Recently former NBA player Paul Shirley came under fire for blogging an open letter to the people of Haiti:
Dear Haitians –
First of all, kudos on developing the poorest country in the western hemisphere. Your commitment to human rights, infrastructure, and birth control should be applauded.
As we prepare to assist you in this difficult time, a polite request: If it’s possible, could you not re-build your island home in the image of its predecessor? Could you not resort to the creation of flimsy shanty-and shack-towns? And could some of you maybe use a condom once in a while?
Sincerely,
The Rest of the World
Now this letter was part of a much larger article and really should be read within that context here. However, the media and the Internet world hasn’t made much of an effort to do that and has instead sensationalized bits and pieces. The cause of the day is Haiti and let me be absolutely clear, I am not in any way saying that we shouldn’t help the people of Haiti, however as we do so it should be done with our eyes open.
Ever hear the old saying “The road to hell is paved with good intentions”? I admit that saying puzzled me for a long time, because how could good intentions have such a negative outcome? As people, especially as Americans we like to help people, we have good intentions when we give the man on the street holding the sign a dollar, our motives are pure. But let me ask you, what if that man on the corner used your dollar to buy drugs? But you say, “Sure that can happen, but that wasn’t my intent”. I understand that, but what if he not only used that dollar to buy drugs but he overdosed and died? Again, your intent was that he buy food like his sign said, but you basically aided this guy in his demise. You intended to help but your accomplishment was to kill that man.
We as Americans need to begin seeing things for what they are, not what we want them to be. If you had a son who was 16 and you bought him a car and the same day he wrecked it and the next day you bought him another with the same result and over and over again this happened, how long would you continue to buy him cars? Would you consider yourself a bad parent for not buying him another car? Let’s say you are paying for your kid’s college and he keeps skipping classes because he doesn’t feel like going that day or he’s too hung over, how long would you continue to pay for his college? Or your son likes video games, but every time his character dies, he throws the controller against the wall and breaks it, how many controllers are you willing to buy?
Haiti shares an island with the Dominican Republic and while Haiti managed to become the poorest country in the western hemisphere, the Dominican Republic has one of the fastest growing economies. Haiti has one major import and that is charity dollars and their only export is illegal immigrants and that has been unchanged for decades. No matter how much money we send these people through charity and through our tax dollars, they have had zero improvement, they are still at square one.
Right about now though you are thinking, “But Mark they had a 7.0 earthquake that’s not their fault!” and you would be absolutely right. But you know I got to thinking, in 1989 San Francisco had a 7.0 earthquake too and you know the difference between San Francisco and Haiti? About 149,932 deaths! San Francisco had 68 people die and Haiti had 150,000 people die. Why? Because in spite of all of the billions of dollars that have been poured onto that island over the course of decades they have managed to remain screwed up.
Nobody, not even Paul Shirley is saying to not help Haiti. What I am saying and what Paul said in a much less tactful way is, if we are going to help Haiti then we should demand some changes from them and their Government, because otherwise what is the point? Here is an article from 2008 that talks about the people of Haiti eating cookies made from dirt. And here you can see in this article that they are still eating dirt cookies.
The problem is that in 2008 alone we spent $83 million on family planning, reproductive health and AIDS prevention in Haiti. We also spent $63.4 million on a police force, anti-corruption, fighting human trafficking and so on. We also gave the UN over a billion in part to fund operations in Haiti which accounted for $98 million of that money. Another $14 million in developmental assistance. $200,000 in military assistance and $9 million in narcotics enforcement. So that means in 2008 alone we gave about $267,200,000.00 to Haiti’s 9 million people and they are still eating dirt cookies! (Source: Here) That is just in official US aid to Haiti and does not include the millions of charity dollars and aid from other countries!
Our intent may be to help Haiti but if we just help them back into the situation they were in before the earthquake and in two years they are still eating dirt cookies, have we accomplished anything?
Your response is very interesting. What type of reforms do you propose for Haiti and why?
How do we change their mindset which has developed over the past generations?
