Haitians were here long before Donald Trump; we fought and died in the American Revolution against the British. We were “Les Chasseurs-Volontaires.”
After enduring slavery for almost 300 years, Haitians had had enough. Within a span of 12 years they fought and defeated the three most powerful empires in the world – Spain, England and France – an unprecedented feat. Haitians gained their freedom, but it came at a tremendous cost in blood and treasure. Ironically, the biggest beneficiary of Haitian sacrifices was America.
As a direct result of France’s defeat in Haiti, Napoleon gave up on his grand North American scheme and sold his territories in Louisiana and the Midwest, a total of 530 million acres, at just 3 cents an acre, which doubled the size of the United States. This transaction prompted Henry Adams to comment that the acquisition of that territory and the prevention of a French invasion was a debt owed by the American people “to the desperate courage of five hundred thousand Haytian negroes who would not be enslaved.”
The Haitian revolution changed the course of human history. George Washington, John Adams and Alexander Hamilton were sympathetic to the Haitian cause. They supported Haiti financially and militarily, and Hamilton helped draft the Haitian Constitution. However, this all changed with Thomas Jefferson. Being from the South, he hated the idea of a black free republic. He recalled Edward Stevens, the American consul general, from Haiti and embargoed the country. Just imagine what Haiti would have been like today if it had continued to trade with and receive guidance from America.
But the Haitian Revolution impact did not stop there. Simon Bolivar was successful in liberating South America only because he received safe haven and military and strategic support from Haiti – not once but twice – with the only condition being that he free the slaves.
Soon after the Haitian revolt, France at gunpoint demanded reparations for losing the island, a restitution that the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere had to pay until 1947.
Haiti is poor, but its accomplishment should be celebrated by the world, especially the United States.
I suggest that the U.S. Congress proclaim a day on behalf of the Haitian Revolution, since America has gained so much from it.
I am an American citizen, but I was born and grew up in Haiti. I migrated with my mother when I was 14 and had a junior high school education. Currently I hold a masters’ degree and am an accomplished artist (yvansart.com).
All four of my daughters have attended college; one is an endocrinologist and another is an MBA graduate. I may have been born in a country that some regard as a s—hole, but that does not diminish my capacity to be great and decent. If anything it has given me ambition and the drive to succeed. It has also given me a great deal of appreciation for the land of opportunity and tolerance, known as the melting pot of the world: America.
I think the vast majority of immigrants feel that way. Let us all speak truth to arrogant and abusive power in order to safeguard the American dream.
(Yvan Lamothe lives in Weare.)