Haiti and Springfield

I love Isabella more than I like most humans.

Most of you with pets can relate to the above sentiments.

So in general, I take threats to the well being of cats quite seriously.

I for one would have suggested a life in prison sentence if not possibly a death sentence for people who hurt, kill or torture cats.

I understand when it comes to the feral cat population, or cats with rabies, sometimes putting them down is the best bad option. But that is beside the point.

There is a disgusting and extremely racist lie spread by the Trump Campaign that Hattian Americans are raiding people’s homes and stealing their cats for food.

If not satanic sacrifices, because why not make the lie even more ridiculous.

A lie that has already endangered the safety of the Haitian community in Springfield, Ohio.

But to the surprise of no one here, my possible evil twin Elon Musk (we are both autistic) helped spread the rumor that Hattians were eating people's cats.

A brief history of Haiti

Haiti had an interesting start.

The first and only successful slave revolt that broke the power of a deeply evil system that ran off a hideously cruel system of slavery, even by the already low standards of the 18th century Caribbean sugar colonies.

These damned souls that someone survived the middle passage usually did not have long to live once they arrived at what was then the French colony of Saint Domingue. Conditions on the sugar plantations were so brutal that French slavers often did not bother feeding or clothing their captives. The enslaved people were expected to be rapidly worked to death.

So the French plantation owners, known as the Big Whites, just bought more slaves to replace those who they arguably murdered.

In regards to this French colony, the picture is complicated by the fact that there was a class of Free People of Color, descended from the sexual assault of enslaved women by male Frenchmen, who built up wealth in Saint Domigue.

Unfortunately, this wealth was frequently built relying on the same systems of slavery that built the fortunes of the Big Whites. These Free People of Color were frequently slave owners themselves.

The injuries and humiliations of being whipped are no less severe just because the person brutalizing you happens to share your skin color.

There was also a class of lower status French in Saint Domingue known as the Little Whites who kept up the operational side of these plantations. Doing the accounting, shopkeeping, and overseeing. That last detail means that it was the Little Whites who did the Big Whites dirty work. Though these two groups of Whites were frequently at each other’s throats.

To keep the long, bloody, inspiring and tragic story of the Haitian revolution short, the racism of the little and big whites against the free people of color (despite them often being fellow perpetrators of a deeply evil system), the ideals of the French Revolution, and the stereotypes of the enslaved as too stupid to do anything at all helped a well organized and determined group of men and women fight for their freedom.

Despite this fight, a combination of sabotage from the United States and Europe (including having to pay back France an exorbitant amount of money for daring to free themselves and a brutal two decade long occupation of the country by the United States from 1915-1934) and chronic political instability meant that Haiti and its people never really had a chance to develop and build a better life for themselves.

Not helping matters is that the Haitian ruling class has often matched the old French rulers in terms of corruption and cruelty. Before the reign of arguably Haiti’s worst dictators, Haiti itself was and still is polarized between a largely Black and impoverished majority and an elite mixed race population. Using the resentment of this majority and the wounds from the US occupation, Papa Doc would rise to power and institute a reign of terror.

The reign of US backed dictators François Duvalier, known as Papa Doc, and Jean-Claude Duvalier, known as Baby Doc, would do even more damage to Haiti. They systematically looted the country for the benefit of themselves and their supporters. Not to mention brutalized the Haitian people to hold onto power.

Since then, Haiti as a state has been on the brink of life and death.

Today, Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere in every sense of the word. It has the lowest HDI (human development index), and some of the highest rates of government corruption in the world. Its institutions are quite simply, extremely bad if they are at all functional.

Current crisis in Haiti

Rising fuel prices lead to unrest that the Haitian state was ill prepared to deal with.

These rising fuel prices were made worse by systemic corruption in the Haitian government.

Haiti’s situation went from bad to worse when the last President of Haiti, Président Jovenel Moïse, was assassinated. Because then acting Prime Minister Ariel Henry kept postponing elections, he was widely seen as illegitimate.

To put this rather bluntly, it is unclear who exactly is in charge of Haiti at the moment.

Filling in this vacuum has been two sets of criminal organizations. One is called Revolutionary Forces of the G9 Family and Allies, lead by former police officer Jimmy “Barbecue” Chérizier, a set of twelve gangs in an alliance. The other major criminal faction is called G-Pep, led by Vitell 'Homme Innocent.

These groups are not noble revolutionaries doing what needs to be done to free the Haitian people from imperialists and oligarchs, but gangsters taking advantage of a catastrophic situation. These gangs extort and otherwise terrorize the people in communities they occupy. Mass murder and rape are common weapons by both of these groups when they wage on each other, the Haitian Government (or whats left of it), and everyday Haitians fighting back.

You can tell how most Haitians feel about these gangs, because they are fighting back against them, often with extreme ruthlessness. It is not uncommon for these vigilante groups to burn gang members alive as a terror tactic for example.

This is one of those situations where there are no good options.

The United States can directly intervene in Haiti to help the government regain control and prop it up, encourage the UN to send peacekeepers, do nothing, or have some other countries send forces to help the Government regain control.

The United States and Canada have underwritten an effort led by Kenya to help restore order and normal life in Haiti. No American boots are on the ground in Haiti.

If it were up to me, I would send American boots on the ground to work with a multinational force to first put down the gangs terrorizing the people of Haiti, work to get essential supplies like food and fuel delivered to areas in crisis, and work to temporarily prop up the legitimate Haitian government on the conditions that they hold free and fair elections.

I do support reparations for Haiti from the United States and France. However, just throwing money at the government is not a good idea. That is because countless Haitian governments, including the Duvalier family in Haiti, have stolen aid that was meant for development of Haiti and the well being of the Haitian people.

Instead, I would propose working with local Haitian business owners and civil society groups so that they can use that money to help themselves.

A little bit of extra cash can provide quite a bit of relief.

But the biggest problem by far is how do you help Haiti get the institutions it so desperately needs to thrive?

Like I said before, no good answers.

As Trevor has informed me, getting the most basic of goods and services is quite the challenge for the average Haitian. They have to go through black market channels to get food, fuel and medicine. If they can access those goods at all.

This is what Haitians are running for dear life from.

Haitian Cuisine

The food from Haiti is much like Caribbean food in general, except with more French influence. Quite basic research would show that cats are not part of the Haitian pallet.

I confess to my understanding of Haitian Voodoo to be quite elementary at best, but from what I understand, if/when they use animal sacrifices, they use Chickens, not cats.

Springfield, Ohio

What Haitian immigrants have been able to do for Springfield is quite typical.

A town is dying, with tax revenue drying up, and buildings everywhere vacant. Jobs being unfilled.

The City government of Springfield asked, no, begged for new immigrants to help revitalize their town.

Soon, new Haitian immigrants start to arrive. New businesses are started. Vacant apartments start to be filled. Jobs at the local warehouses and factories start to get filled, even churches start to get brought back to life.

To be clear, the transition is quite bumpy. But it's either a bumpy transition to new life or Springfield dies for good.

Thanks to the racist lie that Hatians are eating cats (something debunked by both the Springfield city manager and the local police department), Haitian immigrants in Springfield have been targeted for violence, and even the city government has gotten bomb threats.

Those sending the threatening letters have made it no secret that they are motivated by the racist lies.

America needs immigrants for its economic and cultural strength.

Don’t forget it.

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