By: Dr. Derrick L. Campbell on February 1, 2010
at 3:06 am
Well there are a number of things that we can do. First we could begin with education, let’s teach these people how to fish. Let’s teach them how the other side of the island they share with the Dominican Republic has managed to become one of the fastest growing economies. Let’s teach them to attract tourism. A great example of this was back in the 1990′s when I was in the Navy I went to St. Thomas quite a few times. The people there were extremely poor, crime was high and the only real tourism they had was the US Navy. Eventually crime there became so bad that the US Navy stopped allowing the ships to go there and that was doom for what was left of their economy. A couple of years ago I was on a cruise and stopped off in St. Thomas and was absolutely floored by what I found! They had transformed a portion of their island into the shopping and tourist trap for the rich and famous! It was spotlessly clean and had a Rodeo Drive feel to the place. Crime was non-existent and there was commerce and capitalism everywhere! Even the small bazaar that I had once bought trinkets from had cleaned up it’s act and the locals were making great money and all had big smiles, far from the one step above begging that I had seen years ago.
Nobody…not even Paul Shirley says to not help Haiti…but in 2008 there were articles about Haitians eating “Dirt Cookies” and now in 2010 they are still eating “Dirt Cookies” in spite of all the money they have been given. If we are going to just keep giving them money, we aren’t doing it for them, we are doing it for ourselves. Reform is what they must have.
By: Mark Trail on February 1, 2010
at 3:34 am
When you say, “First we could begin with education, let’s teach these people how to fish” are you speaking literally? If so, then do you realize the rampant overfishing that occurs throughout the coasts surrounding Haiti? Not to mention the problems with run-off due to Haiti’s charcoal production. http://www.eoearth.org/article/Reefs_at_risk_in_the_Caribbean
Tourism is a wonderful idea, if not for the stigma of the title, “Poorest Country in the Western Hemisphere”.
I apologize if it seems like I’m picking apart your post here, as I have no real answers myself. Rather, I’m trying to shine the light that no answer is simple at this point in Haiti’s history, due to decades of problems nationally, worldly, and naturally.
I defend what Mr. Shirley and you have said. While I feel privileged to be living in the USA, I have compassion for this tragic event…but where is the line drawn, who should draw it, and what happens to the people on the other side of that line? Perhaps we are too entrenched in humanitarianism? I’m sure there are plenty of people that would argue that that is what makes us “human” in the first place. Still, are we heading further and further towards the idea of “survival of the most unfortunate”?
I wish I had the answers. I only hope that the decisions of the world towards the Haitian people slacken their suffering instead of set them up for continued hardships.
By: Morgan on February 1, 2010
at 1:17 pm
Morgan: No I don’t mean the term literally. As far as the stigma, things can change. I have been to many places in the Caribbean and I can tell you many of them are poor. However, the majority even when poor are not starving and eating dirt cookies. A on a recent visit to St Lucia I found that the housing was substandard shanties and the people lacked most basic items, but not a single one went hungry!
What people have to understand about famine is that from nearly the beginning of time, famines have been something that have been imposed on people by a Government either through intent or inaction and Haiti is no exception to this. Even read Biblical history! The Pharaoh in Egypt had plenty of food when the famine began but he first made the Israelites give their gold, then their livestock and finally themselves into the bondage of slavery in order to have food. Mao intentionally starved 70 million of his own people to death because he believed he had superior ideas. The USSR in a single year wiped out 26,500 people a day through a forced famine.
Reform of their Government is their only hope.
By: Mark Trail on February 1, 2010
at 1:36 pm
I appreciate your response but I am disappointed. I appreciate your response because we do need to educate the people of Haiti. We need to teach the Haitian people to own the fish industry. Not just fish for fish.
While you disagree with Haitians selling dirt cookies, you have to agree that it is Capitalism in its finest form. The person selling the cookies spent nothing to retrieve the dirt. They spent nothing to bake the dirt. But when they sell the dirt they will make 100% profit. This is Capitalism in its finest form.
Why is this form of Capitalism unacceptable for a person of color but when corporations that are controlled by non-historically undeserved persons earn profits beyond 100% it is acceptable?
Yes, we need to educate Haitian’s to be the greatest imperialist on this earth if we decide that they should be a nation that embraces capitalism.
By: Dr. Derrick L. Campbell on February 3, 2010
at 12:16 am
Dr. Campbell:
I think you misunderstood me, so allow me to clear it up a bit. I meant “Fish” in the metaphorical sense of the word, not the literal. I want to teach the Haitian people to be self sufficient.
