Give Haiti a chance

The world should by now be educated about Haiti.  The country that was the richest French colony is now regarded as the POOREST NATION OF THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE.   The world is right to call Haiti the poorest nation of the western hemisphere and whether you think it is – that was just “upgraded'” or “downgraded”  – the poorest nation of the world depends on how you look at it and is totally irrelevant right now.  I will tell you why.

Pat Robertson, I may have taken his words out of context like his editor told me in an email this morning, made his case on Haiti when he said they made a pact with the devil in 1791 and ever since that day they were cursed.  Haiti was so cursed that our American neighbors whom we have helped at Savannah refused to recognize the successful work of the slaves of St-Domingue for more than half a century.  The Haitian slaves revolt has set a firm example for the slaves of North America, The United States did not like that a bit.  With the Haitian slogan live free or die, the American slaves were tired of the treatment their white masters were inflicting upon them so they decided to start sporadic revolts.  (Dr. Maulana Karenga drafted the picture of the American slaves in their quest for freedom in his book Introduction to Black Studies, a must read.) Those were HARSHLY crushed by the Americans because their economic success depended on the hard labor of those slaves.  The world alienated the Haitians.  They had no guidance, no trade partners and no economic models to follow.  During those years of “diplomatic drought” in Haiti, the nations of the world militarily insulted the young nation time and time again.  The Germans dropped by and demanded ransom because of a silly story about a presumed thief named Présumé.  In 1825 Charles X of France ordered Haiti to pay in order for their independence to be recognized.  That money to pay dragged Haiti to this economic mud that is following her until today.  Well, the independence should have been recognized because Haiti beat France in a fair fight, Napoleon’s mighty army capitulated – a vision of raising the white flag, saying I give up.  What more did you want? Do we need an impartial referee?  I think we do.

Since 1804, Haiti is paying the price of a victory.  It was fair and square, no cheating.  The British were at that time fighting Napoleon and the French. They make an unofficial request to the Haitian authorities asking them to kill the remaining French nationals in the country and they will carry them on their wings providing them what they need.  Well, my friend, Dessalines accepted, this was the pact with the devil, call it a second one if you will, the real one.  Right after that the British turned their back on Haiti.  The Americans were outraged, the rest of the world who heard of that, while they may have been contemplating having diplomatic ties with Haiti backed out. Those negroes had to pay for what they have done.  Indeed they had paid for slaying the French without mercy.  Generation after generations the Haitians have to pay for that ordeal and even in the 21^st century after a devastating earthquake that took 217, 000 lives and counting, the debt is still not paid in full.  Will you give Haiti a chance?

Pat Robertson’s sidekick told me in that email this morning that they have sent 291 tons of reliefs to Haiti.  Maybe this is his way to apologize for his mistake.  Rush Limbaugh said that the US income tax is help to Haiti.  I have to laugh because I have never heard such nonsense.  Indeed , Rushbo, the US Department of Treasury sent Haiti a refund check every year with a lot of Earned Income Credit (EIC).  I wonder if he had ever gone to college.   I pity those people who listen to his entertainment that only deals with negativities at best.  He is a champion carried only by his mouth, no brain at all.   While those two plus Paul Shirley don’t seem to be touched by the death of 217,000 people, the rest of the world has shown compassion and flew to help Haiti today.  I am happy that most nations helped but I am still asking the powerful nations of the world to give Haiti a chance to get back on her feet.  Here are my thoughts.  I don’t want to take a fish from you I would prefer that you make me a fishing expert.  In other words I want to do just like you have been doing so I can be as successful as you are.  I want to make this deal with you, can we shake hands on it?

I hate to pick on the French after beating them so badly in 1803 but they are the one who started all this.  They should have left Haiti alone after 1793 but no, they were so greedy wanting to get richer with free labor and came back to get humiliated.  I say the French are the first ones who need to give Haiti a chance. Give Haiti a chance to rebuild her cities, her economy and her future.  Help Haiti and her government understand the importance of literacy and erect schools and universities for her children and out of nothing those kids will bring out success.  Send French scholars to rebuild the Haitian educational system. Team up with the Haitian living abroad who are scholars, we have those working as professors in universities in North America and many other parts of the world.  Even I will be able to lend a helping hand. Hey I can drive those scholars around town on Sunday afternoon. Those that are currently in Haiti will be part of the team that will give Haiti a new face in 2030. 

I have read many years ago that “leaning on the past is working for the future.”  This may have come from Edmond Rostand or Jules Verne, I hope one of my readers remember.  Haiti’s past is filled with negatives. Deep misery is a corollary of dictatorship, corruption in government, selfishness, monopoly, lack of planning for the nation’s future, unaccountability, and illiteracy.  I could think of a lot of other negatives that have plagued Haiti throughout the years but pointing to them will not make things any better.  As we discover them, we will tackle them and make them part of a sad story and bury them.

While our relationship with the United States is at its peak, we need to ask them to make Haiti a strategic point in their foreign policy agenda by helping with the reconstruction project.  The reconstruction project to me is not defined simply with erecting those buildings that have not resisted the earthquake but rather a socio-economic approach that will definitely include education.  It will take just one generation to turn things around in Haiti.  People like myself who have less time to live then they have lived have nothing to gain but maybe a legacy that they have made a difference, a point of reference that they were part of the reconstruction of a nation.  I consider Haiti as a new born that needs to be nurtured, guided, protected while being educated.  And like a child growing up, the notions that are taught will not be forgotten but instead will be made useful in the daily challenges.

The country has not been swallowed up but she is on her butt asking someone to help her get up.  I am not an official of the Haitian government.  I am only myself, Gabriel Benoit, a man with a vision for Haiti.   Once we receive full cooperation of our friends, Haiti will get that chance, a chance that is right now non-existent because Haitian resources are not adequate to make such things happen.  Haiti needs a sudden shift.  Haiti needs an opportunity to make a change, the change that will make her the nation that she never had the chance to become.  The world turned away from her for the past 206 years but today the world is with her showing her love and giving her attention.  It is the right time to lend the ultimate helping hand and give the Haitians their first real chance to use their motto that I prefer to say in French than its English translation: “L’union Fait La Force.”