 |
As of August 2020, federal officers are using unmarked vans to grab protesters off the streets of Portland. These intimidation tactics are reminders to “know your role”, and that stronger measures can be used if needed.
Stronger measures like those used before with the Ferguson Uprisings. Many prominent protesters have been found dead in what appears to be an act of coordinated retaliation with law enforcement like precision.
Or before that on a national scale; Haiti was, and continues to be, punished for having the audacity to revolt. For not accepting it’s role as slave colony, and it has born the title of “Poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere” for it’s efforts.
Back Story:
1804 is stamped in the memories of many as the—thou shalt not fuck with black people—slap that was literally felt around the world. Haiti declared its independence after a bloody 12-year struggle with Europe’s greatest superpowers.
On the night of August 14th, 1791 at Bois Caïman, Dutty Boukman and Cécile Fatiman held a ceremony where they organized the roots of the revolution. While Toussaint L’Ouverture worked using the tools of the elite, Boukman reached out to les marrons and the slaves in the fields. He demanded that they reject the white man’s god and embrace the spirits that carried them across the seas unharmed. Boukman called on Dantor, Baron, Legba. La Siren summoned them, and Gran Bwa gave them refuge. Haitians poisoned their masters and French colonizers, killed the master’s children, and burned the plantations. They screwed with the peace and lifestyles of those white folks the way fleas won’t leave a stray cat alone.
Later, in 1798, Toussaint fought off the British army, and then successfully fought the monster within.
I will not address the disrespect that has surrounded the Bois Caïman ceremony (and the obsession that some of my kinfolks have in demonizing vodou). I want to address precisely this: What kind of a revolution are we after, and what will that world look like after such a revolution?
Haiti’s current oppression is not an accident. Colonizers were shook and humiliated at their defeat, and they quickly devised a plan to combat their new common enemy: Free black souls. Through policy and intervention, the world’s powers have ensured Haiti will forever remain a cautionary tale of when black people act with autonomy.
At the beginning the 19th century, technology was brough to the other parts of the Americas. These technological advances could lessen the burden on slaves in the remaining colonies and placate them from a Hatian style revolt. The modulation of oppression forced abolitionists from many of these countries to adopt incrementalism instead of a full scale rebellion.
Facing resistance to overt control, Europeans migrated to the Americas in droves as a mean to indirectly hold on to power. This dilution of the cultures aided in internalizing white-supremacy with the creation of social strata and anti-blackness. The influx of white European into the other regions of the Americas, and the arrival of Asians in Jamaica and other islands would forever create a chasm between the kinship, shared identity, and the common struggle amongst the enslaved in the Americas.
Haiti was placed in the corner for being bad. Europe would not share with them, but they would share with the others who agreed to play nice. Haiti was not a target of the mass migration to the Americas by other ethnic groups (with some exceptions e.g. Syrians and Lebanese who still have thriving communities in Haiti).
The new European and Asian migration into the Americas would completely change its face. So when a Blanca act like they are PoC, continue to give them that side-eye as their ancestors intentionally changed the phenotype, technological and cultural landscape of the Americas. The infusion of technology into islands such as Jamaica, Cuba and the Domican Republic (the other side of the island) made it possible for their productivity to increase. Without access to these advancements, Haiti was incapable of competing with production of sugar and other goods that they were producing in abundance prior to koupe tet, boule kay.
The post-revolution oppression of Haiti was a unified project by colonizers world-wide. The United States had particular interest in ensuring it’s own enslaved population would not see hope of a revolt. The Haitian revolution may have in a way made things worse for the enslaved in America.
Haiti today is akin to the 13th district of The Hunger Games. It is a symbol of what happens when things aren’t done incrementally and gradually with white-supremacy’s stamp of approval. Here in America, though the fight for liberation seems local, it is in fact global—all eyes on you. What that means is that the world is watching the BLM movement closely. The disenfranchised are taking notes on how to get free from this new global enslavement.
For this disrespect, colonizers wouldn’t do business with insolent Haitians. Other countries in the Americas would rather side with the powerful in the hope for independence than to band with the Haitians. Even those who did in fact receive Haitians support turned towards colonizers. I’m looking at you, Bolivar. The Monroe doctrine solidified the fact that Haiti would be punished until Haitians grovel for their insolence despite the order of non-interference. France would choke Haiti out of 90 million paid in full in 1886. (Haiti is waiting on that payback Macron Cromagnon)
Haiti’s unjust, and arbitrary “debt” to France had been more than paid, but thanks to the black magic of compounding interest it was not until 1947 that France declared that they were square. Along with this initial debt, trade policies and fraudulent loans taken by dictators have crippled Haitian economy ever since.
I have observed two camps in this present fight for liberation: Camp incremental (let’s vote and use our democratic powers), and Camp Burn this ‘ish down! (Koupe tet, boule kay!). Do we proceed with incrementalism to diminish collateral damages, or do we let the chips fall where they may? Nobody is talking to each other, and there is a romanticism on burning ‘ish up. Let’s not forget the ableism attached to burning ‘ish down, because our most vulnerable would be impacted and sacrificed. A simple illustration of that, most schools leave their disabled students behind during an active shooting. How do we shelter our most vulnerable? On the other hand, incrementalism is just giving white-supremacy a chance to compensate and adjust its tactics.
So, do we know where we are going? Do we know what the strengths and weaknesses are for this revolution? Do we know how to protect our most vulnerable? Who are our allies? Should we have allies? More importantly, the world we want to rush into once our chains are broken, what does it look like? Can we all agree with it?
While we are victims of white supremacy, One of our failures as Haitians have been our refusal to decolonize ourselves. To decolonize our minds from white supremacist foundations of being. To stare at ourselves in the mirror and see ourselves through our own lens. Our biggest failure is that we never explored what being free looked like.
Previous Next