HAITI: UNITED STATES FOREIGN POLICY HAS BEEN MORE DEVASTATING THAN THE EARTHQUAKE

HAITI: UNITED STATES FOREIGN POLICY HAS BEEN MORE DEVASTATING THAN THE EARTHQUAKE

By Fahim A. Knight-EL

My prayers and thoughts go out to the people of the island nation of Haiti who were devastated by a massive earthquake that measured 7.0 on the rector scale, which has killed thousands of Haitian people (experts are predicting that as many as 200 thousand people are presumed dead) and destroyed huge amounts of property in and around the capital of Port-au-Prince. This writer has been offering up prayers for Haiti and its people for many years; long before this said natural disaster occurred. It has been deemed the poorest nation in the western hemisphere and has a long history of political, economic and social strife, as well as instability that for the most part, has been induced and instigated by the United States and other wealthy European nations.

The western world has neglected this poor island nation since its inception of becoming the first independent black nation in the western hemisphere in 1803. This writer respects the outpouring of love and generosity that Haiti is presently receiving and God knows they need it. But it is same damnable hypocrites who helped put Haiti in its present condition leading this so-called humanitarian charge and now desire to appear as goodwill ambassadors. Also, the international bankers, Bush 1& 2, Clinton, and a host of others are all criminal culprits in Haiti’s demise. Haiti has had what amounts to a blockade, sanctions, embargo, etc., around this island nation in the form of neglect, at least those nations that have imposed international sanctions on them are able to acquire the things they need to survive from other nations that might be in political disagreement with the sanctions. But it is difficult to combat intentional neglect—which has rendered the people of Haiti invisible and nonexistent unworthy of a helping hand from its most powerful neighbor, the United States of America. (Reference: Kwame Ture YouTube Clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJ09Z8Bu2V4).

Haiti has needed the world’s attention long before this devastating natural disaster in which United States only has committed a yearly amount of 300 million dollars of international foreign aid to this poor country and people. This is peanuts in comparison to what the U.S. taxpayers kick out to Egypt and Israel. However, this writer has placed some of the blame squarely on the shoulders of black electoral political leadership—there are 42 members in the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) and for the most part these Uncle Toms are reactionary sellouts who over the course of time have done very little to aid Haiti and their silence towards Haiti before the earthquake renders them as being complicit—

Sanford D. Bishop, Jr., Emanuel Cleaver, Donna Christensen, G.K. Butterfield, Yvette Clarke, Sanford D. Bishop, Jr., Corrine Brown, Roland W. Burris, André Carson, Wm. Lacy Clay, Jr., James E. Clyburn, John Conyers, Jr., Elijah E. Cummings, Artur Davis, Danny Davis, Donna Edwards, Keith Ellison, Chaka Fattah, Marcia Fudge, Al Green, Alcee L. Hastings, Jesse L. Jackson, Jr., Sheila Jackson Lee, Eddie Bernice Johnson, Hank Johnson, Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, John Lewis, Kendrick Meek, Gregory W. Meeks, Gwen Moore, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Donald M. Payne, Charles B. Rangel, Laura Richardson, Bobby L. Rush, David Scott, Robert C. Scott, Bennie G. Thompson, Edolphus Towns, Maxine Waters, Diane E. Watson and Melvin L. Watt.

The above are the names of the African American Congressional culprits that have let Haiti down and this writer will continue to expose them long after the Haiti issue subsides. Many of the above politicians are not worthy of the black vote and in all reality, to have 95% of black folk voting the Democratic ticket is insane. This is truly another subject for another time. We love the devil because he gives us nothing.

There was no reason that Haiti should have been in its present day political, economic and social condition with that many black lawmakers and policy formulators on Capitol Hill. It is they, more than anyone else, who have neglected and let Haiti down; they do not lobby on behalf of Haiti and Africa—CBC should man-up and admit that they too have neglected the interest of Haiti and why shouldn’t world have taken an disengagement political course of action, if Black America themselves haven’t made Haiti a political priority.

Black America had a 900 billion dollar Gross National Product (GNP) last year and this alone renders us as having an economy larger than 12 European developed nations. Some would argue this nation is in crisis and it’s not the time for critical assessments and evaluations—my criticism at this time does not reflect a notion of me being insensitive or apathetic, but is more of an urgency to look beyond the cameras and the media hype to gather an understanding from whence we have come and whence we are headed relative to Haiti. This is perfect timing to call a spade a spade rather than sit quietly, as though we were unaware of Haiti’s crisis prior to January 12, 2010.

