In my observation, outside of the Jamaicans, Haitians are probably the most stigmatized people in the Caribbean and one of the more stigmatized people in the world. As with most things of this nature, ignorance plays a great role in the view of the common observer. In my country, St. Thomas Virgin Islands, where quite a bit of Haitians have settled, illegally and legally, they are looked upon, for the most part, with scorn. They are the butt of jokes and ridicule, looked down upon as voodoo/obeah working, loud, boisterous, aggressive people who can’t dress and drive old dilapidated cars.

I know people in Boston from Barbados, where many Haitians have also settled, who totally despise them. Was walking with a Jamaican friend of mine one time in a Florida mall. He saw this beautiful black girl walking toward us and decided to get a play. He reached out and grabbed her hand, but she said something in creole to him and gave him a nasty look. He immediately realized she was Haitian and as she walked away he started calling her all kinds of names in league with the fact that she was Haitian.

Some years back I used to see two junior high aged Jamaican girls walking from school everyday in the hot Florida sun. They were new to Florida, but neighbors of mine. One day I asked them why they walked the 1.5 miles home each day when the school had busses to carry them home. The older girl said to me that they did not ride the bus because the kids (predominantly African Americans) used to tease them and call then Haitians based on how they dressed (generally bright colors, as this was the mid 90s) and how they talked (kids heard and accent and automatically labeled it “Haitian”).

On another occasion some years back, I recalled watching the Olympics and watching the opening ceremony. The next day at work at lunch with a few of my female co-workers, one of them said, “did you all see that fine guy” and she went on to describe him. I said, “oh, you must be talking about the Haitian guy.” Her eyes lit up with shock. “He’s HAITIAN?!?!?” I told her, “yes.” She could not believe that there were Haitians with Hispanic looks.

Well, believe it or not, Haiti has a proud heritage, but unfortunately, it is very much blemished due to corrupt leaders, infighting, concerted racism by the old colonial powers and lack of an largely educated populace. Haiti essentially started out behind the 8-ball so to speak and here’s how.

Many of us might know that unlike any other Caribbean island and most (if not all), predominantly black nations, Haitians fought for and won their own independence. It was NOT granted to them. They took on the army of Napoleon of France and defeated them in a bloody struggle. The seeds of Haitian rebellion were actually started by an educated Jamaican escaped slave by the name of Boukman (”book man”). Some reports says that he was an obeah priest (it was not uncommon for slaves in the Caribbean to still dabble in the religious customs of their ancestors back in Africa) and others say he was actually a Moslem who, by religion, had to know how to read the Koran. In any event, he showed up in Haiti and presided over a planned meeting on August 14, 1791 in which Haitian slaves all over the island vowed to throw off their chains of oppression. Though Boukman was killed 3 months later by French forces, the Haitians still pushed on in the fight for their freedom. They killed any French members they could find, burned down their plantations, tore up their property and effectively rid the island of anything “white.” By 1804 Haiti was free, but it was not until 1825 France actually recognized her former colony as an independent nation.

France of course did everything in their power to undermine the new nation. England, despite being an enemy of France, stayed out of it. There was no way England would assist a nation of free slaves when England themselves was still holding their fair share of slaves in the Caribbean like on their colony, Jamaica, just 80 miles away from Haiti. As for the United States, since France played a great role in their independence struggle, even supplying black troops from Haiti to help the U.S in their fight against England, they stayed clear of helping Haiti and did not immediately recognize the new nation of Haiti either. After all, like England, the U.S was still holding slaves themselves and any assistance to Haiti’s former slaves would undermine their own institution of slavery.

To further add insult to injury and with audacity, France demanded that Haiti pay them back for damages to their property to avoid further confrontation which no doubt would not have ended well for Haiti this time around. The total was 150 million gold francs which was later reduced to 90 million. If I recall, that amounted to the equivalent of 60 billion dollars today. It took Haiti some 100 years to pay off this debt. This debt was paid by working the people into the ground and setting the stage for corrupt leaders who pocketed their share while forcing the people to pay the debt. In fact, the government shut down the schools in order to pay the first installment. This setup really set Haiti back from the start. Added to this was a free population of illiterate slaves who did not know the first thing about governing so civil war and corruption was rampant ensuring an unstable country for future generations which was further compounded by the U.S invasion of that island in 1934 in which they played off factions against one another and brought back exaggerated stories of voodoo and zombies to the United States. What is amazing in all of this is that Haiti was once one of the richest and most beautiful places on earth, so much so that she was called “The Queen of the Caribees (Caribbean).” We now know that Haiti is a skeleton of it’s former glory.