a1016: Re: a974: Side with Haiti on principle, not skin color (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Karioka9@cs.com

Although well intended, Ray Killick's article errs in more ways than one:

> He [Toussaint] rose against the slave trade carried out by former slaves
> against their own kinship.

Please, sir, verify your sources.  The slave trade was hardly the work of
former slaves.

> Yesterday called Tonton Macoutes or Chimeres today, those thugs
> are a disgrace to the black race.

Ah, the black race!  When whites routinely massacre black people -- or
incidentally other white folks like in Germany, Yugoslavia or Russia -- is
that ever considered a disgrace to the "white race?"  Won't these gentle
Southern conventions ever go away?

> Illiteracy, subhuman living conditions and senseless killings have crept up
> to buttress neo-slavery, characterized by domination by way of terror of a
> population of blacks by a handful of black masters.

Blackness, like sex, should be upgraded to an Original Sin.  Otherwise, why
should events in Haiti reflect on the entire "Race."

> POWELL IS RIGHT

I cringe!

> Colin Powell ... the one ... to reflect concern for the Haitian people.

Help!  Killick's dream is killing me.  Colin Powell the hope of Haiti, what a
nightmare!

> L'Ouverture fell by high treason at the hands of enemies disguised as
> allies.

Just who is Monsieur Killick referring to here?  In my recollection, Papa
Toussaint alienated the black masses with his feudal, i.e. ,slave-like
"règlements de culture,"  and thus  felt obliged to surrender to Papa
Leclerc.  His capture was a matter of personal naivete and French ignominy.

> Ray Killick, a software engineer in Atlanta ...

A 101 Introduction to Haitian History should be required reading for every
Haitian techie eager to discuss political leadership and Haitian democracy.

Daniel Simidor