Pat Robertson started another controversy, this time with his interpretation of the Haitian rebellion against French colonial rule in the early 1800s, and the subsequent natural and man-made disasters to hit the country since its inception.
First, a little history. It started with France fighting a war against Spain, England and the Holy Roman Empire from 1688-1697 (The Nine Years War) when peace finally broke out. The island of Hispaniola was divided between France and Spain in 1697, and the French territory became a slave colony.
Wealthy Frenchmen imported slaves to work the fields, which yielded a tremendous profit for the French. As time went on, and Haiti (it was called Saint Dominigue in those days) became the richest French colony in the region, the slaves yearned for their freedom against their masters. Predictably, the French said ‘no’, and created racist “Black Codes” which kept the slaves of the colony in servitude and in the sugar, coffee and indigo fields. The Black Codes were brutal in their treatment of African slaves.
A rebellion began, and eventually slavery was banned in the colony and the restrictions against the slaves were loosened. Then the French government underwent several changes and the ban on slavery in the colonies was reversed. In 1803, Napoleon of France sent a force of 20,000 soldiers to Haiti to restore slavery and the Black Codes. The invasion failed as the French troops got sick or were defeated by the Haitians under the command of Toussaint l'Ouverture. (The French got beat by EVERYBODY)
In 1804, Haiti declared its independence.
In the time since, various emperors, warlords, Prime Ministers and Presidents have ruled over Haiti, and the country has remained in poverty ever since.
It also sits on a major fault line, which has produced major earthquakes from time to time. This same fault line extends further east and runs under Jamaica, and was responsible for the destruction and sinking of Port Royale, then the major British colony in the Caribbean, in 1620.
Fast forward to 2010: a 7.0 earthquake on the fault line devastated Haiti, destroying the capital and killing at least 20,000 people. Pat Robertson made the following observation:
A few points: the Haitians were fighting for their freedom, both from slavery and from French rule. Slavery is evil, and the French of the period were seeking to restore it. How can Pat Robertson say that the Haitians were evil for resisting evil? Is this his interpretation of historic events?
Would he be saying the same thing if he was a preacher in Haiti, where his own church had just been destroyed, and many of his followers were dead or missing? Or would he be providing aid and comfort to the survivors of his flock, as a religious leader?
Or is he going negative on Catholics again, as many Haitians (80% or more) belong to that church?
I will pray for the salvation of the Haitian people, but not because they've been lost to the devil as Robertson says; I will pray for them because they need God's saving grace (especially now), the same as all of us do.
I am not in agreement with Robertson's assessment, but I'm not surprised by them either.
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