Fault Lines Exposed by Haiti’s Earthquake

by Simon

•Simon is a young Bahamian with things on his mind who wishes to remain anonymous. His column 'Front Porch' is published every Tuesday in the Nassau Guardian. He can be reached at frontporchguardian@gmail.com.

The fault line that triggered the recent horrific earthquake in Haiti also exposed centuries-old fault lines -- which though not as ancient as the geographic one that ruptured weeks ago -- have deep historic roots which have produced more devastation than this tragic temblor, as deadly as it was.

Whatever the final number of the dead, many more have perished over the course of Haiti’s history through war and slavery, brutal rule and neglect, disease and poverty.  The graves of the many who drowned in the ocean expanse extending from the southern Bahamas to the Florida Straits, are marked not by personal signifiers but by the cay or island next to which they are entombed.

Of course, one of the greatest killers of the Haiti revolution, of her sons and daughters and their basic aspirations and longings for peace, has been the punishing isolation and neglect by the world’s powers, along with misrule by successive dictators propped up by a tiny wealthy elite and their foreign allies.

Like other significant earthquakes in history, such as the 1755 Great Lisbon Earthquake, which was the backdrop to Voltaire’s Candide, the 2010 Great Haitian Earthquake is a singular event exposing a pattern of fault lines running through the human heart and Haitian and world history. 

Rather than revealing God’s intentions, these fault lines lay bare our prejudices and indifference as well as reveal our empathy and compassion.  The fissures are theological and cultural, economic and political.

CONTINUUM

American televangelist Rev. Pat Robertson’s cruel aftershock comments are part and parcel of a continuum of racist, unchristian and imperialist fault lines running through the souls and minds of many, including many whom one would not ordinarily suspect of such antediluvian attitudes.

It would be too easy to dismiss Pat Robertson’s ramblings as an example of mental illness.  Instead, like all such screeds utilizing God’s name to justify oppression, prejudice and natural disasters, his comments were blasphemous, and an attempt to bastardize and bend history to match his prejudices and hatred.

In the twisted theology of demonization and divine retribution that is Rev. Robertson’s theological stock-in-trade he insisted that the earthquake was but another curse visited on the Haitian people by God because of the “pact” they struck with the Devil to liberate themselves from French rule.

Make no mistake about Robertson’s underlying beliefs: Unlike white Americans who threw off British rule, black Haitians are undeserving of freedom and would have been better off with perpetual white rule.  In his mind, black people are not as equal to whites in the eyes of history – or God.  Indeed, God damn them!

But before we reach for the plank lodged in Rev. Robertson’s eyes, we might consider how those of us in the Bahamas who profess Christian faith often ignore what the planks of the Christian cross represent, namely that salvation and human dignity are not the sole blessing of any chosen people, be they white, Bahamian, American or some other ethnic, racial or national group.

Rev. Robertson’s prejudice has deep roots reaching back to the Haitian independence struggle and its aftermath, especially the isolation of Haiti by France and other powers desperately afraid that the Haitian revolution might fuel similar dangerous ideas and ideals in other colonies. 

REPARATIONS

After the revolution the French cruelly imposed crushing reparations on Haiti to compensate themselves for the self-interested investments they made during their rape and colonization of this hemisphere’s second oldest republic.

Unable to stop the revolution and stunned that these black slaves were able to defeat colonial rule by force of intellect and arms, Haiti and her people had to be demonized as dangerous heathens.  For if the Haitian revolution proved successful, what might that say about the very nature of colonialism?  What might it do to the vicious racist lies underlying most colonial history?

Meanwhile, never to be outdone by anyone else’s stupidity, talk show buffoon Rush Limbaugh’s also appeared on stage in a starring role mimicking Colonel Miles Quaritch, the maniacal military head of the colonial interloper on Pandora in the recent hit film Avatar. 

For the Quaritchs and Limbaughs of the world, whites are not simply a superior race.  In their minds, most other races are a threat to their way of life, to be extinguished by divine retribution, force of arms or cruel neglect.  Still, Limbaugh’s and Robertson’s comments are but the latest bigotry spawned from a worldview with long historic roots some of which are deeply embedded in Bahamian soil. 

