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    Black Vs. Mulatto in Haiti: The danger of misunderstanding the internal politics even as we help.
    By Hontas Farmer | January 15th 2010 10:20 PM | 26 comments | Print | E-mail | Track Comments
    PétionvilleCité Soleil  Two neighborhoods, same city Port au Prince.  They could not be more different. United Nations peace keeping headquarters, the Hotel Montana (the only hotel of international standard I am told.), missing Americans, missing officials, and  the president of Haiti lived/worked/vacationed in one.  Poor machete wielding street gangs where people literally ate mud to survive before the quake are in the other. All are suffering.  Haiti is a nation with faults more destructive than the one which caused the 7.0 earthquake.    This is a discussion of how our media treats one population vs the other and how it may exacerbate the problem the world faces in trying to help Haiti recover. I also will go a little into the colorism within the African American community. 

    I'm sure that everyone here has been deeply moved to give five or ten dollars to help the beligured people of Haiti. By all means give give give till it hurts.  I am giving $20 because that amount will hurt me.  Nothing said in this article should be taken as my opposing giving aid to the relief effort.


    However consider the following news items.   
    Mulatto official speaking about the security situation in Haiti. 




    Woman rescued from the Caribbean market in Petionville, Port Au prince Haiti. The person is likely one of the educated sad to say minority, she speaks good English.  By Haitian standards looking at her hair and skin is likely considered a mulatto.


    Baby sitter of a 6 month old little girl who's parents are likely dead.  They went shopping at the Caribbean market in Petionville.  From what I have read of it the place catered to tourist (i.e. it had a Domino's Pizza).  The man in it might be a mulatto by Haitian standards (note the hair curly but not napped) and would be more educated as indicated by his knowing English. 


    By contrast a school building in another neighborhood has collapsed.  There are people alive in this school building.  Young children and teachers.  Yet they don't get an Icelandic rescue effort with all the trimmings? Bearing in mind the person rescued in the second video had luckily not been pinned down where she was. 
    Judging the these people seem to speak Kreyol, the language of at least 80% of the population. (A mix of French and west African, with a touch of Taino.  The equivalent of Ebonics in the US but there it's an official language.) They are the poorer section, and in appearance different from those above. 


    By contrast there is this video which shows the total lack of any outside aid going to this neighborhood, which from the look of it, is populated by people who contrast with the first group. WARNING THIS VIDEO HAS SOME GRAPHIC IMAGES OF DEATH AND DESTRUCTION. 




    When the media wants to speak of "Law and Order" and "Refugees" what shade of people with what texture of hair do they show?



    Bear in mind and take into consideration that what's "lite skin" in Haiti is not what's lite skin in America.  Here the rumored test involved paper bags, or seeing your veins.  There it's more of a milk chocolate test if anything. 

    So what this is white news reporters from America unconsciously making racist choices.  They did the same thing in relation to Hurricane Katrina, and some made something of Ray Nagin being relatively light, etc. The difference is that Haiti is what by US standards would be a 99.99999% "black" country.  Yet they still have these same exact issues?  Am I just outside looking in and imposing US racial and intra African American difficulties on another country.  

    Sadly no.  Take a look at this blog of by and for Haitian's.  The comments on there are mostly by people who blame the lighter skinned Haitian's for all of the problems of the darker skinned.  Some but not as many are the other way around.  Here's a sample. 

    In a posting called "Haitian Economic Elites The New Cruel Masters."

    President Jacques Chirac states in one of his political speeches in Martinique this: I do not think that Haiti was colonized by French although Haiti continues to use our French language.
    He has the right to say that, for the 2% mulattoes' dirty pigs are worst and more cruels than the old French cruel masters.
    So by virtue of having more money and creating businesses the Mulatto's are like cruel slave masters? On the flip side another posting "Technically Obama Is the First Mulatto President."

    Pssst! Obama is a MULATTO! People like him do not suffer from mental "what you call mental slavery." They see things from a different perspective.
    Those who were never slaves cannot think like slaves.You can all claim him all you want!In fact he will do more for black people then they can do for themselves.