While I do admire the ingenuity of the people producing and selling dirt cookies, my heart breaks that these people are reduced to that level of poverty. You will have to forgive me though because I am unsure of why you choose to inject race into the equation. You see I was born and raised in Detroit MI and come from a racially and ethnically mixed family so the color of the Haitian’s skin had not occurred to me as germane.
Now I do detect an anti-capitalist tone to your posting so let me say that I am a capitalist, I believe in capitalism. Is it perfect? No, of course not but there isn’t a single other type of economy that has proved to be as successful and this is evidenced by the fact that the United States, a Capitalist country is the most powerful and most generous in the entire world. In fact Dr. Campbell we are communicating on the Internet a result of that very capitalism, how long would the creation of the internet have taken under a centrally planned economy?
I will give you another example. Germany is world known for their engineers and their superior automobiles. Yet while Berlin was divided take a moment to check out the differences in the automobiles they drove under Soviet rule and under free German rule.
In short Capitalism is the worst form of economy…as long as you don’t count any of the other types of economies. Dr. Campbell Capitalism is the great equalizer, it allows anyone to make it. Now why can I make that statement? Well simple really, I grew up poor in Detroit when compared to the Middle Class. I attended public schools and was forced to flee an abusive home at the age of 15 and subsequently drop out of school in the 10th grade. I joined the Navy at 17 and got my GED. When I got out of the Navy I went back to Detroit and was extremely poor to the point that corn meal mixed with water was dinner.
I left Detroit and went to Spokane WA and arrived with $5.00 in change and yet I have built an entire life. I do not and have owned businesses and am currently self employed. In the corporate world I rose to the title of Regional Public Relations Manager of a major phone company. I never once lied about my background or education level and I still managed to rise to a position where I was hiring and firing people with MBA’s.
Dr. Campbell my story could only happen in America, but it’s not the only one of it’s type. I suggest that you consider reading one of my favorite books, “My American Journey” by General Colin Powell, I found it quite inspiring. Dr. Campbell you are a leader and if I have to address it, you are a black leader and you should be teaching people how others can have a “Dr.” in front of their name. You should inspire and use your power not to tell people why they can’t make it, but why they must. I am a nobody…just an average guy and believe me, I have little impact on the world around me. But you sir are a leader and you have a responsibility to lead not just black but people of all colors into prosperity by spreading a belief that we can all do it. Because believe me Dr. Campbell if I could rise from the depths of homelessness and poverty, anyone can.
By: Mark Trail on February 3, 2010
at 5:53 pm
Your points are well taken as well as admired. I host a weekly talk show titled ‘Culturally Speaking with Doctor Derrick’ which airs every Saturday morning from 8:30 to 9:00am. We discuss the solutions to the cultural challenges that exist in our schools, workplaces, and communities.
It bothers me to live in the “most powerful country in the world” and the effects of racism are allowed to continue. It bother’s me as a Black man that we have the highest unemployment rate in the ‘most powerful county in the world”.
It bothers me that historically underserved students have the lowest academic achievement rate in the “most powerful country in the world” while Asian students who have a closer resemblance to the majority continue to advance.
It bothers me that the poorest of countries in the western world are composed of predominately historically underserved people.
It bothers me that capitalism seems to be the vehicle that allows racism against the historically underserved communities to continue to expand.
It bothers me the most that the “most powerful country in the world” cannot or will not solve their cultural challenges.
It just bothers me and that is why I continue to seek the solution.
Thanks for blogging with me.
