Dear Editor,
“François-Dominique Toussaint Louverture was a mighty man, and to make matters worse he was black. And back in the days black men knew their place was in the back. But this rebel, he walked through Napoleon, who thought it was not very nice, and so today, my brothers in Haiti, we still pay the price. Haiti, I am sorry, we misunderstood you, but one day we will turn our heads and look inside you.”
Nearly three decades ago, David Rudder passionately echoed those lyrics. Unfortunately, Haiti is still seen by many of her Caribbean neighbours as an evil, voodoo-working country, which deserves nothing less than eternal poverty and destruction.
Sadly so, I have come across various unbelievable comments on social media from fellow Jamaicans as to why we should not assist that country in its current disaster and humanitarian crisis after the passing of Hurricane Matthew. One such comment which had struck me was this one: “Islands which include Haiti — the Obeah workers — are their own worst enemy. Voodoo and iniquity are the main reasons why Haiti will continue being an impoverish nation, despite of the billions of dollars in contributions.”
Unfortunately, due to misinformation and lack of knowledge, many Jamaicans share similar views to that of the commenter. In reality, though, Haiti’s woes have nothing to do with cultist or barbaric practices. Their misfortunes are historically attributed to the Haitian Revolution of 1791-1804 when the Haitian people, under the leadership of the black Haitian Army General Toussaint Louverture, started the greatest and most successful slave rebellion in the western world against their French colonial masters, who they defeated courageously.
Left in embarrassment, the French bombarded Port-au-Prince with warships and demanded compensation of 150 million francs, this in today’s amount would be the equivalent of US$21 billion. So unless we know the truth, we will always look at our Haitian brothers and sisters with a scorn, when the truth is they are freedom fighters, even today; after 212 years of hardship and disaster their resilience is unmatched.
Zavier Simpson
zavier_simpson@hotmail.
com
“François-Dominique Toussaint Louverture was a mighty man, and to make matters worse he was black. And back in the days black men knew their place was in the back. But this rebel, he walked through Napoleon, who thought it was not very nice, and so today, my brothers in Haiti, we still pay the price. Haiti, I am sorry, we misunderstood you, but one day we will turn our heads and look inside you.”
Nearly three decades ago, David Rudder passionately echoed those lyrics. Unfortunately, Haiti is still seen by many of her Caribbean neighbours as an evil, voodoo-working country, which deserves nothing less than eternal poverty and destruction.
Sadly so, I have come across various unbelievable comments on social media from fellow Jamaicans as to why we should not assist that country in its current disaster and humanitarian crisis after the passing of Hurricane Matthew. One such comment which had struck me was this one: “Islands which include Haiti — the Obeah workers — are their own worst enemy. Voodoo and iniquity are the main reasons why Haiti will continue being an impoverish nation, despite of the billions of dollars in contributions.”
Unfortunately, due to misinformation and lack of knowledge, many Jamaicans share similar views to that of the commenter. In reality, though, Haiti’s woes have nothing to do with cultist or barbaric practices. Their misfortunes are historically attributed to the Haitian Revolution of 1791-1804 when the Haitian people, under the leadership of the black Haitian Army General Toussaint Louverture, started the greatest and most successful slave rebellion in the western world against their French colonial masters, who they defeated courageously.
Left in embarrassment, the French bombarded Port-au-Prince with warships and demanded compensation of 150 million francs, this in today’s amount would be the equivalent of US$21 billion. So unless we know the truth, we will always look at our Haitian brothers and sisters with a scorn, when the truth is they are freedom fighters, even today; after 212 years of hardship and disaster their resilience is unmatched.
Zavier Simpson
zavier_simpson@hotmail.
com