Shut Up and Dribble

 The Social Creation of a Disaster -the case of Haiti. 

 

Credit: AP

U.S. Customs and Border Protection mounted officers attempt to contain migrants crossing the Rio Grande from Ciudad Acuña, Mexico, into Del Rio, Texas, Sunday, September 19, 2021. Thousands of Haitian migrants have been arriving in Del Rio, Texas, as authorities attempt to close the border to stop the flow of migrants. (AP Photo/Felix Marquez)

Source: Teen living in human stash house says parents hid immigrants out of 'need' | cbs19.tv

 

In a scene reminiscent of the infamous Stanford Prison Experiment, Haitian migrants were run down by U.S. border guards for just trying to seek asylum. But this tragedy did not start here, nor is it confined to the Haitians. This particularly militarized zone along our southern border and these Black people have long been part of our tortured racial story. A story that begins in European imperialism runs through slavocracy, matures during deliberate and strategic periods of disinvestment, disempowerment, and denial, and finally jettisons into our complicated, racialized universe. Tracing that story helps us to understand how we got here, how other racialized stories were constructed, and how we might get to the point of merely blaming or commiserating with the victims, but confronting, repairing the damage, and remedying the problems. 

Our journey starts in a racially fragmented settlement in what was known as Hispaniola. Here, in 1789 on the eve of the French Revolution, some 500,000 enslaved Africans and 24,000 affranchis (free mulattoes) banded together and began challenging the continual brutality of slave owners. The first real challenge occurred in late 1790 as an uprising was precipitated by Vincent Ogé. Although the rebellion was unsuccessful, Ogé captured, tortured, and ultimately executed; the French government attempted to split the opposition by granting citizenship to the wealthier affranchise. However, the acts of appeasement were disregarded as most of the European within Haiti's population violated the law. Continual acts of violence targeting the slaves and mulattos led to a more serious confrontation led by Toussaint Louverture in the late 1790s. Louverture was successful in January 1801 as he conquered Santa Domingo and declared himself "governor-general for life." In 1802, Napoléon Bonaparte, to restore order, sent his brother-in-law, Gen. Charles Leclerc, and 23,000 seasoned French troops. They were able to overpower the rebel leaders, placing Louverture and several of his lieutenants in prison. Although a truce was declared, no conditions were honored as Louverture languished and died in prison. Several of Toussaint's lieutenants, such as Jean-Jacques Dessalines and Henry Christopher, took up arms again. Seeing the writing on the walls, Napoleon quickly sought an escape route. He found one in the Louisiana Purchase in May 1803 and formally withdrew from North America. In three weeks, France and Britain fought to gain control over Haiti. Taking advantage of this conflict, Haitian rebels, under the leadership of Dessalines, defeated the French. On January 1, 1804, the island was declared independent. Ironically, most European powers, including the United States, fearing slave revolts, ostracized the newly liberated Haiti.

Jefferson, who espoused the tenants of the French Revolution, was nevertheless a Virginia slaveholder. Jefferson feared the revolt of slaves would spread to the United States. He, therefore, actually provided federal aid to help suppress the rebellion. Even Federalist rivals, such as Alexander Hamilton, supported Jefferson's Haitian policy. The most immediate response was the formal silence of the United States. Responding to the fear and pressure of Southern slave-holding states, the United States government refused to recognize Haitian independence. Ironically, it was not until 1852, with the civil war, was Haitian independence finally realized. (Blackburn 2006) Over the decades and centuries to follow, Haiti would be ignored, occupied, marginalized, and ostracized to this present day. As a result, Haiti is the poorest Nation in our hemisphere. The same policies, practices, and intentional strategies that created such a nation, would be duplicated, refined, and reinvented as our Nation discovered Jim Crow, redlining, the cradle-to-prison pipeline, and the resulting ghettos. 

Bibliography

Blackburn, Robin. 21006. Haiti, Slavery, and the Age of the Democratic Revolution. The William and Mary Quarterly Third Series, Vol. 63, No. 4 (Oct., pp. 643-674 (32 pages). Accessed on November 2, 2022, at URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/4491574.