media coverage of the quake and its aftermath, some nuances of the dehumanization narrative have emerged that are particularly dangerous, especially given their implications. In these, Haitians are either subhuman or superhuman. The subhumanity stems from the dominant idea in popular imagination that Haitians are irrational-devil-worshipping-progress-resistant-uneducated-accursed-black-natives overpopulating this godforsaken land. The superhuman characteristic is usually framed in terms of our resilience. The miraculous discoveries of those found still alive deep in the rubble nine to ten days after being trapped there are framed in such terms. No ordinary human being could withstand so much, but for some reason, those Haitians can. There is an underlying subtext here about race. For Haitians are blackness in its worst form, because, simply put, the enfant terrible of the Americas who defied all European odds had to become its bête noire.
Some hours after the Hope for Haiti fund-raiser held on Friday, January 22 (which I could not bear to watch), Anderson Cooper was on the air speaking with a British reporter who was perturbed by the fact that people were not crying. The reporter then told a story of a woman who survived the quake but lost family members, including a young child. The reporter was surprised that this woman was forcing her way onto a bus to get out of Port-au-Prince. When he asked her what she had done with the recovered body of her child, she said “Jete.” His interpretation was that she threw him out. The only word he understood was jete (throw, fling, hurl). There was no mention of the prepositions that came before or words that came after. “Why don’t you Haitians cry?” the reporter asked those he encountered, stunned. Cooper tried to spark a conversation about trauma and mentioned the word “shock.” That angle did not gain any traction.
Yet another rhetorical blow to the psyche.
As I have written elsewhere, the body—a reservoir of discursive, physiological, psychological, and social memories—functions as an archive. Deposits were made on January 12 just before 5 p.m. that will have impacts for years to come. Those who have experienced this moment at home or abroad will need to be tended to, psychologically nurtured and supported, because we have been fractured differently in so many brutal ways.
An Update of Sorts
Two days ago, my nineteen-year-old cousin who lives on Route de Frères, which as of the writing has seen no relief efforts because of security concerns, cited the rapper Nas on his first Facebook post since the quake, which read:
Heart of a king, blood of a slave!!!!!
Thu at 7:11 p.m. A· Comment A· Like
His friends responded:
thank god ur ok ma dude … stay up and stay in contact
Thu at 7:55 p.m.
Blessed be the Lord!
Thu at 8:27 p.m.
great to see you again. take care and keep in touch!!!!
Thu at 10:33 p.m.
Really glad 2 know u r still standing brave heart never get away in vain!!! Peace & luv bro !! keep praying
Yesterday at 2:15 a.m.
still standing as this famous slave, we’re gonna do it again “BWA KAIMAN”
Yesterday at 4:22 p.m.
5
Haiti’s Future A Requiem for the Dying
February 4, 2010 / Huffington Post @ 12:19 p.m.
The earthquake’s devastation in Haiti is no longer front-page news. Most cameras shifted their lenses when the morbid and grueling work began—massive discard of the dead and what to do with the displaced living. As bulldozers clear rubble intermingled with bodies and other remains, top officials meet in global cities to decide Haiti’s fate. Private organizations and companies are positioning themselves for the expected economic windfall, recruiting foreign workers and organizing conferences in the diaspora on how best to rebuild the fractured republic.
Post-quake Haiti is up for grabs, and the key players remain the same.
As nameless, undocumented, uncounted bodies are dumped in mass graves, President René Préval and his government refuse to address this or any other substantive issue. Haitians at home and abroad wonder who is truly running the country. Although this silence may smack of barbarity, it is in fact a structural one that has historical roots and dangerous implications for Haiti’s future.
Haitian officials are not alone in this disregard for the dead and the living. Initial rescue efforts prioritized citizenship and privilege. The valuable foreigners were saved first. Rescue teams ignored overpopulated slums coded as “red zones” or high-security-risk areas. Young children labeled “orphans” were whisked off to foreign lands. Disputed overpayment for those treated in the United States suspended medical airlifts and endangered lives. The United Nations approach to managing the desperate and hungry who lined up for food was to teargas them into submission. People are dying not because of the earthquake but because of neglect.
We are bearing witness to human rights violations in the name of expediency. This need not be the case. Haiti, once more, is being called upon to lead changes in the world. Two centuries ago, the island caused a disorder in things colonial that ultimately ended slavery and France’s hope of enlarging its empire in the New World. Yet, this time, the situation in Haiti is challenging the international community to rethink its concepts and applications of aid and to discern these from racist ideologies that impede sustainable reconstruction efforts from taking hold.
Well-meaning advocates and hateful critics alike focus on Haiti as a failed state, citing its pervasive corruption as they simultaneously dismiss references to the past. Unless they think historically and explore these interconnections to find new solutions, all efforts to get Haiti right are simply doomed. This moment is especially critical because the Haitian state is being called upon to do something it has never done—have and show a responsibility to the entire nation. Historically, which lives matter in Haiti has always been determined by socioeconomic status. And nothing makes this more apparent than the mass graves; the state treats the dead as they do the living.
To get Haiti on another, more democratic course, concrete steps are necessary to ensure that the poor and nameless have advocates in discussions of rebuilding plans. They cannot continue to be casualties of nonrepresentation. Their opposition to the UN special envoy’s plan for Haiti must be revisited. January 12, 2010, should not be used as a pretext to go back to business as usual. In spite of the narrative pervasive in the mainstream media, Haiti only seemed stable. The Collier solution to build sweatshops and export mangoes being touted again this week as the answer to poverty is an archaic development model detrimental to Haiti’s future precisely because it reinforces the concentration of wealth and exploits the masses.
If you are concerned, keep asking questions. External pressure affected the World Bank days after the quake. So make calls, text, Tweet, send letters to local, national, and foreign officials, as well as international funding agencies to demand the following:
• Forgiveness of Haiti’s debt.
• Greater transparency on the part of both Haiti and the United States regarding the terms of current relationship between the two nations.
• Public debates (at home and abroad) concerning Haiti’s future that actually include real oppositional voices and not the usual suspects who claim to represent the nameless.
