Uncivilised, violent, devil worshipping and a country inherent in bad luck are some of the stereotypes most of us tend to believe of Haiti and Haitians. While there is no excuse to perpetuate such stereotypes, sometimes I wonder if it’s the sheer shock and the disbelieved narrative that Africans can’t organise enough to overthrow their colonisers that drives us into a headspace that draws such callous conclusions. Perhaps there’s a sneaky jealous streak rearing its ugly head that shows what we have always lacked: belief in ourselves.
Haitians embody a strong sense of determination and pride that come with being the first Black-led republic and the first independent Caribbean state that fought against French colonial rule and slavery and won. This is something that most Caribbean states until this very day rarely speak of. It is still hardly ever used as the shining example that it is, in schools to show what resilience looks like.
I still haven’t forgiven my primary school teachers for making us form human chains to wave at a visiting ‘royal’ when I was a child. Haitian pride is something western and northern countries have worked tirelessly to bury and vilify so as to have the global world order remain in their favour.
I watched the Haitian Flag Day and Universities Day 2023 on YouTube during last week in about three different sittings. I found it teachable for the most part but also deeply saddening and tear jerking at times. The effort to put out and participate in traditions and celebrations in spaces where, despite having some bit of support, an unwelcoming cloud hovers, must be gruelling. The effort to do this among such a low turnout must leave one feeling isolated in quiet moments of reflection. The reality of keeping that community togetherness when seeing so many of your countrymen and women either being removed or thrown out of spaces when others enjoy a red carpet entrance as they move either to survive and feed themselves must be crippling. Yet, despite it all Haitians still find a way to keep on fighting for the right of self-determination that excludes foreign intervention.
And rightly so because in the end, what have they contributed? This is a country that endured having to pay the former colonial masters’ independence debt, was faced with a US invasion in 1915, and a cholera outbreak that killed approximately 3,500 people that was said to have come from a camp of recently arrived UN soldiers. Seeing its only democratically elected president undermined by foreign intervention leading to further political turmoil on top of dealing with a deadly earthquake that killed approximately 300,000 among so many other environmental, economic and social struggles, Haiti was never given the chance to breathe, to thrive in peace. It has merely been manoeuvring from struggle to struggle.
Haitians have been brutally punished for daring to want equity. And even after this, to keep on protesting the social and economic ills that have plagued the country takes a special type of courage and pride, one that we can all learn from. Our collective disregard for them as people and their plight is something that is supported by our anti-Blackness and our general nature to believe and go along with western narratives that protect their interests.
We should stop commonly referring to Haiti as the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Rather, it should be called the most resilient and determined, because what have Haitians done other than to keep on fighting in the face of adversity, while the world either contributes or remains silent. It is nothing short of remarkable.
