Response to Megyn Kelly regarding "badmouthing" the Haitians

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By Louis Joseph Auguste, MD

Many Haitians have found themselves offended by the crass comments made by Meghan Kelly on her social media. Her choice of words is more a characterization of her miserable personality. I listened to her diatribe with pity for her. Still, unfortunately, this custom of punching down on a person who is already down is in line with the rhetoric that has been endlessly uttered by the entire cast in this government. 

Why is Haiti is in such turmoil? Really! Where do we start? Could it be that the Americans never forgave Haiti for having defeated Napoleon's army? Could it be that while slavery was in full force in the US, Haiti supported Simon Bolivar in his struggle to liberate South America from the Spanish Empire, with the sole condition that slavery be abolished in every colony liberated? Could it be that the US supported many insurrections in Haiti with the hope that the government that they helped install would cede to them Tortuga Island or the tip of the North of Haiti that would give them control of the canal leading to the western Caribbean and the Panama Canal? As they realized how much money France was draining from Haiti with the Independence debt, they forced Haiti to transfer the debt to American banks and proceeded to loot the entire Gold reserve of Haiti's Central Bank in 1914, Gold that was never returned to Haiti. 

 

 The US occupied Haiti from 1915 to 1934, changed the Constitution to allow foreigners, more specifically American companies, to acquire property in the country. Could it be that in spite of all the humiliation, Haitians have remained proud of their history and of their culture? The period of the occupation also made it clear to me that the powerful neighbor of the North wanted to teach a lesson to these "niggers" who would not bow their heads It also became clear that they did not believe that these former slaves should have self-determination or self-governance. History is proof that during the 19 years of American occupation, four of the five Haitian presidents were very light-skinned mulattoes, and as my father told me, dark-skinned Haitians were not allowed to even walk near the national Palace. As the American people grew tired of the occupation and Haitians expressed more and more strongly their anger and disapproval, Franklin Roosevelt agreed to end the occupation, but not without stating that:" If they could keep Haitians with shoes fighting with Haitians without shoes, they had nothing to fear from Haiti." 

Since then, it has been an endless policy of destabilization. The progressive president who followed the Occupation built a dam on the largest river in Haiti, irrigated the fertile Artibonite Valley, and produced enough rice not only to feed the entire population, but enough to export to other countries of the Caribbean. He also organized a most successful World's Fair that brought prosperity to the country. Before his term ended, he was deposed by a general who was the darling of Eisenhower. He became president himself. He was received in the White House, slept in the Lincoln room and had the privilege of addressing a joint session of the US Congress. Washington supported Duvalier so long as he was fighting Communism for the CIA, but as soon as the threat had faded, they turned against him. They have since been interfering with the electoral process, pushing aside the progressists that would put their country first. 

They have removed Aristide from power, brought him back, and taken him out again. Despite all these setbacks, during the Vietnam war, Haitian doctors were invited to come and provide healthcare to the population. As Africa was being decolonized, Haitian professionals went back to the ancestral continent to educate the population, after the European colonizers had barred access to education. When a referendum was taken in Quebec to protect their French culture and not be absorbed by the English culture, they called on Haitian intellectuals to teach at the high school and university levels. 

In the aftermath of the earthquake of 2010, there was a fund created to reconstruct Port-au-Prince. The fund was jointly managed by the Haitian Prime Minister and former President Bill Clinton. The funds vanished, and we can all see the state of affairs in Port-au-Prince. I refuse to believe that only one person should be blamed for that debacle. Elections followed at the insistence of the American Government, the candidate sponsored by the US finished third and therefore was ineligible to compete in the second round. The then Secretary of State traveled to Haiti, and the revised results of the election were proclaimed by ....(you won't believe it) the American Embassy, and their candidate went on to win the election. Now, Haiti does not have an army. The elite military corps was disbanded, and the US Congress passed the Leahy law, stipulating that the US will not support an army guilty of violence and abuse. Hmmm! This Law has been misinterpreted, and I have heard the Undersecretary of State for Latin America declare that, according to the Leahy law, Haiti does not have the right to have an army.

 Furthermore, an arms embargo has been imposed on Haiti since. Meanwhile, tons and tons of weapons are arriving weekly to Haiti directly by ship or across the Dominican border. They are ever more sophisticated and upgraded every time the police acquire new weapons. If a shipment of weapons destined to the gangs is intercepted by the police, the American Embassy makes sure these weapons are sent back to the US. It is almost unbelievable but true. Every island in the Caribbean basin. Be it Jamaica, Bahamas, St Lucia, or Trinidad has a drug and gang problem, but they all have more than a simple police force to deal with the problem. Instead of supporting the local army, we saw a secretary of state go all the way to Kenya to offer them some money to fight the gangs. Common sense would tell you that Haitians have more skin in the game than an African troop that does not share our language, is more or less alien to our culture. No progress was made. Complete waste of money. Now the US has sent a group of American mercenaries, and the population is still yearning for their deliverance, since their right to self-defense has been taken away. 

These gangs have destroyed most of the hospitals in the central part of the country, and even the hospital built by Paul Farmer had to be evacuated. All the medical schools have been destroyed. Libraries and laboratories set on fire. One must ask why all the centers of high education are being targeted. We have heard the American ambassador declare during an interview that he was in regular contact with the gang chiefs... It boggles the mind to understand why gangsters would destroy a hospital that use to take care of them. Citizens are being kidnapped daily. Anyone who leaves his or her house in the morning to go to work is never assured of making it back home. Yet they have to work because their savings, if there are any, along with additional mortgages on their houses, are often paid as incredibly high ransoms. Perpetual chaos in Haiti was the policy recommended by Mr. Roosevelt. The imagery that comes to mind is that of a vulture or a hyena ravaging the last pieces of rotten meat on a carcass. 

Yet Haitians keep their head high because they know that, like the phoenix, the country, carried by its determined and proud sons and daughters, will be reborn. I don't expect the brainless critics to understand the complexity of the issue and the reason why Haitians seek refuge in a country where a statue proclaims: Give me your tired. Your poor, your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free." Meghan Kelly's ancestors escaped famine in Ireland and came to the US. They prospered even though it was customary in those days to read INNA at the end of the job postings. "Irish need not apply!!!" How quickly do we forget! Adult Haitians are proud and will not be affected by such a lack of class.

 However, I worry about young Haitian American kids growing up in such an oppressive environment. What would be the impact on their self-confidence and their fortitude? More than ever, we need to keep our kids protected and always remind them that they are God's children, like everyone else, and they are loved by their parents, their family, their friends, and all real Americans of goodwill, eager to see a brighter day for all. More than ever, we have to watch out for one another. 

Haitians are being singled out to create a wedge between them and other Black communities. Typical divide and conquer policy. If you fall for it, you will be next. Remember Martin Niemoller's poem: First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out because I was not a communist, then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak because I wasn't a trade unionist, then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak out, because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me.

Louis Joseph Auguste, MD