Haiti and Apocalyptic Politics
Yesterday I prayed feverishly for my friends, as they sought confirmation that their family members survived the massive 7.0 earthquake that leveled Haiti. My only frame of reference for their hearts’ panic was the day the Twin Towers fell; a day in which my mother watched them crumble out of her 30th Floor window in Midtown, while frantically asking me what to expect next over the phone. I’ll never forget sitting in my Vanderbilt dorm room, watching that declaration of war, and not knowing whether my mother would make it home to the Bronx. Truly an unsettling experience. So my heart goes out to those still waiting to hear from their kin, disconnected by fallen phone towers and cataclysmic chaos.
Watching the current rally calls and pledges of aid to Haiti as a result of this unfathomable natural disaster, I can’t help but to feel proud that citizens across the world feel compassion for our wounded brothers and sisters. This makes me smile, only not too bright.
Truthfully, I feel a great sense of disappointment in the fact that it has taken this large scale catastrophe to force the United States and others to donate millions in aid and support to the people of Haiti. Had we cared about Haiti’s humanitarian disaster that predated January 12th’s earthquake, hundreds of thousands of lives may have been spared. As the Western Hemisphere’s poorest country lingered in our backyard, we turned a cold shoulder to the 3rd World penury that stared us in the face just 90 minutes away from Miami. Before the Richter scale even tipped yesterday, Haiti had been operating as a post-apocalyptic society for well over 5 centuries. Our fellow Negroes have lived in abject poverty with crumbling physical and political infrastructure ever since I can remember. Yet no one (outside of a few philanthropic groups) lifted a finger to assist the Haitians with getting on their feet. Why has there not been around the clock news coverage of the despair in Haiti until now?
Somehow I believe there would have been a different story in Haiti if there was an abundance of Texas Tea found in and around the country. But that’s neither here nor there when considering that Black America has never been substantially active in supporting our people across the Caribbean Sea. We’ve flown over the country to party it up in the Virgin Islands and Trinidad & Tobago, yet we’ve never rallied to contribute to the financial uplift of our brethren in Haiti. (I must note that many of us have visited Haiti’s neighbor Jamaica, but have still however ignored the true plight of our people there as well).
As the World mobilizes to assist Haiti, it is my sincere hope that we learn to be proactive in averting crises of this scale. If Katrina destroying New Orleans, the Tsunami destroying southern coastal Asia, and this earthquake leveling Haiti teaches us anything, it is to NOT neglect the poor until natural disasters strike. We must not take the pompous attitude of imbeciles like Pat Robertson when considering the misfortunes of our fellow human beings. So let’s go forth and assist Haiti any way we can TODAY, and let’s not forget to continue pouring out love and assistance constantly across the globe to make Earth a better place throughout the year, inch by inch. Ready? Break.
6 Responses to “Haiti and Apocalyptic Politics”
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If any civilization is to survive, it is the morality of altruism that men have to reject.
-Ayn Rand
Not only do you want people to take of others here, but you now want us to serve others overseas???? Pretty Radical Comrade.
OUR GOVERNMENT HAS NO RIGHT TO DISTRIBUTE MY WEALTH OVERSEAS!!
Bob,
Please don’t quote Ayn Rand as if she’s a prophet. She was a novelist, not a social scientist. People too often make the mistake of citing Atlas Shrugged as if it’s a history book. I’d think the Bible would hold more validity in creating your vision of morality and social equality in the world.
D,
Come on, your philosophy demands something from me, who are you to demand from me? What right do you have on my possessions or earnings?
My philosophy asks nothing of you, nothing.
And Ayn Rand is more than a novelist, she was a philosopher. You know that, or you should. That would be like saying MLK was just a preacher…
“I swear, by my life and my love of it, that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.” -Ayn Rand
B/C WHY??? The Bible is more prohpectic than Ayn Rand ? Why ?? Because you ate applie pie at a pleasant little church a la mode in Alabama circa 1983 ? Grow up. The Bible isnt any more real, in fact less prove-able, than Ayn Rand. So… if you want to shoot someone down… FEEL FREE…. but don’t use ghosts and mysticism as your reasoning. Use legitimate data… or don’t bother making a post. NO… I won’t drink your Kool-Aid Mr. Jones… not unless you have some legitimate reasoning to do so…. and this is really WEAK debate. B/c my toothless grandma said so… ugh. Let me guess; your education is from Harvard. Paid for by the government of course.
Our government has zero right to distriubute my wealth overseas…. when people starve here. i paid $140k in property taxes recently. and it pisses me off it went to Haiti… when, frankly, i need it here right now to provide health insurance to my HARD WORKING AND VALUED STAFF !!!!!!!!!! F Obama, Haiti, the Post office, Irag, Afghan, and any place else… you TRY looking in the eyes of a dedicated, amazingly hard working employee who has busted ass for a while… and tell them you cant afford X Y or Z b/c we are feeding some shithole government in Afghan growing poppies to ship tot he US middle schools for cheap heroin. ?? Screw em. Sorry. Take care of your own LONG BEFORE you take care of someone else who doesnt care about their own situation. Read Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns… and tell me my taxes were well spent !!
Good to see my old capitalist buddies all in one place
I bring up the Bible only because I know Mr. Bob seems to prescribe to conflicting doctrines. That of Christianity which says to love your brother as you love yourself, and that of Ayn Rand who says let your brother suffer because he has nothing to do with you. I don’t see how it’s possible to live by both philosophies.
Now Gene, you’re my favorite capitalist brother. I agree with you that Iraq, Afghanistan, and most of our global crusades to spread “democracy” are wrong. The fact of the matter is that those campaigns are driven by bigger capitalists than you! Go knock on Dick Cheney’s door and let him hear your tirade… I’m sure he’d give you more than a chuckle and say “hey, that’s capitalism at its finest bro!”
In the case of Haiti, I am merely pointing out the fact that it makes no sense for us to throw millions of dollars at the country after the earthquake when we could have proactively been humanitarians (as we now consider ourselves after the disaster) and invested in Haiti (for the sake of capitalism) many years ago.
Lastly, Bob and Gene, you owe Haiti a hell of a lot for allowing the United States to become the economic force that it is today. Had it not been for the slave revolt there, France would have never left the New World and would still control a third of what we now call the United States.