They did not care that children were dying in Haiti due to starvation and lack of nourishment, which has caused high incidents of infant mortality and no one shed a damn tear. The Haitians who sought to escape their oppression and built vulnerable man made rafts and traveled the violent Atlantic Ocean to the United States were only to be met with extreme hostility.

Many have argued for years that the Haitians were escaping political tyranny from Port-au-Prince, but they were met with hostility and political opposition from the United States Government and were denied the diplomatic status of political asylum which was often granted unconditionally to the so-called fleeing Cuban refugees. There were no goodwill ambassadors and/or open arms policy shown to the Haitian refugees. Many of the Haitian refugees were criminalized and placed in federal detention camps and were eventually deported back to Haiti. (Reference: Randall Robinson; "Quitting America: Departure of a Black Man From His Native Land").

Perhaps this was an example of the influence and the political power that the Cuban-Americans had in swaying the U.S. Judicial system and manipulating U.S. extradition laws and deportation policies to their benefit. This immediately put the Cuban refugees on track to become United States citizens and the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) granted them rights and privileges and resources. But others argued that the Haitians were black and African in which at the root of the Haitian refugee issue was American style racism and this was the driving force behind this political double standard. No doubt the Haitian community in the United States did not have the political clout and the financial wither all, which to influence United States foreign policy unlike their Caribbean counterparts the Cubans. (Reference: Carol Bohmer and Amy Shuman; "Rejecting Refugees: Political Asylum in the 21st Century").

Haiti is considered the poorest nation in the western hemisphere and essentially is a powerless people in comparison to the Cuban-Americans. This writer believes that the Europeans are still punishing Haiti for the historical events of 1803 where Haiti became the first independent black nation in the western hemisphere due to Toussaint L'Overture defeating the powerful French military that was led by Napoleon Bonaparte. These events have haunted the island nation of Haiti for over two hundred years. (Reference: Paul Farmer; "The Use of Haiti").

Dr. Randall Robinson former chairman of TransAfrica stated: “Why the crude, gratuitous hostility? When America supports abusive unelected governments all over the world, why the spec­tacular meanness toward a poor, nascent democracy like Haiti's? With its rudimentary health system already compromised by an AIDS crisis precipitated by American and Canadian sex tourists, why would a colossus like the United States notice to trample unpro­voked upon the new and unconsolidated freedoms of a people like Haiti's, a people from among whose ranks, a great general, Fran­cois Dominique Toussaint L'Ouverture, had once emerged to fight at Savannah alongside George Washington when freedom's fate hung here in the American” balance? (Reference: Randall Robinson: “Quitting America” ; p. 188).

Haiti has been systematically neglected in which has condemned and subjugated the Haitian people to a level of suffering that is unmatched by any other nation within the region. God has not forsaking Haiti and the people of Haiti —it has been the United States Foreign Policy towards Haiti that is part responsible for the present condition of Haiti.

We know that Haiti is a black nation and perhaps it has been their marginalization which has made it easier to overlook this nation of 9 million people who have languished in political and economic obscurity for over 200 years. The United States, the most powerful nation in the world has never saw fit to truly assist Haiti and to help liberate them from oppression and repression.

Dr. Randall Robinson continued: “In general, one is to wonder what it is in the American bully's character that would have it ration the leaders of poorer, nonlethal countries so little space in which to stand erect, to effect even the pose of self-determination, to raise any but the most perfunctory of voices on behalf of theirs who dream much the same as Americans dream, of freedom and the richer life that only freedom affords?”

“But American hatred for Haiti goes well beyond its general arro­gance toward third-world countries. Indeed, there is no rational reason to explain the deep-seated institutional enmity with which America has addressed Haiti during the two hundred years that have followed its successful military slave revolt against France and Napoleon Bonaparte. I expect that the real reason marks yet again the yawning divide between blacks and whites in America and else­where. It is profoundly racial, with its own detailed annotated his­tory, unlike the American full long experience with any other people of the Caribbean archipelago. What black Americans should love Haiti for, indeed what all blacks across the hemisphere owe Haiti for, official America {which is largely white America} subconsciously and sometimes not so subconsciously has hated Haiti for, time im­memorial. The Haitians are different. They are just not like the rest of us black hemispheric locals-ambulatory bad replicas of our conquerors.” (Reference: Randall Robinson; “Quitting America”; p. 188-189).

