Last week, in the aftermath of the horrific earthquake in Haiti, Pat Robertson found himself mired in controversy (yet again) when he claimed that the Haiti earthquake was a result of a deal with the Devil gone bad:
Something happened a long time ago in Haiti and people might not want to talk about… They were under the heel of the French, you know Napoleon the third and whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said ‘We will serve you if you will get us free from the prince.’ True story. And so the devil said, ‘Ok it’s a deal.’ And they kicked the French out. The Haitians revolted and got something themselves free. But ever since they have been cursed by one thing after another.
Robertson’s comments, predictably, elicited a firestorm of criticism, much like his and Jerry Falwell’s blaming 9/11 on liberals – and rightly so. It would have been a rather ridiculous thing to say even if there hadn’t been tens of thousands of people still trapped in the rubble of Port-au-Prince. The fact that it was said only hours after the earthquake made it all the more offensive.
But in a strange way, Robertson is partially right – not in that the earthquake was caused by the Devil, but in that the problems Haiti is experiencing in the aftermath of the earthquake are deeply rooted in that nation’s peculiar history. And in that history, it disappoints me to say, the role of the Americans has usually been one of complicity with those who cause the suffering of the Haitian people. Here is an excellent summary; it will suffice to say that from the beginning of Haiti’s existence as a separate country, we’ve tended to align with the imperialist powers (like France) that sought to keep the Haitian people in subjection rather than with the Haitian people’s desire for freedom, safety, and sustenance. Not only are we passively complicit in Haiti’s abject poverty, as it’s existed so close to our shores for so long; we’re actively complicit in it, as some of our most honored forefathers sided with Haiti’s oppressors against the people of Haiti (to say nothing of our nation’s more recent meddlings in Haiti’s democracy).
Why did it take an earthquake for the American zeitgeist to suddenly notice Haiti, a nation that consistently ranks among the poorest on the planet and sits less than 600 miles from our shore? Why do buildings have to collapse before we see the abject poverty and starvation that exist in a place that’s on our nation’s metaphorical doorstep?
It’s about blindness – the kind of selective blindness we use to justify our continuing to live lives of abundance and luxury.
It’s the kind of selective blindness that enables us to live in our warm homes and eat our plentiful food while there are people living in abject need of food or shelter on the next block, or in the next town, or in the next county.
It’s the kind of selective blindness that leads Vancouver to evict the homeless in the run-up to the 2010 Olympics rather than take the kind of self-sacrificial action required to solve their problems.
It’s the kind of selective blindness that leads to gated communities, that leads to mass-transit systems not going into rich neighborhoods, that leads to the freeways going over and through poor places so the rich don’t have to confront the poverty they’re enabling every single day through their inaction.
And it’s the kind of selective blindness that leads to social injustice disasters like Haiti – and like the other poor places of the world that continue to be ignored by the American zeitgeist because they “only” suffer from crippling, abject poverty, and not from crippling, abject poverty and a 7.0 magnitude earthquake.
But make no mistake about this: God remains deeply offended and grieved by the abject poverty we in the rich nations of the world continue to allow to exist as we continue to live in abundance, and by our unwillingness to take sacrificial action to ensure that all people on this planet have the basic necessities for survival.
Jesus Christ weeps for the people of Haiti today – but we too easily forget that He was weeping for them last Monday too, when mothers were giving their children pies of caked mud just to keep their bellies full, before the earthquake struck. And Jesus Christ weeps for the other peoples of the world, who suffer from the very same massive economic injustices that have enabled some in America to enjoy unprecedented wealth.
Let us pray that God’s weeping for the poor of the world doesn’t turn into God’s wrath against us for continually turning a blind eye to their suffering while living lives of abundance and luxury – and let us take action to right the injustices of the world.
Click here to donate to disaster relief in Haiti.
Click here to visit Bread for the World, one of many organizations working for long-term economic justice.
Click here to find contact information for your Congressional representative and Senators and tell them that God demands action for global justice.