By: Dr. Derrick L. Campbell on February 3, 2010
at 7:17 pm
On much of that we can agree. I am troubled by many things that effect the black community and while racism does still play a roll, if you ask me the traditionally racist forces are responsible for that racism. Who are the traditionally racist? Those would be Democrats. Let’s take Michigan and Detroit as an example. For decades Democrats have run these places unchallenged and Liberal policies have reigned supreme. If you could think of a social program odds are it originated in Detroit or was at least used there. We spend $13,500.00 per student in Detroit more than 99% of the rest of the country (Those students are predominantly black folks) and yet they have a 24.9% graduation rate. Why would this be? Is it a lack of funding? I dare say not. Are the teachers all bad? Absolutely not! So what is the cause? While many will blame parents this is a generational problem that started about the time that Democrats took control. There is more than enough money, the Democrats however have created a giant bureaucracy that has become a money eating machine! Not too many years ago the school board members had limos and drivers! They take trips and blow money while using black children as a prop to demand more and more. The people of Detroit both black and white have become reliant on the handouts of welfare that have robbed them of their pride. When less than 25% even get a diploma, the American dream has been robbed from them, but those schools are run almost exclusively by other black folks. As in so many places in this country, black Liberal Democrats are victimizing other black folks. The unemployment rate is of course going to be higher among a group that has been deprived of an education.
A little history of the Democrat Party, they founded the KKK, they supported slavery and they authored the Jim Crow Laws. If you know history you know that between 1870 and 1901 there was one black Senators and several black Congressmen ALL from the South, ALL Republican and it was only when the Democrats took control of the House and the Senate in 1901 and passed the Jim Crow laws that it took nearly 50 years for the next black Congressman to be elected in 1949 in Chicago and he was a Democrat. The Democrats learned they couldn’t control black folks through slavery and they couldn’t keep them hemmed in with racist laws forever, eventually they were forced to control them through social programs under the banner of “caring”.
This was epitomized by LBJ’s “War on Poverty”. Did you know that we have spent $12 Trillion on the “War on Poverty” so far? Are you aware that prior to 1968 and the beginning of the War on Poverty the poverty rate had fallen from 19% to 12% and that immediately after it’s passage the poverty rate flat lined and has remained at 12% give or take ever since? Is it just coincidence that within a few years of the Civil Rights act and the end of the Democrat authored Jim Crow Laws that the “War on Poverty” would spark the beginning of a generational poverty withing places like Detroit? Could there be something to my theory that the War on Poverty was the next logical step in preventing blacks from rising up and becoming a socio-economic force? Could there be something to my theory that the poverty rate would have continued to fall if not for the War on Poverty?
Those “Sensitive caring Democrats” keep slipping up and every time you scratch a bit below the surface you have someone like Harry Reid (Democrat-NV) slipping up and giving his “Light skinned Negro dialect” line or Robert Byrd (Democrat-WV) with is use of the “N-word”. Democrats divide everyone into groups, everyone is a special interest and everyone gets a special program? Why is that? Why is race such an issue for the Democrat Party? Better yet, why was General Colin Powell demonized by Democrats when he was the first black Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Secretary of State (Until he endorsed Obama)? Or Condi Rice the first female National Security Adviser was treated horribly by Democrats. Don’t even get me started on Clarence Thomas the first black member of the US Supreme Court. If Democrats really wanted black people to succeed, why do they especially attack black folks who disagree with them? Is it their penchant for a desire to control black folks that can be traced all the way back to the days of slavery?
You and I agree…there is racism and it must be stopped. The question is, do we agree on the source?
By: Mark Trail on February 3, 2010
at 9:21 pm
We should first realize that we have a dysfunctional system. One of the main attributes of a dysfunctional system is blame. You have blamed Democrats for the ills of the Black community but how did the Republican Party contribute to this dysfunctional system? When we blame we then cover-up how we have contributed to the dysfunctional system. Did Republicans cover-up how they contributed to the present economy? Did Democrats cove-up how they contributed to the present economy? Of course there is a cover-up because no one wants to take the blame. Therefore the system does not grow nor improve. Look at our national debt. Look at who benefited from the bailout. I was not you or I. People are losing their homes. People remain unemployed. The majority of these people are historically underserved people. So we have an additional cover-up. But this has always been the case.
By: Dr. Derrick L. Campbell on February 3, 2010
at 10:39 pm
Well the blame for the economy seems to be flying all over and it depends on who you ask. I blame the GSE’s (Government Sponsored Entities) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the fact that we had over a million mortgages given to illegal aliens without any lending standards. I blame, (And not to sound like a broken record), the Democrats who defended Fannie and Freddie and had their campaign coffers filled by Fannie and Freddie as they cooked the books by going over by only nine mils the trigger that allowed for the highest bonuses to be paid to people like Franklin Raines, Jim Johnson, Jamie Gorelick and all the other crooks. These bad mortgages were packaged into mortgage backed securities and sent out to into our financial system under the guise of being “Risk-less” and Government guaranteed. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MGT_cSi7Rs
Regardless of who you blame, and I will say that the Republicans should have stopped this when they saw it coming but nobody wanted the real estate party to end, so as far as that goes…I blame the Republicans too.
