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Sunday, October 7, 2018
US Occupation of Haiti
The island of St. Domingue, now known as the island of Haiti, was a nation that has been constantly oppressed by greater powers, including the United States. Following the assassination of Haiti's president in 1915, Woodrow Wilson sent the United States Marines to Haiti to maintain political stability and restore order. This was because the US considered Haiti as a potential naval base, and wanted to make sure Haiti wasn't prone to being taken over by an imperialistic European nation. During the US's occupation of Haiti, racism and segregation were prevalent and went as far as William Jenning's Bryan (the secretary of state) exclaiming "Niggers speaking French!" when he heard of the US's decision to occupate Haiti. When US troops came to Haiti, they stripped the nation of its wealth by taking all the gold and shipping it to the US. They then set up a new constitution and grabbed most of the fertile land and planted crops for US benefit. Many Haitians were put under a system of forced labor called the "corvee". Haitians were forced to build railroads and buildings at gunpoint to benefit US interests. There was obvious resistance towards US invasion by a group of guerrilla fighters called "Cacos". Despite their efforts, they were overpowered by US firepower and were killed mercilessly. Many atrocities happened during this time, such as when US troops gunned down 264 protesting peasants in the town of Les Cayes. In 1930, the US started backing out of Haiti, and in 1934, the US finally withdrew from Haiti, while maintaining economic ties with the nation.
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2 comments:
Your use of images and quotes really helped emphasize the extremity of the conditions at the time. I think that the United States should be ashamed of its treatment of the Haitian people. Today, Haiti is an extremely impoverished and corrupted country and I think that these issues can partially be attributed to the U.S. "taking all the gold and shipping it to the US" and putting a new government system in place without supporting Haiti afterwards. Unfortunately, the United States cannot undo this damage, however, I think that the United States can be more empathetic and supportive to both Haiti and other countries that are less fortunate.
It is plausible that assume that even though the US announced that they are going to help Haiti with their economic instability, in reality, they took away their gold and manipulated their economy. The US use their advantages to control the Haitian people.
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