Last month I wrote an article called "Haiti Help or Haiti Hoodwink?" raising questions about the massive amounts of dollars that people have been giving, but the lack of accountability for how the resources are being spent. I hold my position that giving money is not the primary solution and that it will take real community organizing and grassroot political action on the part of Americans to ensure that the people of Haiti have agency and self-determination as they rebuild their nation.
FAIM Internet Magazine has a correspondence with POCC Block Report Radio journalist, Minister of Information JR. On February 8th, he along with a team of other journalists and medical providers flew to Haiti to provide a first-hand account of what has really been going on. POCC Block Report Radio, "the peoples voice on the airwaves and the internet", boldly covers stories that expose the racism and injustice perpetrated by government and police agencies on black people and people of color globally. Minister of Information JR had this to say about his observations in Port-Au-Prince:
"Today is the one month anniversary of the earthquake in Haiti. Today I went all over Port Au Prince and saw the devastation firsthand and the occupation by Brazil under the guise of the UN, and of course the USA. I rode through Port Au Prince all day, and didn't see one act of recovery going on. I haven't left Port Au Prince. Here it looks like the city was hit with an atomic bomb. All through the city you could smell dead bodies, and see people going through the rubble lookin for scraps of metal to build a shanty-house as well as anything that can be eaten, drunk, or sold. I don't see where the millions of dollars that have been raised for Haiti is going. Everywhere people is starving. Me and my comrades gave some of the most desperate some money, but the thing is that it might help them today, what about tomorrow?
We been staying at a makeshift hospital ran by some white so-called American missionaries. Today at the house I witnessed my first act of Jim Crow type racism from so-called friends, on this particular trip. Haiti is like a time machine. Its like 1920 here in terms of the apartheid type of relationships that the whites have with the Blacks. The white woman of "God" that runs the house that Haitians can't come in the house from their shanty town in the backyard after the hospital closes, but check this out, multiple dogs have free reign all over the property. So in other words these dogs are more important than the Haitians; including the hungry babies, the old people, the wounded and maimed, and regular everyday people.
One of the members of our delegation were told not to feed the Haitians in the tent city that is in the backyard, because they already eat once a day. The issue is, why do they think that they can determine who I share my food with. The house is full of white people who have free reign to eat as much as they want, and whenever they want.
The second issue, is that when we went to Port Au Prince we had a 19 year old Haitian translator named Gady who helped our team. When we got back, the rooster-neck nun who is ultimately in charge of the house told him that he can't be in the house, although we met him in the house the day before and hung out and listened to music to about 1am. We asked why, and she told us he wasn't a good translator. I told her, he did great with us, from 10am to 4pm. She told me he doesn't know enough English medical terms to assist the doctors, I informed her that my team consisted of journalists, and we didn't need him to know English medical terms. She then quickly said there were other reasons then told us that she just didn't want him in the house, and if we needed a translator, contact her, and she would hook it up. Most of the translators that I met were very subservient, except ours, and thats why we got along. She kicked him out, and we went out the house after him and paid him a 3rd of what he would make in a month as a translator, because we realize how hard it is to find money, water, and food let alone a regular job.
I'm currently writing this from the house, and God knows, I wish I had somewhere else to go out here rather than deal with these undercover racists. I don't, so like my Haitian "auntie" told me, I'm supposed to see all of this so I can report it.
On another note, most of the Black people from the U.S. that are out there, that I have met are complicit in this Jim Crow racism. They act like they don't see it because it is not affecting them. These dumb ass people don't recognize that these same crackers were doing this to their grand parents 60 years ago. It's like Malcolm taught us, when he talked about the house slave and the field slave.
This is my first report, on my first full day here. There is more to come, so stay tuned..."
Already the light on this tragic issue is beginning to dim. As I predicted, soon it will no longer be news and people will be exhausted from hearing about the situation in Haiti. FAIM Internet Magazine makes a commitment to continue to update its readers about the progress (or lack thereof) on this terrible crisis on a regular basis. Check back for future updates.
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