    This person writes of being "black" as if it were different from being a Mulatto. I suppose if those two groups have stayed separate lo these 200 years they are. In response one person wrote a hostile response 


    Sorry mullatto to break that to you. You are a human like everybody else.Your racist and criminal time is over! a haitian 100% black ancestor is Canada governor general.


    It goes on and on like that. I could cite hundreds of examples of what seems to be a seething hatred in Haiti of one social class for the other, which overtones of colorism.  A colorism which coupling with the external racisms of other peoples could work to make this situation worse for the most vulnerable in Haiti.  Those who before the quake lived in utter squalor.  Conditions that one would think could not be worse.  Yet, they got worse. 

    As I read all of this information I wrote a very short poem. 

    When the earth shakes
    When the concrete falls
    All of us black, brown, white or yellow are red.
    Red from the inside, Red and dead.
    Red and dead as the Taino.

    To put it plainly I fear with a good foundation in fact that aid is , and will be rendered to the upper classes in Haiti before the lower classes.  Due in part perhaps to the upper class area's being more secure (i.e. not having as much of a gang problem.)  Undeniably this disparity is due in part to colorism and racism.  These early choices in distributing aid, and media coverage, will effect Haiti for years.  My perception of them has already been changed by hearing that only 53% of the population is literate. 

    I fear for the future of that country. It seems like unless something drastic is done after this quake we will see a mostly rebuilt down town and Petionville and similar places.  While the slums either remain slums or are simply gentrified and moved elsewhere.  I realize as I write that that were I in Haiti I would probably be considered one of the hated elite.  The way the black community here divides up over color is not so different and I hate it.  (see biracial folks talking about discrimination from both sides of the color line. About love of self.  About the one drop rule. etc. Personally I'm tri-racial mixed over many generations, which I have blogged about here in another article.) 

    One last point.  Look at the media coverage of this event and how different issues are covered with the eyes of a colored person.  It's clear that there is a bias, revealed by the stress of the situation.  A bias some will say is simply due to the mulatto's of Petionville and similar locales having money , and knowing English.  But those who say that are blind to the real and obvious color bias that accompanies that simply by virtue of who has the money and knows English if nothing else.  Something is very wrong I know what, like everyone I don't know what could possibly be done to change it. 

    Comments

    Hank
    If only one group were darker than the other down there, we'd know who was right!
    Want more no-nonsense, independent science? Buy Science Left Behind
    Hfarmer
    I know Hank.  I really have to wonder why they can't all just be Haitian.  People who fail in life need to blame something for their failure.  It can't be not knowing how to read, or not having any marketable skills.  So it has to be that the more successful people (who in Haiti were disproportionately the slightly lighter ones) stole all the money.  
    Give it a week the mainstream press will be all over the race angle to this story.
    Science advances as much by mistakes as by plans.
    logicman
    On a brighter note:
    the Dominican Republic, despite a long history of nationalist and racist tensions with Haiti, was the first to step in with real, meaningful, on-the-spot help.  Consider also that foreign aid is reaching Haiti mainly through the Dominican Republic.

    It is often the case during disaster relief operations that there is a perception of the skew of relief towards the rich being a deliberate choice on the part of relief agencies.  My own view is that poorer and more illiterate people are more likely to wait for organised help, whereas richer, more educated people are more likely to organise their own access to relief. 

    In a dictatorship, people are 'trained' not to think for themselves, but to rely on agencies of the state for all things including 'truth'.  Even in democracies, it may well be the case that people assume that the welfare state will cater for all needs at all times.  When there is a disaster, such people are 'conditioned' to wait for the state to bring relief.  In Haiti many such domestic agencies no longer exist - people will wait in vain for help.
    Hfarmer
    So very true.  I have been keeping an eye on what people from Haiti are saying.  The lack of notice that aid from the Dom Rep is getting is really sad. Hopefully as this unfolds, and aid is channeled to Haiti through there perceptions will change.
    One example of people helping themselves with their own resources, and how it was perceived by a Haitian.*  Supposedly this person saw news coverage of a plan from Haiti landing, and perceived that the people on it were Mulatto's.  They could react and say, good for them, they got out and be happy for their country men.  I don't know French so here is what Google translate says the French text is. 

