Haiti, I'm sorry

The Editor, Sir:

Haiti, I'm sorry, we misunderstood you but one day we'll turn our heads and look inside you ... Haiti, I'm sorry, one day we'll turn our heads, restore your glory. - David Rudder.

The humanitarian disaster in Haiti has been well-publicised. The catastrophic earthquake on January 12 has now made way for cholera, which is killing Haitians by the dozens. The matter to which I wish to draw attention, however, pertains to our treatment of Haiti as a Caribbean neighbour, which leaves much to be desired.

More than two decades ago, Trinidadian singer-songwriter, David Rudder sang Haiti, I'm Sorry, a profound, moving apology to our neighbour. Rudder acknowledged our collective malfeasance as a Caribbean region. We had turned our backs, hearts and eyes on a country in distress.

Regarded by the CIA World Factbook as the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, the Republic of Haiti seems unable to relinquish the dubious distinction. Upwards of 80 per cent of the population is living below the poverty line and 54 per cent in abject poverty. For so long, they have been the poor relations of every other Caribbean country. We could all look at Haiti and feel a paradoxical sense of relief that we were not that bad. Better them than us. So what if there were no guarantees for Haitian children? And so what if they eat mud biscuits?

misguided contentment

Our misguided contentment was buttressed by the fact that we refused to see the systemic factors, national and otherwise, that made Haiti what it was. Haiti, the first black republic to declare independence from colonialism in 1804, in my humble estimation, remains a bastion of hope ... hope that its people will once again rise to a place of pride and respectability. It is also my hope that we, as a Caribbean people, can engender a critical consciousness that recognises the historic intersectionalities at play in Haiti and the region by extension. Those barriers keep Haiti where it is - in a false sense of hopelessness.

Recently, Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive, in outlining the country's recovery plan, stated, "Our goal at the moment isn't to escape poverty. It's to escape misery so we can get back to poverty."

In recognition of our humanity and of the fact that if we turn our backs on Haiti, we turn our backs on ourselves, Haiti should not be allowed to return to such levels of poverty with us as onlookers. As a Caribbean people, we are who we are because of Haiti and, in that spirit, I implore all of us not only to extend a cold, charitable hand, but a warm embrace and social action. Haiti, I'm sorry, we misunderstood you.

I am, etc.,

SHAMETTE MONIQUE HEPBURN

Toronto, Canada