Monday 8 February 2010

Haiti and the Blacks - by Loose Canon


From Botswana's Sunday Standard by an honest black writer

Haiti and the blacks!
by Loose Canon
24.01.2010 4:23:39 P

I hope black people will learn a lesson from the earthquake that hit Haiti. If they don’t learn anything from it, then I throw up my hands in despair and give up.

Let’s start with a few basic facts.

Until the earthquake, I never knew there was a place called Haiti. I was taught geography at school but I cannot remember a time when the mistress told us about Haiti. It must have been one of those insignificant countries that we had no reason to know about.

I was fairly good at geography because I knew which country was on which continent. I also knew many capital cities. But as for Haiti I was clueless.

Now the whole world, including myself, knows about Haiti. I heard news of the earthquake on the radio. I wondered where Haiti was and what sort of people lived there.

Finally, when I switched on the television, I was informed that Haiti is an island out in the Caribbean. Television pictures revealed a place populated by black people.

From the non-stop television coverage of the earthquake, I got to learn about the history of Haiti. It was not a good history lesson. It would seem throughout its existence Haiti has suffered a series of natural calamities. In the process it has sunk even deeper into poverty and deprivation.

Like all places populated by black people, Haiti is poor. As I watched the television images, I felt very sorry for that forsaken place. Then I was hit by a thunderbolt.
I wondered what if there were no white people. You see, when the earthquake hit Haiti somebody had to come to its assistance. There had to be a rescue effort. The Haitians who survived of course did their fair bit by digging out their families from the collapsed ramshackle buildings.

But such was the scale of the devastation and the loss of human life that a bigger effort was needed. For that sort of work, you need heavy lifting gear and other sophisticated rescue equipment. I have been following the story of the earthquake keenly. I can attest to the fact that the first people to arrive with sniffer dogs were white crews from all over the world.

The aero planes that set off carrying water and food were from white countries. Not only that, the teams of volunteer doctors that I saw on television comprised white people from across the world. As the sniffer dogs went into action, the organized rescue teams that carried the stretchers were made up of white people.

It was announced that a mobile hospital was on the way. It was coming from a white country. For all intents and purposes in the aftermath of the earthquake, Haiti was literally swarming with white people. They had all arrived to save the poor blacks. And the locals were so happy to see them. Granted there were teams from the Orient such as the Chinese and Japanese. They too had quickly left their homes and families to go and assist the stricken people of Haiti.
It is obvious to everyone that this was a devastating earthquake and the work to repair Haiti and return it to a modicum of normalcy will take many years. Somebody had to commit funds to this effort. Most of the countries that have committed funds to aid the recovery are white. In fact, it would seem the whites are running the show in Haiti.

What is my point?

My point is that ever since Haiti was hit by the earthquake I have not seen any of my folks from Africa. Unless the television cameras deliberately ignored them, I never saw a rescue team from my motherland. Nor did I see any sniffer dogs from down here.

Heck, I never saw a single traditional doctor busy divining where to find people buried under the rubble.

Continue reading here


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Hat Tip: Dina

5 comments:

Dr.D said...

Well, it is nice to see that there is one who gets it, and I dare say, by scouring the ground, we could find about three more. But how many millions of people are there in Africa?

In the USA, we have two absolutely brilliant black men, Thomas Sowell and Alan Keyes. But that is two out of, I think the figure is around 40 million, so the percentage is not too good.

The other point that Loose Canon failed to make, however, is that the arab states have contributed next to nothing to the Haitian relief effort. This was similar to their non-participation a few years ago when the great tsunami swept through SE Asia. For all their talk about giving alms, muzlims confine their charity strictly to their own people. People in need who are not of their own group, even muzlims but not of their own local group, they do not help. Much of Aceh province that was devastated by the tsunami is muzlim, but they did not put in a dime.

Anonymous said...

Now, that is amazing! Are we certain that the writer is black? (I am joking, of course).
Ah, and we see that "Loose Canon" has had a epiphany here; "Then I was hit by a thunderbolt.
I wondered what if there were no white people. You see, when the earthquake hit Haiti somebody had to come to its assistance. There had to be a rescue effort." What if there were no white people, indeed! We can show you what to expect when there are no more white people- you can see it here :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmrkTi3EHqk
When the last white men and women have become part of history and the dark races have "inherited the earth", then a world wide "Liberia" is what you will have left. Speaking for myself, I have pity only for those of our race who will be left toward the end and will have to endure the tortures that our racial brothers and sisters in South Africa have had to endure, my heart is heavy for them and for the animal life, those beautiful creatures of God's creation which we will leave behind.

Jade said...

How often are angels depicted as being black?....I wonder why...

misterfox said...

I have just been watching Alan Whicker visiting Haiti in 1969 and interviewing dictator Papa Doc Duvalier. There was footage of people voodoo dancing in trances.

There were Dead(I think) chickens being carried round. Its on part one of the Whicker's World DVDs

Dr.D said...

@ Jade
Angels are described in Scripture as being creatures of Light. The color black is the absence of light, so there is an existential conflict with what you propose.

It is an interesting question, however, and not out of the realm of consideration. We have black Madonnas, so in principle it would seem like black angels could be represented as well. Generally it depends upon having an artist who wants to represent holy images in forms similar to his own. There is a dearth of black artists of the level of skill required to do the work required here.