    CNN says it has two kinds of Haitians.
    This morning, they watch a plane landed in Florida filled with black Mulatto without a search of medical treatment.
    CNN explain they go for treatment when they see a lot of Haitians complexion with black legs, arm and foot fractures in the abandoned streets of Port-Au-Pee.
    All emergency focuses on the mulattoes rich and not the Haitian people.
    The Mulatto supporters thugs say that I am trying to divide them among their suffering without taking into account the different types of treatment given to two types of Haitians.
    A day will come when we will have to Haiti without any treatment preferentiels.Prenez notes!
    The English text is a little more delicate about it.  I assumed the Kreyol text would be similar enough that it would be translated too.  Interestingly it did not the languages are just that different.   Disturbingly to this particular Haitian, the mulattoes are not also Haitian. :-?

    *I assume people in Haiti have more immediate concerns than complaining on the net or watching CNN.  These people will however tell their relatives of these things when communication is reestablished.  Then things could get bad.

    Science advances as much by mistakes as by plans.
    vongehr
    poorer and more illiterate people are more likely to wait for organised help, whereas richer, more educated people are more likely to organise their own access to relief.
    Maybe English language proficiency helped to make contact or some such, but I doubt what you are saying, because the poorer here are people who are as far as I read it quite used to "organize their own access to relief" (e.g. gangs). If the result of organized disaster help were the other way around, you would probably say something like that the rich are accustomed to supermarket convenience while the poor are used to "organize their own ...". So, there is a lot to say about imperialism via the "we are here to help" route. They are basically an industry of creating the next disaster where they can again "help". "By all means give give give till it hurts" is a little naive.
    Also, Hontas, you made it sound as if it was accident that the slightly lighter skinned got more successful. Apart from south Africa right now (as revenge so to say), I do not know of a single instance where darker skin was given the chance to be more successful. Even here in China I can tell who is who by shades of yellow. Man am I glad I am white and out of the sun all day - makes life a hell of a lot easier.
    Hfarmer
    Get a load of this.  To this Haitian Barrack Obama is high yellow.  The person at 1:38 in this video is a color we would say that about in the USA.  
    This may sound so trivial.  However people of African descent, some of us anyway, make a really big deal of it.  Going down there and being color blind, would be to ignore important human geography.  It would only compound the disaster.  Make things worse by stoking resentment.  

    I hope someone with power realizes that we need to make a concerted effort regardless of "security" to get help to the slums, and places where kreyol is the main language. 
    Science advances as much by mistakes as by plans.
    rholley
    places where kreyol is the main language

    Let us hope "they" don't make a disastrous mistake, as William Cecil, Lord Burghley did over 400 years ago in respect to the Irish language, as in this extract from Hall's Ireland  .

    Robert H. Olley Quondam Physics Department University of Reading England
    logicman
    Such calumny, Robert.
    Had Lord Burghley ever in his life sung:
    Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey
    A kiddley divey too, wouldn't you?
    he might have had a better grasp of what constitutes human language.
    Hfarmer
    So true. So true.  The Irish were the black people of Europe.  That's why so many of there were willing to mate with the Black people of America.   Truth be told the English treated them worse. That quote from Hall proves it. 
    Take a look at the following video.  See this is the kind of conversation that goes on amongst American Black-Brown-Ginga "skinned-ed" people.   



    I though it would take at least until next Friday for it to come up. But what's the media focusing on?  The supposed violence in Haiti.  Who give s crap.  Just flood the place with so much aid, air drop it if we must, that it becomes worthless to fight over it.   I'm sorry hearing some people moan about security at a time like this just makes me ill. 
    Science advances as much by mistakes as by plans.
    logicman
    Just flood the place with so much aid, air drop it if we must, that it becomes worthless to fight over it
    Best idea yet!

