The History They Didn’t Teach in Grade School

turtle2-01My grandparents came here from Ireland through Ellis Island in the early 1900’s. Someone welcomed them, changed the spelling of their last name, and they were in. Neither had any appreciable skills, but they were willing to work hard to make a better life for their kids. America as we are today was built by hard working immigrants like them.

Now we have a President who wants only people from rich countries, only people with skills. In particular, he does not want people from Haiti. So I thought it was time to learn a little about the history of Haiti – the stuff they do not teach in grade school, because it doesn’t make the US look good.

So today’s blog was written by Jonathan M Katz (@KatzOnEarth) – Author, Fellow . Dir., Media & Journalism


“You have to first of all understand nothing about the Trans-Atlantic Slave trade. You have to not understand anything about the systematic theft of African bodies and lives. And you have to not understand how that theft built the wealth we have today in Europe and the US.

“You’d have to not know that the French colony that became Haiti provided the wealth that fueled the French Empire — and 2/3 of the sugar and 3/4 of the coffee that Europe consumed. You’d have to not know how rich slave traders got off their system of kidnapping, rape, and murder.





“You have to not know about the rest of the 20th century either—the systematic theft and oppression, US support for dictators and coups, the US invasions of Haiti in 1994-95 and 2004, the use of the IMF and World Bank to impose new loans and destructive trade policies, including the now-famous rice tariff gutting that Bill Clinton apologized for but had been a policy since Reagan, and on and on …






“So if anyone tonight tries to trap you in a contest of “where would you rather live”—or “what about cholera” or “yeah but isn’t poverty bad?”—ask them what they know about how things got that way. And then ask them why they’re ok with it.”

They fought for their freedom against insane odds, and never gave up. After the earthquake hit in 2010, an estimated 160, 000 people died. An additional 9500 died afterwards from Cholera.

The people of Haiti are exactly the sort of people who have always made America great. Who better to be welcomed by the “Mother of Exiles,” then these “tired … poor …huddled masses yearning to breathe free?” A wealthy engineer from Norway? Not what America is all about.