Hang on, Haiti
I'm working hard on an article re the sorry history of America's interventions in Haiti. But I felt compelled to write and share this short version as well, in limerick form.
Hang on, Haiti
America's got Haiti's back
Or so you will read on the rack
But if truth be told
The public's been rolled
America's got Haiti back
We occupied them once before
For years til 1934
We left them untethered
While bankers still feathered
Their nests off the backs of the poor
Our record's been jaded, at best
Their leaders served at our behest
We propped up their beast
And abducted their priest
While businesses paid off the rest
If none of this makes sense to you
You know what you now have to do
Just open your eyes
And your heart to great size
And let history enter through
Please learn from mistakes of the past
And from wisdom the Haitians amassed
If their truths we'd heed
They may yet succeed
And win their true freedom, at last.
Hang on, Haiti
America's got Haiti's back
Or so you will read on the rack
But if truth be told
The public's been rolled
America's got Haiti back
We occupied them once before
For years til 1934
We left them untethered
While bankers still feathered
Their nests off the backs of the poor
Our record's been jaded, at best
Their leaders served at our behest
We propped up their beast
And abducted their priest
While businesses paid off the rest
If none of this makes sense to you
You know what you now have to do
Just open your eyes
And your heart to great size
And let history enter through
Please learn from mistakes of the past
And from wisdom the Haitians amassed
If their truths we'd heed
They may yet succeed
And win their true freedom, at last.
posted by Real History Lisa at 5:19 PM - Permanent Link -
2 Comments:
Nicely done, Lisa!
Interesting coincidence that early in each of the last two Democratic Administrations, the U.S. has intervened in Haiti as a positive force. (That is true as far as I know for Clinton. Obviously, the magnitude of the intervention and the need for it do not compare between the two.)
Sadly, these may be the only two clear examples of positive intervention on behalf of Haiti by the U.S.
FYI - my two-part history of Haiti is now up. Here is part 1 and here is part 2.
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