    "The next morning after the earthquake, I assumed there would be airplanes delivering aid," ... "What we saw instead was discussion about, 'Well we've got to send an assessment team in to see what the needs are.' And anytime I hear that, my head turns red."
    Gen Russel Honore
    Hfarmer
    I remember that guy. Anytime he does a satellite or phone interview he ends his conversation with "over". Sending him in to simply intimidate any trouble makers with sheer military might, then deliver the freaking aid would really help right now.  
    I wonder if we still have anyone like him active? 
    Science advances as much by mistakes as by plans.
    Hfarmer
    Another example of the Poor in Haiti getting left in the dust due with the excuse of "security". A field hospital where Sanjay Gupta was left overnight as the only doctor along with one Haitian Nurse. 
    Sanjay says he can't believe it. I knew this would happen.  



    Science advances as much by mistakes as by plans.
    rholley
    It does seem that there is a built-in tendency for the media to misrepresent, almost as if it were some theorem or natural law.   As Chesterton says, writing about the end of Victorian literature:
    Kipling ... has many other powerful elements; an Indian element, which makes him exquisitely sympathetic with the Indian; a vague Jingo influence which makes him sympathetic with the man that crushes the Indian; a vague journalistic sympathy with the men that MISREPRESENT everything that has happened to the Indian ...
    With that caution in mind, what do you think of this following article?

    Haiti: enslaved by its dark history

    Robert H. Olley Quondam Physics Department University of Reading England
    Hfarmer
    I don't think much is being misrepresented here.  The truth is we black peopl regardless of shade kill eachother too often.  In Haiti it isn't much different. 

    Ever heard of a Haitian necklace?  That's where a bicycle inner tube is filled with gasoline placed around the neck and set alight.  If the darker poorer people of Haiti sense they are being mistreated It would not surprise me if race war broke out eventually.  Or should I say... yet again. :-(
    Science advances as much by mistakes as by plans.
    Hfarmer
    This is an interesting Interview in the Daily Mail.  This reporter got to interview (separately) Bay Doc and Michele Bennett (nee Duvalier).  They had some interesting things to say.  One thing is clear that she was the puppet master for sure.  Jean Claude "baby doc" it seems could never handle his business very well.  He's living off begging money from other people and all his assets are frozen.  She's living in what is described as a spacious and stylishly decorated apartment, of course. 
    'The rescuers arrived late and they are not properly equipped, so they have saved only 100 people since last Tuesday,' she railed. 'Is that normal? We are only one-and-a-half hours from Miami! I'm sorry but I am angry.
    'This is not Miss World! It's not a fashion show! It's a tragedy. There is no organisation. -Michele Bennett
    (edited to correct it was the Daily Mail, not the Daily Mirror.  All of London's tabloids are the same to me.)
    Science advances as much by mistakes as by plans.
    Hfarmer
    Another example of Haiti's socioeconomic divide more or less along color lines.   In a country where 40% of the adults can't read or write, a little girl (likely) knows three languages English, French and Kreyol and goes to a private school.  She volunteers  in a clinic.  It seems that no one want's to touch this topic.   




    Science advances as much by mistakes as by plans.
    you stupid f*** american creole is not an equivalent to ebonics it is recognized as a languge by all international actors and they offer creole courses in some major us universities. we dont have black vs mulatto crap that you are talking about and since we are more educated than african-american we dont have light skin dark skin arguments idiot do some research on the haitian population, it is because of that we were able to fight for our independence rather than settle for second class citizenship.

    HedgehogFive
    we dont have light skin dark skin
    But you (singular) certainly have a foul mouth.
    Hfarmer
    Either your young, or stupid, or have never been to Haiti.   Any short reading of the history of that country will show that there is a ton of color ism there.  

    As for not having light skin look at the video in the comment just above yours.  Obviously that little girl helping out in the hospital is quite light.  As well as her teacher (who looks related to her).  

    Or a famous example of one of those people you say is not light skinned. 



    Michell Bennet Duvalier.  Anyone 30 years old or more, who paid attention to the news will remember her.  When she married Jean Claude "Baby Doc"  Duvalier some people in Haiti took it as baby doc turning his back on the black majority.  A decade latter  when Aristed married Mildred Troulillot some people in Haiti said the same thing. 

