The Haitian Revolution

Kanye West said: "When you hear about slavery for 400 years," he said. "For 400 years? That sounds like a choice. Does Kanye West know about the Haitian Revolution? Does he know about Haiti, the first place on earth where slavery was abolished?

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Henri Christophe was a general during the Haitian Revolution. Henri Christophe became President of the State of Haiti, the northern part of Haiti, after Emperor Jean Jacques Dessalines died.

On 26 March 1811, Henri Christophe created a kingdom in the North part of Haiti and was later proclaimed Henry I, King of Haiti.

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In 1988, Calypso singer David Rudder of Trinidad & Tobago, produced the classic calypso song "Haiti, I'm sorry".

In the chorus he sang :

Haiti, I'm sorry
We misunderstood you
One day we'll turn our heads
And look inside you
Haiti, I'm sorry. Haiti, I'm sorry
One day we'll turn our heads
Restore your glory.

Today, many all over the world can identify with Rudder's core sentiment, 'Haiti, I'm sorry', even if they do not buy into his argument. For Rudder had maintained that : "Toussaint was a mighty man/And to make matters worse he was black/Black and back in the days when black men knew/Their place was in the back/But this rebel, he walked through Napoleon/Who thought it wasn't very nice/And so today my brothers in Haiti/They still pay the price...yeah, yeah..."

Text by user Sasaye @ forumhaiti.com

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