the INS office in Boston, and I recall speaker after speaker insisting stridently, "We have a right to be in this country!"  Despite the fact that I do not agree with that statement, I translated faithfully - the illegal aliens pleading for immigration amnesty might not have a right to be in the USA, but they certainly have a right to say what they think whenever and wherever they choose, and to work to effect such changes in US law as they feel may be beneficial to them!  Who would suggest otherwise?
Likewise, I have a right to identify, decry, condemn and work to eradicate RAPE, in Haiti where I live, or anywhere else.  This does not "degrade Haitians".  It doesn't "degrade" anyone, actually, but hypothetically, if identification and condemnation of rape "degrades" anyone it degrades *men*, and "men" do not stand equivalently for "Haitians" - half of Haitians are WOMEN.  And it is Haitian women who are, of course, the victims of RAPE by Haitian men.
The Haitian man whose cow I have just taken to the CASEC for about the twentieth time, since he persists in tying it in my pasture to steal my grass, does not threaten to ill-treat my cows in revenge, he threatens me with RAPE.  The CASEC makes him pay a fine, and since I have cost him money, in his mind he should take sex from me to even the score.  He would do it, too, if he found me alone and unarmed.  The Haitian bus driver who is angry because I know the correct fare from Port-au-Prince to Jacmel and refuse to pay more, does not threaten me with a broken leg, he threatens me with RAPE.  "Map kwenyen ou!", he bellows, not "Map kase pye ou!"
The Haitian men who I have witnessed coming out to intimidate the precious few women's rights marches held in Port-au-Prince do not threaten the Haitian women participants with lawsuits, they threaten them with RAPE. The Haitian man I witnessed on one of my very first trips to Haiti, at the Port-au-Prince airport, who wanted a standby seat on the next flight out did not threaten the Jamaican woman who also was competing for that seat with the theft of her luggage, he screamed a threat of RAPE. Haitian writer and journalist Yvonne Hakim-Rimpel, victim of Francois Duvalier's repression, was punished for saying that the Haitian flag is blue and red, not with a monetary fine but with RAPE. Another Haitian journalist, Lilianne Pierre-Paul, arrested and incarcerated by the Haitian Army, did not become pregnant in prison as a result of a passionate consensual affair, she became pregnant through RAPE.  The group of young Haitian men on Kabik beach a few weeks ago who decided to shake me down for money did not threaten to slash my tires, they threatened me with RAPE.  My own employee, the Haitian man who helps me with my livestock, bragged to me that he revenged himself on a woman who owed him some money, not by stabbing or kicking her or destroying her property, but through RAPE.
And what is all this nonsense about "racism"?  Any time a black person is criticized, it's "racism"?  I have not suggested that Haitian men are committing rape because they are black!  Those who commit rape do so because they are culturally encouraged to do so, and because they are not punished when they do so.  Period.  Throwing a pile of nationalist and racist dust in the air is not going to change this fact - did some of you actually read the newspaper report that started this thread, about the pro-Aristide rapists who used rape to terrorize political opponents?  Do you remember the precisely similar, though rather more widespread, anti-Aristide rape campaign of 1993?
And let's please get it straight that it is not misanthropic little Mambo Racine who has suddenly started spouting accusations!  Rape as a terror tactic in Haiti is documented by various UN organizations, by the International Organization for Migration, by Medecins du Monde, by the NCHR, by journalists, by SOFA and other Haitian women's groups, by more organizations and individuals than I can list.
Why should I not speak out on this topic?  More to the point, *how* can I not speak out on this topic?  It's in my own best interest, aside from the imperatives of my conscience.  So far, I personally have managed to avoid victimization.  But if tomorrow some filthy excuse for a human being should succeed in brutalizing me, who do you think is going to do anything about it?  The Haitian police?  HAH!  Let me tell you something - about a month ago, a pickpocket in the Jacmel market sliced open my hand and the hand of a Haitian woman with a razor blade.  We both went to the police, dripping blood, and the police didn't even want to be bothered to arrest the thief!  They had to be browbeaten into arresting him, and while I was in the police station, a detective apostrophized me with, "You are a Mambo?  Turn me into a little cow now, so that I can do 'ti bef' (oral sex!) for you."  The police, who are mostly Haitian men and who share the same sexist and aggressive attitudes toward women, would be absolutely delighted to know that some rapist had managed to beat and overpower me and use me for his garbage pail.  "He loves you, that's why he screwed you, why are you upset, he didn't really hurt you, what's the problem?", that's what they say to rape victims here.  The judges?  HAH!  Even if they were disposed to act, what law is there on the books that will protect me?