    Furthermore I have seen the few mostly Haitian message boards on the internet which are in French and Kreyol.  They read like Nazi propoganda.  Calling the mulatto's slave masters and calling for their exile or extermination.  

    I think it is a fact that the US and international forces now Aiding Haiti have to be cognizant of the history of the place. 

    It was a shame that you needed me a supposedly less educated American black (Who is about to get a MS in Physics) to school you in the history of your own country.   
    Science advances as much by mistakes as by plans.
    rholley
    If you think Haiti has a problem over colour, then read this:

    Farewell my country that never was


    about what is
    soon likely to become North Sudan.

    Robert H. Olley Quondam Physics Department University of Reading England
    I have read all the comments here.
    I understand all the sorrow, hurt and pain that goes into trying to find an ultimate "justice" or "injustice"
    or reasons for both.
    However having lived a life as a person of mixed race, (north european Vs south european, and having lived as a white amongst semitic peoples and as an italian amongst northern europeans and as a north european amongst italians.. an outsider in some countries and an insider in others I can only say that there will NEVER be absolute justice, equality or any form of absolute equalness, there will ALWAYS be a hierarchical form.
    EVERY person will have feelings of injustice and ALL people cherish their own values more than others.
    ALL people are in some form more linked to what they believe they are.
    There MAY be racial types that have different abilities and so what?
    BLACK people seen by the nordics eye are very temperamental and more prone to impulse behavior ,which is natural as impassiveness may have been good for survival in another environment than the one we have in industrial societies, but at the same time they traditionally have had and still have a more CREATIVE , and Passionate bent, and they FEEL life probably more than some staid european automation going about his life in stillness.
    Feelings were created by nature to instill ACTION and many nordics need to DRINK heavily to FEEL anything, this is why the whole northern Europe drinks every weekend and many die prematurely from having drunk too much alcohol .
    On the positive side, Northern Europeans are very well organized, and have a great social society and seem very emphatic, althougnthis lie asians is manly from the fear of crating awkward situations and the fear of being "noticed" a feature of communal tribal societies.
    LATIN people as a stereotype (seen from the Nordicis point of view) have more temperamental natures and are more individualistic..but they also have a more cultured approach, less functionally focused than the nordics.
    ASIANS have a seemingly communal peaceful approach to life..but the reality is this communality is rooted not in empathy bit in the fear of being outcast and not good enough..the social support systems are not that good even in rich countries like Japan according to my japanese friends..and most of society like n ALL societies are obsessed with hierarchy and SUCESS so this is why most nordic asian societies have the highest level of suicide in the world..people feel shut out, and inadequate i they are not living up to the expectations set for them.
    This is the way the universe made process and evolution, by creating hierarchies, processes.