At home, some insisted that the deadly 7.0 earthquake was punishment for the prevalence of the seven deadly sins in Haiti.  How inhumane that after such devastation, the earthquake’s victims, also victims of geological circumstance and cruel luck, should be hit with the aftershocks of more prejudice, abysmal ignorance and religious cruelty masquerading as Christian concern and theological reflection.

That some of this rhetoric was spewed by some pastors is unfortunately no longer surprising.  That some of it was uttered by Haitian pastors here, who through luck and fortune have found a home in the Bahamas and were not in Haiti at the time of the earthquake, is disturbing and hypocritical.  Certainly, these pastors are not suggesting that they are more worthy of God’s care and forgiveness than the thousands of their compatriots who perished last week?

TWISTED

If sinfulness is the cause of natural disasters, those who track hurricanes, study earthquakes and monitor volcanoes should retire and become members of Robertson’s 700 Club while the rest of us sinners on every continent prepare to be smitten by a vengeful God.  In the twisted theology of too many followers of Jesus Christ, last Tuesday His Father ordered an earthquake to indiscriminately kill thousands of people among them babies and approximately 100 seminarians.

Then there are those usually sober-minded people who believe that the earthquake was revenge for the practice of voodoo in Haiti.  Again, if that were the case, many countries would have or will suffer equally devastating or worst natural disasters.  Besides the cruelty of such beliefs is the sheer stupidity and ignorance.

Of course, many of those with lingering prejudices do see Haitians as human beings, but just not human beings who are equal to themselves, deserving of the same empathy and goods of the earth, including freedom from want.

For those Bahamians who wish to understand white supremacy -- the conceit that whites are inherently superior to blacks -- they might better understand that mindset by observing the manner in which many Bahamians automatically see themselves as inherently superior to Haitians.

It is this feeling of inherent superiority and relegation of our Haitian brothers and sisters, neighbours, colleagues and workers to second class humanity, not legitimate concerns about unacceptable levels of mass illegal migration from Haiti, that fuels the prejudice that often poisons individual hearts and the public square.

MINDSET

The hysterical blowback to the Prime Minister’s compassionate and correct decision to release and grant temporary status to those Haitians at the Detention Centre was crass and malicious. That this mindset was fuelled by certain radio talk show dons cum entertainers is unsurprising.  These same personalities have often exploited the fissures between Haitians and Bahamians.

Still, many Bahamians, who also desire a balanced and sensible immigration policy, understand the historic fault lines that have forced generations of Haitians to flee their homeland in search of something we all want: better lives for our children and ourselves.

The wellsprings of compassion running through many Bahamians have surged in the aftermath of last week’s quake.  Through prayers and bountiful acts of charity and aid, scores of Bahamians are reaching into the fault lines of history replacing divisive rhetoric and prejudiced mindsets with healing actions.

One way in which some of Haiti’s historic fault lines can be salved and bound is though a greater understanding of its proud and tragic history, a history with which we are connected by geography and cultural and familial ties like Dillette and Paul and others.

Stephen Dillette was the first black man elected to the House of Assembly and Rev. Patrick Paul currently serves as the current President of the Christian Council. In recognizing and helping to bind up the wounds and fault lines in Haiti’s history, we are touching our common humanity and shared history. 

Comments

[LC]

Simon,
I have observed firsthand the contempt Bahamians have toward Haitians, and I can assure you it is far more visceral than anything I have witnessed in the USA.
Your tirades against Limbaugh are way off base. All he said was that Americans already contribute to Haiti through our income taxes/ foreign aid. He did not tell anyone not to donate. He is not the bogeyman you continue to make him out to be. His greatest sin is to point out the hypocrisies of reverse racism (sic) practiced by so many in the USA. It sounds as if your only exposure to him is what you have gleaned from reading liberal garbage and lies put forth by the mainstream US press, who fear him because he has the audacity to speak the truth.

[Erasmus Folly]

Limbaugh is a racist ass. Anyone defending him should be held highly suspect. You probably think FOX news is REAL news too? Sad. Very sad. If Palin winks at you, do you feel smarter? ;-)