Oh, Now You Care About Haiti??

Why did it take a natural disaster for us to notice a country that was so poor and desolate before? This is a question that had been on my mind since the earthquake happened. When I noticed that other people were thinking the same thing I just knew I had to write about it and get my thoughts out on paper. First let’s explore a brief history of Haiti.

Christopher Columbus stumbled upon Haiti during his voyage to the “new world” in 1492. Just like the Native Americans, the indigenous people (called the Taino Indians) welcomed the Spaniards with open arms.  But in typical European fashion, they violently tried to convert the people to Christianity. It is estimated that several million indigenous people inhabited the island before the Spaniards invaded. By 1550 only 150 of these people remained! Forced labor, abuse, diseases against which the Tainos had no immunity, and the growth of the Mestizo (mixed European and Tainos) population all contributed to the elimination of the Taino and their culture. The island was eventually taken over by Spanish rule and because it lacked natural resources, it became an agricultural training ground for the slaves that were being imported from Africa.  Like most of the Caribbean islands, it was a drop off point of the slave trade.

Skip ahead a few hundred years to colonization and the French have taken over the island. The French maintained the colonial hold over Haiti until a slave rebellion in 1791. Haitians declared their independence in 1804. This independence, however, led to decades of instability for the Haitian government. Unable to enter into the global economy because of their lack of a natural resource for Europeans and Americans to exploit, left this country beyond poor.

Fast forward to today. Is it just a coincidence that the top poorest countries in the world are African, or of African descent? According to nationmaster.com, Haiti is the third poorest country in the world! So my question again, why did it take a natural disaster for us to notice a country that was so poor and desolate before the disaster occurred? I guess when they were just poor and struggling to survive it was ok. Or now you are pretending to care, because the whole world is watching (talking to American/European governments). 

Or let’s take this even deeper, if God is all powerful, all knowing, all wise, etc., HE knew this was going to happen right? Better yet, HE made this happen, right? So the question then becomes, why would HE allow this to happen? Either one of two things: Either HE is really messed up OR we are. Which one do you think it is? 

This is our wake-up call people. He keeps telling us to wake up and we just shake our heads and say, “that’s a shame” or we donate money or we say a prayer.  Why are we saying prayers? God already knows, HE made it happen! He is talking back to you! Open your eyes to the reality of this world. A change has to happen and God keeps calling on us to make that change, but we sit paralyzed in fear waiting for our so called leaders to stop pulling the wool over our eyes. We keep sending “up” prayers and God keeps giving us our answer. He’s been talking, the tsunami, Hurricane Katrina, and now this earthquake.  He’s calling on us to make the change. One person can’t do it alone, but if we all come together…

In light of the situation, I can’t help but think about MJ’s song “They Don’t Really Care About Us”. When Jackson began releasing songs like this one, speaking on world issues, the media (the powers that be, because they control everything we see and hear) began to turn us against Michael. The video for this song, which was hardly played in the U.S., was shot in Rio de Janeiro and Salvador. State authorities tried to ban all production over fears the video would damage their image, the area and their prospects of hosting the Olympics. Still, the residents of the area were happy to see the singer, hoping their problems would be made visible to a wider audience….