    Taller men have an advantage with women.(evolutionary trait)
    small men this work harder to gain sucess, power than tall men whom can use charm.
    Charm developed as an evolutionary trait to create survival and to get social power.
    intelligence developed as a natural selection and developed in people without charm..or beauty.
    Peaceful, non temperamental people enjoy a better living standard, regardless of economic power.
    People with more communal instincts than individual instincts tend to be less risk prone an overall enjoy happier less dangerous lives.(butmuch more booring, and with a lack of LIFE)
    Poor white people feel inferior to middle class white people.
    Beautiful people feel superior to ugly people.
    (ugly defined by less proportionate and symmetric features)
    women like symmetry in faces.
    women like symmetry and aesthetics.
    women like power because genetically it was in time equal to security and a certain mark of ability and success.
    power within certain societies denotes prestige.
    in northern societies historically societies developed from small nomadic tribes and there were not many people, and livestock so life was valued and power to any individual seen as dangerous.
    Chivalry, empathy and prestige arising from power GIVEN by RESPECT not by taking or fear and use of FORCE has been the tradition amongst Scandinavian societies.
    In the north there is a great disrespect from middle class, and intellectual classes for anyone seeking money or fame as its seen as a form of selfishness and the need for power is actually seen as a consequence of ones lack of talent, not being beautiful or enjoyable enough to partake in communal life.
    so people with power are often mistrusted and looked down upon.
    Why is it so?
    In northern europe which was historically less populated by people and livestock, all life forms were more valued which has created a survival instinct amongst northern europeans to value life and to have a certain capacity for empathy-this is why although you see many privileged people from the north you often see these people also helping, and often the women or people from the most well -off families decide to take a life of servility to help poor people, because its respected.
    And so goes life, its not possible to say that something is not fair or to clander, or judge people for being what they are..and it has no meaning to search for justice based on absolute fairness or equalness or any other such measure.
    the only thing one can do is follow ones instinct to hopefully have a heart filled with more love than hate,
    use knowledge that loving feelings create more good and good repercussions than hateful feelings trust and know that if one does good towards others and if ones values are not about prestige but about living an "examined life" than one will not be subject to anyones prejudice or judgement and even if one is ( I am short so i know) then so what?
    Tall people may enjoy sexual advantages, but they work for short people.
    The point is that we are all different and thank god for that!
    Stop looking for the half empty glass and start looking at all thats god and what YOU can do to give back
    and to LIVE.
    And stop COMPARING, and start APPRECIATING nuances, and SEEING differences.
    Life is but 25.000 days on average and most of that is spent growing up, or getting old or sleeping what we have left, 10000 days of good time better be spent thinking positive thoughts and LOOKING at the whole picture and just BE happy to BE!
    it will all end soon enough anyway its just a chemical process and earth in statistical terms does not have many years left..so ENJOY what you have.look at the poetic side of life!

    gregory.

    sadly, you're a fucking idiot.

    jesus.

    I know this is a late post, but you really should have done more research before posting your observations.

    Only the first person in your video clips may have been "mulatto". When we say that someone is a mulatto, they appear more white than Black -- much, much whiter than most American Blacks: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPHnHRNJGLY .

    The Haitian flag -- originally black and red -- represents the unity of Blacks and mulattoes. The LEGAL history of Haiti during French slavery and colonialism was far different from slavery in America -- Haitian mulattoes were very often emancipated, could be educated, and could be the legal heirs to their White forbears. This meant that they eventually accumulated great wealth and could even thwart plans to end slavery or own slaves. The only reason this ended was because they realized that while have more right than slaves, they would not be given certain rights available to White French citizens.

    After the end of slavery, mulattoes held on to wealth and property and occupied the highest levels of all political spheres and dominated politics. This excluded people of predominantly African descent and allowed them to be exploited. There were overt actions by elites/mulattoes to keep Africans out of any political and economic domination which increased poverty.

    It is not a good idea to compare "colorism" in Haiti to that of the USA, or to think that race and racism are expressed in the same ways in the Caribbean and Latin America -- the laws and history are simply different, and their are real implications. It was also pretty insulting to imply that darker skinned Blacks in Haiti are simply imaging history or inventing a bias, rather than citing history. It's a really serious error when publishing any article on a significant subject.

    Mulattos?? WTF They ARE black, the only difference is that their skin is lighter etc but it's stupid to idenitfy people by their colour. My black neice has white skin from having a white parent, grandparent and great-grandparent, but she is still racially black, since white people cannot mix races like others can do.
    The only mixed race out there is blasian, which is, hence the name, a mix of black and asian.
    Hapa is mixed asians eg. Indian, Japanese etc, but that is mixed ethnicity, there can be many of them but again, there is only ONE mixed race and that is BLASIAN!

    Gerhard Adam
    ...but she is still racially black, since white people cannot mix races like others can do.
    Where did you come up with that little "neutral" gem? or did you mean choose not to?
    ...but it's stupid to idenitfy people by their colour...
    ... and yet everyone does it.  It is stupid to discriminate against people, but to identify?  Of course, color is relevant, just like sex, or hair/eye color, or height.  These are all valid descriptions and it is stupid to pretend that they don't exist.
    HedgehogFive
    white people cannot mix races like others can do. 
    You have not explained the logic of this statement.

    That aside, the only people who benefit from this sort of thinking, in Europe at least, are self-appointed "community leaders", who wish to alienate people of mixed European with African, Middle Eastern or South Asian descent from the native population, in order to build up their power base.