Rape, per se, isn't even criminalized here, remember that part of the discussion?  A "crime against honor" is a bunch of B-S.  All your rapist has to say is, "Well, she wanted to" and your case is finished, the judge will tell you that there were no witnesses and he can't take your word over that of your brutalizer.  Your medical certificate, if you can get one and if you can afford to pay for one, will be discounted on the grounds that you have a boyfriend or a husband, and thus you might have just had sex with him, and not been raped at all.  There isn't any DNA testing lab here, and even if there were, so what?  You were asking for it, you wanted it.
All of this assumes that you have the gumption, the mentality, and the money to even bring your case to court!  In the vast and overwhelming majority of cases, men who sexually assault women here never even see a police officer, much less a judge.
Tell me what you will, the situation in the USA, though far, far from perfect, is not quite so sick.  Yes, I said SICK.  Some cultures are healthier than others!  Why should we be afraid to acknowledge this simple fact?  I thought we went over this ground before - healthier, superior cultures afford their members longer lives, better physical health, a non-violent manner ofchoosing leaders and spokespeople, equitable economic access, equitable access to education, promotion of creativity. Sick, inferior cultures afford their members shorter lives, worse health, violence in connection with government, restricted economic access, deprivation of information and education, and little support for creativity.
Note that in all of this, I have not said, "All Haitian men are rapists" or "Haitian men are rapists because they are black" or "No American men ever commit rape".  The women's liberation movement is the reason why things in the USA are not quite so horrible as they used to be, with regard to rape.  That is to say, the women's liberation movement made American culture healthier, and superior to how it was before the women's liberation movement.  With all this reactionary ranting about "oppressed groups", I wonder if some people remember that the single largest oppressed group on the face of Mother Earth is women!  And I also am a woman, so if I needed any justification for speaking out I've got plenty.  To some of the people on this forum, if a black man is angry and outspoken about racism he's a hero, but if a woman is angry and outspoken about sexism including RAPE, she's a racist witch, apparently.
I also wonder if some people realize that denial is not a river in Africa!  Denial kills people.  Right now in my own congregation I have one member recently dead of AIDS and another with one foot in the grave, but say the word, "SIDA" and right away everyone starts shaking their heads no.  No, Mambo Simone didn't have SIDA, it was a djab that killed her.  The father of her child, who used to beat her and who knocked out one of her front teeth, who died within weeks of her?  No, he didn't have SIDA, he died of a cough.  No, Houngan Jean her boyfriend, who beats all his girlfriends when Mambo Racine isn't around, doesn't have SIDA, he's skinny and covered with zona because he has... well, we don't know what sickness he has, but it isn't SIDA, that blood test lied!  His two maman petits in Port-au-Prince are both sick, his two children there are at death's door, but that blood test lied!
What do you think rapists do, do you think they put on a condom before they brutalize women?  Rape transmits AIDS.  Gang rape, for which women in crowded low-income neighborhoods are particularly at risk (though goodness knows it happens often enough right here in the rural hamlets of Jacmel), transmits AIDS to women and to men alike, not that I feel very sorry for a rapist who contracts AIDS while raping someone. But he will give it to his next victim and his next, and to the men who together with him victimize some helpless woman in the next gang bang they enjoy.  Because of AIDS, all rape should be treated as attempted murder!
Having said all that, I will say a few more things - first, if I were either a rape survivor or a rapist, the last person I would tell would be Guy Antoine, simply because his position is already quite clear.  Guy, I love you and I respect you, but surely you do not imagine that one of your survey respondents is going to say, "Oh yes, I am a rapist, I have raped about... let me see, six or seven women in the past five years, including my sister's pubescent daughter.  I told her I'd kill her if she squealed!  I like to rape, it's exciting and it makes me feel powerful, and none of those stupid bitches has ever done anything about it.   And when my wife and I went back to Haiti for a visit last year, I took full advantage of the situation and I beat her until she shit!  If I do that in the States I will be arrested, but in Haiti I can get away with it."  Who is going to say that?  And believe you me, living in the Boston Haitian-American community in the late 1990's, this was an issue - husbands were taking wives, parents were taking adolescent children, on "vacations" to Haiti specifically so they could beat them and abuse them.  Who is going to tell you that, Guy, right up front on your questionnaire?  Even private, professionally designed and administered, confidential questionnaires do not always bring the truth out of rapists or rape survivors.  But look where that foul and evil man, the one who with his son sexually abused the little "restavek" girl in Florida, look where he went when he got discovered - to Haiti!  He didn't go there because he thinks he's more likely to be arrested in Haiti, he went there because he expects impunity for sexual assault.
