The recent Hillary Clinton Wikileaks revelations the mainstream media is working so feverishly to ignore during this farcical general election, brought back memories of another story ignored by the press to shield the Democrat hopeful. The Haitians who gathered outside of Clinton's offices this summer to protest the Clinton Foundation's economic exploitation of the beleaguered Island nation. Seems Ol' Hispaniola is still a lure for greedy privateers.
Dinesh D'Souza documents brilliantly the Clinton's crimes regarding Haiti in his latest book;
Hillary’s America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party excerpted here.
A Facebook friend's comments on the connection between Haiti's devotion to witchcraft, coupled with hurricane Matthew's recent devastating impact on Haiti, prompted me to re-post for your consideration an article from the old Digital Publius site I wrote in January 2010.
As a baby boomer, influenced probably to an unhealthy degree by pop culture, just about everything I come across triggers a sort of semi-related memory or response. It may be perverse, but the first thing to pop into my head when I heard about the horrific earthquake in Haiti was the Fred Astaire and Jane Powell musical number from the film “Royal Wedding”, "I left My Hat in Haiti."
I know I need help, but, it is the truth. Haiti also triggers thoughts of pirates seeking refuge on Hispaniola (the little Spain), the name given by Columbus to the Island later bisected becoming modern Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Seems in the movies privateers were always headed there.
The devastation left in the wake of the earthquake that rocked the island nation should not be made light of. The death toll is staggering and expected to continue climbing. Long term suffering will likely make Katrina seem like a picnic. The swift response from the Obama administration offering aid, is laudable, not only in supplying succor to the native population, but also because of his responsibility to the 40,000 some-odd American citizens on the Island at any given time.
Odd Haiti seems to suffer from an arguably endless plague of miseries, a fact which can’t be disputed. When one considers Haiti shares a land mass with the relatively prosperous Dominican Republic, it is indeed a quandary why Haiti remains a perpetual mare’s nest. Unless of course Pat Robertson is right.
I am sure by now you have heard of the flap caused by Pat Robertson stating Haiti is accursed due to a pact the early Haitian patriots made with the devil. Robertson’s proclamation was met with the expected derision and vitriol from the left, and a fair amount from those who say they are right-wing evangelicals.
Robertson’s statement and the following uproar triggered another pop culture response in yours truly, when the Sly and the Family Stone lyric “It’s the truth, that the truth, makes them so uptight,” from the song “Stand,” skulked unwarranted across my fevered brain. I spent a goodly amount of time running down the voodoo curse story and I have not found a reason to doubt its historicity.
Every history of Haiti I came across mentioned a houngan (voodoo priest) named Dutty Boukman did in fact lead a large gathering of slaves in a voodoo rite. From the Haitian bicentennial site we read:
“A man named Boukman, another houngan, organized on August 14, 1791, a meeting with the slaves in the mountains of the North. This meeting took the form of a Voodoo ceremony in the Bois Caiman in the northern mountains of the island. It was raining and the sky was raging with clouds; the slaves then started confessing their resentment of their condition. A woman started dancing languorously in the crowd, taken by the spirits of the loas. With a knife in her hand, she cut the throat of a pig and distributed the blood to all the participants of the meeting who swore to kill all the whites on the island.”
We find the story repeated on kreyol.com:
“Among the rebellion's leaders were Boukman, a maroon and voodoo houngan (priest); Georges Biassou, who later made Toussaint (Louverture) his aide; Jean-François, who subsequently commanded forces, along with Biassou and Toussaint, under the Spanish flag; and Jeannot, the blood thirstiest of them all. These leaders sealed their compact with a voodoo ceremony conducted by Boukman in the Bois Cayman (Alligator Woods) in early August 1791. On August 22, a little more than a week after the ceremony, the uprising of their black followers began.”
On the same site we find a fellow named François Macandal, lead a six year rebellion between 1751-57 leaving some 6,000 dead. Macandal was himself, a boko, or voodoo sorcerer from African traditions who used his dark religion to motivate his followers.
These occurrences happened and are canonical according to Hatian sources. The high dudgeon displayed by Robertson’s detractors, eager to call him a man filled with racist hatred, fail to mention as he made the remarks, the Christian Broadcast Network had a team already on the ground in Haiti and one of it’s Operation Blessing containers on a ship at the port of Port-Au-Prince waiting to clear customs, filled with 2 million dollars worth of medical supplies as a contribution to aid in the relief effort.
Comments like this one accompanying the story on breitbart.tv regarding this subject are telling:
“I am a Christian and am frankly embarrassed almost every time this guy opens his mouth. He said the same thing about the tsunami in SE Asia in ‘04. Sometimes bad things happen to good people. Jesus would never have uttered such stupidity. He would have been too busy trying to dig people out of the rubble and administer first aid. “Do unto others….” You know the rest.”
However, Pat Robertson’s words are exactly the sort of thing we would expect to hear from the Jesus Christ revealed in the Holy Bible:
“And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not. So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more. Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. “ John 8:3-12
In this passage of Scripture Christ does not condemn the law of Moses, the woman deserved to be stoned to death, just as all of us who sin deserve punishment. He did not excuse the guilt of the woman nor did He endorse the Pharisees false zeal. As Matthew Henry far more ably put it:
“All who are any way called to blame the faults of others are especially concerned to look to themselves, and keep themselves pure. In this matter Christ attended to the great work about which he came into the world, that was, to bring sinners to repentance; not to destroy, but to save. He aimed to bring, not only the accused to repentance, by showing her his mercy, but the prosecutors also, by showing them their sins; they thought to ensnare him, he sought to convince and convert them.”
It is important to note that Jesus’ last words to the woman were “Go, and sin no more.” This is a warning, though she received mercy that day, continuing in her sin would result in condemnation from the Father later, which is precisely what Pat Robertson was calling for when he prayed Haiti would repent and turn from the sin of witchcraft the very scourge of the island nation.
Haiti is rife with voodoo. The official religion of Haiti is Catholicism, but it is reported 95% of Haitians are inculcated with some measure of voodoo, believed, by them, to be compatible with Catholic belief. God, in no uncertain terms, condemns witchcraft in both the Old and New Testaments in every form.
“Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” John 8:12
The last verse bears repeating. Jesus’ words are the key unlocking the mystery and fuel the loving comments Pat Robertson, offered in hope the lost of Haiti find the Light of Truth. Jesus’ words also fuel the much maligned comments Britt Hume proffered to Tiger Woods.
“When you aid them, you do no favor to those in trouble if you fail to point out issues that may have caused those troubles to begin with.”
It’s better to tell a guy it’s not a good idea to fall asleep on train tracks than to have to follow a person around so you are there to pull him out of the way of a train. It is the devil’s mission to convince man to reject God and then take their lives before the deceived learn the truth. Armed with that knowledge, I am convinced; the devil left his hate in Haiti.
Digital Publius