However, during the Cold War the United States Government and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had propped up the Haitian dictator François ("Papa Doc") Duvalier (1907-1971) and in 1971 the CIA propped up “Papa Doc’s” son Jean-Claude Duvalier “Baby Doc” (1951-still alive) and used both of them and the nation of Haiti as reactionary foreign policy tools—U.S. arm forces had free reign to setup military bases (which the CIA spied and instigated coups and created political instability in the Caribbean, Central and South America) and had access to Haitian airspace which to further enforce the Monroe Doctrine, as well as monitoring the military activities of Fidel Castro and Cuban regime.

President George Herbert Walker Bush when he was the CIA director strategically used the services of Jean-Claude Duvalier as an agent provocateur who signed on as an international drug (dope) partner in which the CIA and the United States Government were granted access to Haitian ports for the smuggling of marijuana and cocaine from Colombia and Panama (and from all points south). In fact Bush 1 (President and CIA agent) was running dope in Central, and South America and throughout the Caribbean for over three decades.

Russell S. Bowens in most revealing book titled, “The Immaculate Deception: The Bush Crime Family Exposed” stated: “How about Bush's much-touted role as America 's chief drug cop in the Reagan Administration? He headed the South Florida Task Force and the National Narcotics Border Interdiction System in the mid-1980s that left every­thing to be desired. A telling commentary was that his leadership of the task force was not renewed after he served one year on it. By the fall of 1986, soon after Bush had left his position there, Florida drug enforcement officials admitted that the amount of narcotics smuggled into the U. S. had skyrocketed. At the same time, the Government Accounting Office (GAO) reported that cocaine imports had doubled over the previous year”.

Bowen continued: “The Bush-controlled U. S. Justice Department is generally regarded as a national disgrace for its foot-dragging in the investigation and prosecution of virtually any cases involving drugs. As the former Commissioner of U.S. Customs, William von Rabb, declared in disgust when he resigned in the summer of 1989: "The war on drugs is a war of words." The only real battles, he said, are being fought against the minorities and downtrod­den, while those in authority are protecting the government's monopoly in the trade”. (Reference: Russell S. Bowen; “The Immaculate Deception: The Bush Crime Family Exposed”; p. viii-ix).

Haiti has always served as a vital and strategic nation in moving this most profitable commodity from Bogotá, Colombia directly to the ports located at Port-au-Prince and served as a halfway point between Miami and the United States gulf ports. So to the pundits who argue that Haiti does not have exploitable resources, then they fail to understand how lucrative the dope trade is to United States interest within the region. Thus, this dope arrangement has always made Haiti a very valuable country to the United States and western interest. David Icke in his book titled, "The Biggest Secret" stated: "Without the drug trade, the world economy, would collapse, so dependent has it become on the income and investments produced by the destruction of human life." (Reference: David Icke: "Biggest Secret"; p. 291).

Yes, the United States has always had an imperialistic agenda relative to Haiti However, I do believe that if the Haitian people were white and was that close in geographical proximity to the borders of the United States, our political disposition would be different. But they are people of African descendent who arrived to Caribbean Island of Hispaniola as slaves; the Spanish and the Portuguese in 1494 had signed the Treaty of Tordesillas and in 1517 the Papal of Demarcation was signed in which Spain and Portugal drew an imaginary line dividing the entire world between these two European powers. It would be the Transatlantic Slave Trade and Middle Passage that brought captive Africans to Haiti and throughout the Americas. (Reference: Richard Roscoe Miller; “Slavery and Catholicism”).

Since this massive earthquake Haiti has received a tremendous outpouring of love and financial assistance from around the world, which has been coming in, to assist this ravish island nation that has lost so much at a blink of an eye. It also speaks volumes for the humanity that exist when other human beings on the globe are confronted with a crisis, catastrophes, disasters, etc., and need the assistance of all people of goodwill. Why did it take a natural disaster for a Haiti to gain the attention of the world?

Thus, viewing the images of men, women and children lying on the dusty streets of Port-au-Prince dead (many will not even receive a dignified burial ceremony, but will be dumped in mass unmarked graves), but it is the sight of the children—seeing their anguish, fear and hopelessness, as well as disillusionment in their eye, is very heartbreaking to me as a father. I am a father with four children and my youngest being my 11 year old daughter and as I watched Anderson Cooper and other CNN reporting staff. I could not help but to look into my daughter’s eyes and wondering how would I be reacting, if it was one of my children who were laying helpless without the proper medical care, no food and water and even dead—I immediately began to count my blessings, and as much as I have grumbled about many of the political, economic and social issues in America as it pertains to injustice, and fairness. I and millions of others live in a privileged country—we have access to clean water, medical care and abundance of food (although Hurricane Katrina exposed America’s own racial and class divide).

