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On Shithole Countries: Why do we need Haiti to be our nigger?

So last week, our Witless Leader referred to Haiti (and El Salvador, as well as African nations collectively) as “shithole countries”, and while the language itself is reprehensible, I don’t think that should be our focus. Rather we need to examine our need to label countries as “shitholes”, and what that says about us, collectively.


It’s racism, plain and simple.

Not the racism of individual people who hold racist notions, or subscribe to racist ideologies, but Endemic Institutional Racism. Of course there is an interest in labeling Haiti as a “shithole countr[y]” - because Haiti is the first independent nation of Latin America and the Caribbean, the second republic in the Americas, and the only nation in the world established as a result of a successful slave revolt.


If it’s a “shithole”, a failed State, then it just “proves” that Black and Brown people simply can’t govern themselves. We in the “civilized” West have made an example of Haiti 🇭🇹. Why? 🤔


James Baldwin had the insight way back in the 60s when he said, 
“What white people have to do, is try and find out in their own hearts why it was necessary to have a nigger in the first place, because I'm not a nigger, I'm a man, but if you think I'm a nigger, it means you need it.”

Why do we need Haiti to be poor?

Why do we need Haiti to be a shithole?
Why do we need Haiti to be our nigger? 🤔



Indefensible, if you simply look at the history. Here, Jonathan M. Katz (@KatzOnEarth) sums up the history of why Haiti is poor, and how the US and Europe are complicit in that. Read the whole thread, it’s worth the two minutes to fully understand the politics and economics behind Haiti’s poverty (and that of other “shithole countries”). 









Artistic/Cultural Wealth of Haiti 

Natural Wealth of Haiti

Architectural of Haiti, Port-au-Prince (at night)
Architecture of Haiti, Port-au-Prince
Human/Cultural Wealth of Haiti

Fun fact: In French, Haiti's nickname is the Pearl of the Antilles (La Perle des Antilles) both because of its natural beauty and the amount of wealth it accumulated for the Kingdom of France, as it was considered the richest colony owned by any of the European powers at the time. So, why is Haiti so poor now? It’s not because it’s ungovernable. Who has an interest in keeping Haiti poor? Think about it. 🤔

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