By all assessments and with foreign aid blocked, Haiti faces one of the worst moments in its history, plunged into a serious humanitarian, political and security crisis that escalated following the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021.
Americans are now fleeing Haiti by any means possible as relatively small criminal gangs have joined forces to take over the capital, expanding their control over significant parts of the island nation and gaining access over key infrastructures including airports, ports and hospitals.
Meanwhile, as the demands of gangs for an immediate political transition have stalled and with Haiti’s leadership in shambles, the future of the country and its citizens remains in limbo.
Normally, one would expect America to step up to the plate and provide aid given its status as the most powerful, Democratic nation on the planet. Instead, Republicans recently refused to release $40 million in security assistance – a decision supported by doubts about how it would be used and whether it could fall into the hands of the gangs to whom the upheaval has been attributed.
But history is a good teacher. The flood of ideas released by the American and French revolutions stirred the souls of slaves leading to those in Brazil, Charleston, South Carolina and throughout the Caribbean fighting for freedom.
When Haiti, following the Haitian Revolution, secured their independence from the French on Jan. 1, 1804, it should have been a moment for other nations in the Western Hemisphere to celebrate.
However, for countries like America and England whose wealth had been gained on the backs of Black bodies, it was a moment of fear. More than 200 years later, the underlying racism of whites and that fear of Black people rising up over centuries of injustice have not disappeared..
America has long been complicit in the chaotic conditions that still persist in Haiti. It’s time we admit our shortcomings and change that.
If we can insert our influence to stave off famine in Gaza – a situation now predicted by world health experts – then certainly we can do the same for Haiti.