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Written by Administrator
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Monday, 25 May 2009 09:58 |
Please, reflect on these words:
Haiti is a prize… win it
Haiti is an adventure… dare it
Haiti is a mystery…unfold it
Haiti is a struggle…face it
Haiti is a beauty…praise it
Haiti is a puzzle…solve it
Haiti is an opportunity… take it
Haiti is sorrowful…experience it
Haiti is a song…sing it
Haiti is a goal…achieve it
Haiti is a mission…fulfill it!
Copyright material below (C). Used only with permission.
"The western end of the island which Columbus discovered, December 6, 1492, on his first voyage and named Hispaniola is closer to the United States than is any of the Caribbean islands except Cuba" stated professor Rayford W. Logan.
In history, resources and human values, Haiti is a rich country! She is labeled the “poorest country” or a “Third World country” because her rich material and human resources have been extirpated and/or abused.
As Haitian historian Edner A. Jeanty put it in his book of PAROL GRANMOUN 999 HAITIAN PROVERBS, “The value of a country does not depend only upon material wealth. What can a country do without people? You might have ‘all the gold of Peru’ in a country, but without human and moral values, that country is in bad shape.”
Haiti in the true sense can be considered as Africa’s eldest daughter in the Diaspora. The umbilical cord of Africa, the Mother-of-Pearls, was stretched to become Haiti, La Perle des Antilles.
Haiti made two major contributions to the United States of America which protected her liberty and increased her prosperity.
First of all, Haitian soldiers and American soldiers fought side to side against the British in the 1779 Battle of Savannah. Historian Thomas G. Rodgers discusses this:
“D’Estaing’s 3,500 assault troops were drafted for temporary duty from regiments garrisoning the island colonies in the West Indies: Martinique, Guadeloupe, and St-Domingue. They included several hundred [1,500] free black troops, among them young Henri Christope, future king of Haiti.”
The future king of Haiti Henri Christophe shed his blood for this country. He was wounded in his leg. During his rule, he built the fortress La Citadelle; a sight that used to attract visitors to Haiti. It was once the eighth wonder of the world.
Secondly, the Haitian revolutionary army’s defeat of Napoleon’s veteran forces in Haiti in 1803, messing up his plans to reinstate slavery on the island, deprived France of the financial resources it needed to establish a new French empire in the Americas.
This defeat in Haiti forced Napoleon to sell the Louisiana Territory which doubled the size of the U.S and later became a superpower.
The quest and discovery of one’s own history bring humility. Realizing the mission of Haiti, Frederick Douglass, once a United States ambassador to Haiti, one of the foremost abolitionists and the father of American civil rights movement stated:
“It is said of ancient nations, that each had its special mission in the world and that each taught the world some important lesson. The Jews taught the world a religion, a sublime conception of the Deity. The Greeks taught the world philosophy and beauty. The Romans taught the world jurisprudence. England is foremost among the modern nations in commerce and manufactures. Germany has taught the world to think, while the American Republic is giving the world an example of a government by the people, of the people, and for the people. Among these large bodies, the little community of Haiti, anchored in the Caribbean Sea, has had her mission in the world, and a mission, which the world had much needed to learn. She has taught the world the danger of slavery and the value of liberty. In respect she has been the greatest of all our modern teachers.
The struggle for true Haitian freedom in this century will fought mainly in the field of competitive edge technology.
Unless Haitians and the world community act individually and collectively to end the poverty in Haiti, a Titanic destruction is forthcoming.
The words of James Weldon Johnson must encourage us to keep pressing on: “Stony the road we’ve trod, bitter the chastening rod; Born in the days when hope unborn had died. Yet with a steady beat, did not our feet come to the place for which our fathers sighed.”
It becomes evident to Haitians that change must come to Haiti by their concerted efforts, supported by friends of liberty around the world.
As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said in quoting Rabbi Joachim Prinz, “The most important thing that I learn in my life and under tragic circumstances is bigotry and hatred are not the most urgent problems. The most urgent, the most disgraceful, the most shameful, and the most tragic problem is silence.”
Every Hour, a child in Haiti dies of starvation and hunger-related diseases before reaching the age of 5.
These innocent children are our neighbors. They live only 700 miles from us.
"The true neighbor will risk his position, his prestige and even his life for the welfare of others" - Dr. King
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Last Updated on Monday, 18 January 2010 06:37 |
The Truth about Haiti