This is not to suggest that how we engage in our privilege status is not without challenges, it is in deed effected by the imperfect system of Capitalism; because Capitalism impacts the quality of life pursuant to our ability to access goods and services (amount of income and wages one have access to do impact quality of life) and is no different than the developing nations paradigm. Perhaps it is the western nations over consumption of the world’s resources that have created the likes of a Haiti and any other poor poverty stricken nation.

Haiti's condition was not created in a vacuum; it has been well orchestrated by the international bankers who in concert with the CIA destabilized Haiti's sovereignty by investing in corruption. The root of Haiti's problem is the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF)—this poor nation has received loans and has incurred massive debt (much more than this small nation can ever repay).

The United States Government has allowed Haiti's history of CIA backed ruthless dictators to accumulate millions of dollars of the people of Haiti’s money that has landed in American and European banks, which has afforded Haitian criminal leadership, both past and present to live lavish and Petit Bourgeoisie life styles at the expense of the masses of the people of Haiti who is forced to live off less than a dollar per day. Thus, for the United States to know this and then allow it occurs is an indictment of complicity and conspiracy.

Tracy Kidder of the Washington Post wrote on August 7, 2002: "Indeed the United States is actively impeding the flow of foreign aid to Haiti's government, a total of approximately five hundred million dollars, a sum roughly equal to the country's annual budget. We are even blocking illegally, a series of already-approved loans from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) totaling one hundred and forty-eight million, designated for improvements in Haiti's water resources, education and public health”.

This is what has supported the oppression and has contributed to political and economic destabilization of Haiti. Haiti has needed help and humanitarian assistance from the international community long before this massive earthquake. But the United States and the world turned a blind eye on this poor black nation. Why did not President Barack Obama take his aid relief initiatives to the next level by granting Haiti an international debt forgiveness and international debt amnesty pact? May be a decision like that is beyond his pay grade and he would have check with Dynastic Money Changers before engaging in a discussion on that level.

Former President Richard Nixon wrote in his book titled, “Seize the Moment: America’s Challenge in a One-Superpower World,” stated: “Facilitate debt relief. The ultimate answer to the debt crisis lies with the underdeveloped world. These countries must restore both domestic and foreign confidence in their econo­mies before any long-term solution is possible. At the same time, Western governments must insist that the banks that recklessly lent billions to uncreditworthy states bear their share of the burden. Western leaders should do their part by not imposing draconian payback schemes that would crush the underdeveloped world's ability to finance its debt. Too much international pressure could create political instability, which would drive out responsible democratic leaders and drive in radicals who would rather cancel than carry their debt.”(Reference: Richard Nixon; “Seize the Moment: America’s Challenge in a One-Superpower World” ; p. 269).

This will not only assist Haiti today, but it will assist Haiti tomorrow, as it seeks to rebuild its nation from the ruins of devastation. My concerns is what happens to Haiti after the lights, camera and action cease to exist and world attention quite down; do the world go back to resuming their prior position of laissez-faire (hands off policy) when it comes to this poor and desperate nation or will this tragedy be awake up call. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., once stated: “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”.

This writer totally and categorically disagreed with the racist and insensitive comments made by the Reverend Pat Robertson of the 700 Club: See YouTube link Pat Robertson http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNgXNnCyamA . But the pact Haiti has had with the devil, has been a sworn allegiance to Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, CIA, IMF and international drug lords that have always operated inside the White House. If we are serious, as an international community, than we can not resume business as usual. We all have a moral obligation to not only just help Haiti through this immediate crisis, but we must be committed to working, however long it takes to rebuild this poverty stricken and devastated nation. We must be in this for the long haul and after the cameras are cut off because the people of Haiti are a resilient people and with the proper help and resources, Haiti will rise again.

Fahim A. Knight-EL Chief Researcher for KEEPING IT REAL THINK TANK located in Durham, NC; our mission is to inform African Americans and all people of goodwill, of the pending dangers that lie ahead; as well as decode the symbolisms and reinterpreted the hidden meanings behind those who operate as invisible forces, but covertly rules the world. We are of the belief that an enlightened world will be better prepared to throw off the shackles of ignorance and not be willing participants for the slaughter. Our MOTTO is speaking truth to power. Fahim A. Knight-EL can be reached at fahimknight@yahoo.com.

Stay Awake Until We Meet Again,
Fahim A. Knight-EL