by Lisa Pease | 1/20/2010 07:05:00 PM
I'm working hard on an article re the sorry history of America's interventions in Haiti. But I felt compelled to write and share a short version as well, in limerick form.
Hang on, Haiti
America's got Haiti's back
Or so you will read on the rack
But if truth be told
The public's been rolled
America's got Haiti back
We occupied them once before
For years til 1934
We left them untethered
While bankers still feathered
Their nests off the backs of the poor
Our record's been jaded, at best
Their leaders served at our behest
We propped up their beast
And abducted their priest
While businesses paid off the rest
If none of this makes sense to you
You know what you now have to do
Just open your eyes
And your heart to great size
And let history enter through
Please learn from mistakes of the past
And from wisdom the Haitians amassed
If their truths we'd heed
They may yet succeed
And win their true freedom, at last.
Hang on, Haiti
America's got Haiti's back
Or so you will read on the rack
But if truth be told
The public's been rolled
America's got Haiti back
We occupied them once before
For years til 1934
We left them untethered
While bankers still feathered
Their nests off the backs of the poor
Our record's been jaded, at best
Their leaders served at our behest
We propped up their beast
And abducted their priest
While businesses paid off the rest
If none of this makes sense to you
You know what you now have to do
Just open your eyes
And your heart to great size
And let history enter through
Please learn from mistakes of the past
And from wisdom the Haitians amassed
If their truths we'd heed
They may yet succeed
And win their true freedom, at last.
Labels: haiti, imperialism, Lisa Pease
I hasten to add that the U.S. is NOT, as of yet, occupying Haiti, and likely never will, overtly. But financially, we've been occupying them for well over a century now, and I don't expect that to end any time soon.