“As the central governemnt in Port-au-Prince lurched toward an agreement with the Americans, the regional officers and soldiers of the Haitian army observed the proceedings in wariness and dismay. The country’so culture, after all, had long emphasized the danger that whites might one day come back and try to gain control…”
Yesterday in class we watched the film White Zombie. The movie is set in the nation of Haiti and specifically within its capital of Port-au-Prince. From the very first scenes , we learn about the racial makeup of the country as blacks are suggested as being in the population majority and whites such as the visiting couple and the plantation owner compose the minority. Based on our previous study in class, it is obvious that this ratio isn’t a coincidental one. In the New World time period, the nation was once a French colonial territory named St. Domingue.
St. Domingue, as with most colonial territitories of the time, featured an economy heavily reliant on the products and goods achieved from slavery labor. The succesful Haitian revolution managed to oust any and all significant traces of French enslavement and established a black republic in the Caribbean region. Nearly all forms of white influence were intentionally removed both metaphorically in the stripping of the white from the flag and physically in the massacre of the remaining white population.
The memories of slavery were still fresh in the minds of black Haitians and their described actions were performed in the hopes of decreasing the likelihood of a return of the abusive system. The result of the hasty and somewhat shady decision making was long-lasting paranoia that black Haitians held towards foreign nations of white majority. The document Haiti: The Aftershocks of History opens with the revelation that the nation in the early 20th century was comsiderably broke. They had recieved aid from some nations but had also been simultaneously taking out loans from other nations just to remain afloat. It had gotten so severe that some nations even began to doubt the likelihood of being payed back. Though having some unrelated interests of their own, the United States did look to assist but some of the Haitian government were reluctant to accept.