![]() The hard truth is that this legacy has never been accounted for in public policies or international agendas. Put another way, today’s Haitian peasants are the descendants of a population of former slaves who fought for the country’s independence, but soon afterward were marginalized for refusing to return to the plantation system and work for miserable wages. … They worked body and soul for economic independence.” Picking coffee and growing food for themselves and for the market in their own garden plots afforded greater levels of control over their lives than plantation agriculture would allow. scholar Mary Renda shows her profound understanding: “Haitian peasants had struggled to establish a peasant economy and to resist forces urging them toward plantation wage labor. In her book Taking Haiti, Military Occupation & the Culture of Imperialism, 1915–1940, U.S. This background illuminates the many factors conspiring against Haitians in rural areas as they fought to achieve freedom and independence. borders, including the awful scenes of violence against our people in 2021 under a highway bridge in Del Rio, Texas. We see the consequences to this day, in the visceral rejection of Black Haitian migrants on U.S. sugar companies in Cuba and the Dominican Republic. The first major forced migration of Haitians, mostly peasants, was organized in the 1920s for the benefit of U.S. These outside rulers considered local peasants and small landholding farmers to be backward and unfit for civilization, and made a racist choice to use their bodies as cheap, unskilled labor in Haiti and in the region. military occupation of Haiti began in 1915, the Marines reintroduced the corvée, a policy reminiscent of slavery with roots in the 19th century, which required citizens to work without compensation on infrastructure and other projects. This path begins with a detour through history, and a recognition of some of our most painful legacies. Leaders gathering at June’s Summit of the Americas face fundamental questions: What to do about Haiti? Should the international community continue to pour in millions of dollars in aid that we know will be misspent or wasted? Or turn its back and give up hope? A few local organizations were able to respond rapidly, but for the most part, the post-earthquake situation has left the population unable to fend for themselves. The current makeshift government had little to no capacity to intervene, leaving the field to international donors and agencies that until today have failed to make much difference. These twin catastrophes occurred amid a political vacuum, a constitutional and judicial imbroglio, an economic meltdown, and continued clashes among gangs who control much of our national territory. PORT-AU-PRINCE-The earthquake that battered southern Haiti in August 2021, followed two days later by a devastating tropical storm, revealed once again the fragility of our environment and the precarious conditions of our people. This article is adapted from AQ ’s special report on the Summit of the Americas ![]()
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