The comments are also indicative of an unchallenged white supremacy that has unfortunately been allowed to fester in our society. As New Yorker contributing writer Doreen St. Felix pointed out, this obsession with Haiti has to do with white society’s rejection of black self-determination. Socialist president Jacques Chirac scoffed at Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s demand for reparations before being the first to call for his resignation in 2004. Calling Haiti “ungovernable” provided justification for U.S. intervention: The United States invaded Haiti twenty-six times from 1849 to 1915, when U.S. Marines landed and occupied the country for nineteen years. These humanitarian aftershocks led to, among other consequences, the breakup of Haitian families and increasing violence against women.

Source: Huffington Post January 13, 2018 20:15 UTC