Haiti I am sorry

Haiti, born of slavery and revolution, has struggled with centuries of crippling debt, exploitation by foreign governments, corruption and violence. Now it has poverty, illiteracy, overcrowding, no infrastructure, continuous environmental disaster and large areas without the rule of law. And that was before the earthquake. It sounds like a terrible cliche, but it really is a perfect storm. This is a catastrophe beyond our worst imagination. No other country in the western hemisphere has experienced what the Haitian people have experienced so there should be no comparison.

Not too long ago under French rule, Haiti was the Pearl of the Antilles, one of the richest islands in France’s empire (though a large majority of the African slaves who produced that wealth saw precious little of it). Back then, Haiti exported 60 percent of all the coffee and 40 percent of all the sugar consumed in Europe: more than all of Britain’s West Indian colonies combined. It subsequently became the first independent nation in Latin America and remains the world’s oldest black republic and the second-oldest republic in the western hemisphere after the United States.

So, what went wrong? Haiti’s revolution may have brought it independence, but it also ended up destroying the country’s infrastructure and most of its plantations. In exchange for diplomatic recognition from France, Haiti was forced to pay enormous reparations: some 150m francs, in gold. It was an immense sum. Far more than Haiti could afford. They borrowed huge sums, from American, German and French banks, at exorbitant rates of interest and spent about 80 percent of its national budget on loan repayments, completed only in 1947. It destroyed their economy. Plus, a succession of Haitian leaders had more or less given up on trying to resolve the country’s problems and started looting it instead.

The 7.2 magnitude earthquake that hit Haiti on 14 August, devastated the school district, left houses of worship decimated and overwhelmed the hospital system. This is not new to the Haitian people since they have been faced with many roadblocks in the past, specifically the 2010 earthquake that left hundreds of thousands of people dead and many more homeless.

Meanwhile, tropical depression Grace has dumped an excessive amount of rainfall on the island causing more devastation. To make matters worse the country is struggling with the coronavirus pandemic and the recent assassination of their president. I feel so much empathy as I remember the song of the famous calypsonian David “Mighty” Rudder. 

Toussaint was a mighty man

And to make matters worse he was black

black and back in those days

when black men knew their place was in the back

But this rebel he walked through Napoleon who taught

it wasn’t very nice and so today my brothers in Haiti

they still pay the price, Yeah Yeah

Haiti I’m sorry we misunderstood you

one day we’ll turn our heads and look inside you

Haiti I’m sorry, Haiti I’m sorry,

one day we’ll turn our heads, restore your glory

Many hands reached out to Saint Georges

And are still reaching out to those frighten foolish men of Pretoria

we still scream and shout

We came together in song to steady

the Horn of Africa but the Papa Ioa come

and the baby Ioa go and still we don’t seem to care No Nooo

Haiti I’m sorry we misunderstood you

one day we’ll turn our heads and look inside you

Haiti I’m sorry, Haiti I’m sorry,

one day we’ll turn our heads,

And restore your glory

When there is anguish in Port-au-Prince

it’s still Africa crying we’re outing fires in far away places

when our neighbors are just burning

they say the middle passage is gone

so how come overcrowded boats still haunt our lives

I refuse to believe that we good people

would forever turn our heads and our eyes away

Haiti I’m sorry we misunderstood you

one day we’ll turn our heads and look inside you

Haiti I’m sorry, Haiti I’m sorry,

one day we’ll turn our heads and restore your glory

Haiti I’m sorry, oh sorry sorry

for so long for so long we looked away

turn our eyes around

Haiti I’m sorry

Subrina Hall Azih is a Trinidadian Educator residing in New York.