Second, unless people want me to start addressing "Gee Annton" and so on, I would appreciate seeing my name spelled correctly, it is "Mambo Racine", not "Manbo" anything, not "Ms. Racine", not anything but "Mambo Racine".  The name of the religion of which I am a clergy person is "Vodou".  Do I talk about "Joodayism" or "Izzlam"?  Respect the Vodou religion enough to respect it's clergy, for one, and for another, call people by the names they give you, don't change people's names when you address them.
On to the next thing!  Surely you dear Corbetteers can see that it is pointless to preach respect and non-violence to a still-mostly-illiterate population, while simultaneously demonstrating to them that power and wealth in Haiti are obtained through violence and failure to respect social norms!  Who voted for ol' Boniface, after all?  Did anyone see his name on a ballot?  If I missed something, I'd sure like to know.
Hmmph.  That's all for now, I have an Ogoun dance tonight and I have to put on my whites.
Peace and love,
Bon Mambo Racine Sans Bout Sa Te La Daginen
P.S. - It's malediction!  LOL  I wonder if Guy Antoine is working wanga.  Guy, cheri???  I bet you did this:
You know, when I get my email at the Internet place, I put it on diskette and I write responses at home.  As I left the Internet place today, having received all of you gentle Corbetteers' contributions, I had to descend a very steep and rather narrow stairway.  A man in the stairway, as I passed, crowded up against me, grabbed my upper arm and began to squeeze it rhythmically, while saying in the most lecherous tones, "Cheri, mwen renmen ou."  Guy, you must have sent him!  (Just kidding, Guy - I know you can't work wanga.)
I very nearly burst out laughing!  I never saw this man before, and certainly he didn't know I was already seething from a discussion of sexual assault, but the great big slap in the head he got from me, I pray God and all Guinea that it should be multiplied until his ears ring, multiplied by each and every rape survivor newly empowered to practice basic self-defense, multiplied until each and every rapist and each and every judge, police officer and doctor who ever discounted a rape survivor's injury gets the equivalent of a big ol' board across the head a few times.  I pray that God and Guinea break the two legs on which that man ran from me as I shouted for people to come, so that he can not walk into any other woman's path to attack her body and and offend her dignity!  In Jamaica people say, "If you no hear a you ears, you hear a you founi!"  May Guinea send that man to Guy!  May he write an honest response to Guy's survey!  LOL
Women as a general rule can not fight and physically overpower men bent on rape, that is why prevention (not preventing women from moving around freely and keeping us locked up, but preventing men from learning the culture of rape and consistently punishing men who rape) is women's ally.  Fighting violent men is not our job.  We want to know how to repel and escape an attacker, of course, but there are special people who are called to deal with violent criminals, and they are called police.  That is why police and judges must be forced to function.  But what do you think the Jacmel police would have done if I went to them about the man in the stairwell today?  Nothing - unless maybe they locked me up instead, for smacking him.  There are rapists sitting in Jacmel right now with the uniform of the Haitian National Police on their backs, remember about a month ago I told you gentle Corbetteers about that fritay vendor in my neighborhood who reported being raped by two policemen who offered her a ride home late at night?  It's the truth!  Let's stop pretending.
P.P.S. - It's a day later, and I am on my way into town.  While talking with my livestock manager this morning, we discussed a fellow taken in armed robbery and killed by a crowd this past Saturday.  Housebreaking never used to happen in Jacmel, and honestly it's still very rare, rare enough to shock and outrage people.  Our discussion turned to other criminal acts, and somehow to the topic of debt, financial debt.  My livestock manager said that he would never punish a person who was indebted to him for money, because if the person had money, they would pay.  I reminded him that he himself claimed to have committed rape on a woman who owed him money.  "Oh," said my manager, "that's different!  Even the police themselves rape - why, just the other day a policeman came through here, got some girl, took her all the way to Cap Marechaud, and raped her; and he hasn't been arrested."