No matter who is blamed for the crisis of unemployment and the soon to come currency devaluation, massive inflation and double digit interest rates to come, Obama’s and the Democrats “solutions” have been none at all. Obama’s ARRA, (American Reinvestment and Recovery Act) cost us $787 BILLION dollars and yet he is claiming that he “Saved” (A term he made up out of lawyer speak) “Or Created” two million jobs. Now the fact is you cannot quantify a “Saved” job but the purpose of his claim…as false as it is…was to distract us from the larger issue. Obama’s plan, and it’s working well is to have us debate this “Saved or Created” bit so that we can forget that REAL unemployment is at about 17.5% and much higher in the black community. The day after Obama gave his shameful State of the Union speech the unemployment numbers came out, there were 470,000 new applications for first time benefits, while Obama said that our $787 BILLION had “Saved or Created” 2 million jobs that year at a paltry sum of $393,500.00 PER JOB and that is if you actually believe his false number! You are an intelligent man, could you have thought of something better to do with the $787 BILLION? Now the good news/bad news is that 2/3 of the money hasn’t been spent yet, but in spite of that Obama is now asking for a third round of “Stimulus”.
The real problem though is what he’s spending the money on! In spite of the fact that last year Amtrak LOST an average of $32.00 PER PASSENGER, he has committed us to a light rail project that the low estimates say will cost us $100 BILLION! He also just introduced the largest budget ever and is trying to push a national health care plan that will cripple our economy.
Now you may disagree with my assessments, but if you look around the world you will find that when the global recession hit, the countries who cut taxes and stimulated private sector growth are already in full recovery mode and adding jobs. Meanwhile all the countries who went the route of Bush and Obama and began trying to spend our way out of the recession are all still losing jobs. No recession has ever ended because a government has spent their way out of it…Obama is set to triple the National Debt and that’s after Bush doubled it primarily through the expansion of Medicare (The wars added much less than people think, although they take the blame). We are on an unsustainable path. What happens to the black community…or all communities for that matter when we can no longer find people to finance our debt? Do you know Dr. Campbell how close that day is? Are you familiar with David Walker? He is the former Comptroller General for the United States, he resigned out of frustration with the lack of fiscal discipline by Bush and make no mistake Obama has doubled down of the bad fiscal policy. Please watch these videos…they scared me more than Freddie Kruger, Jason and the Boogieman combined!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXr_Ga_n0pY&feature=related
Dr. Campbell, I am no fan of modern Republicans any more than I am a fan of Democrats. I am a Conservative, fiscal and social and I don’t think the Republicans or Democrats know what they are doing and if they do then they are practicing Cloward-Piven and that is even more frightening.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloward%E2%80%93Piven_strategy
As always Dr. Campbell…my respect and admiration.
By: Mark Trail on February 4, 2010
at 12:33 am
I will also say that in spite of Obama creating “Makinghomeaffordable.gov” which was supposed to help people stay in their homes and adjust their mortgages, only 1450 people had been helped last year by a program that created a giant bureaucracy and spent untold billions. Every program Obama created claiming to help “The little guy” has been an abject failure once you take the cost and divide it by the number of people it actually helped.
I have a terrible habit, when I hear about Government spending the first thing I do is grab a calculator and divide the amount by the number of people they intended to help…it’s really frightening believe me. For example do you know that in 2008 the money we spent on Welfare and all the programs attached to it would have allowed us to write every single household under the poverty line a check for $78,300.00? But instead we have giant bureaucracies and the people we claim to be helping remain in poverty…while the advocates of these programs are called “caring”.
By: Mark Trail on February 4, 2010
at 12:51 am
I’m with you on this one mark. The result of tyrannical government is almost always disaster for the common people.
By the way, thanks for the links to my sites in your right hand column
By: Noel on February 2, 2010
at 11:46 am
Noel: Anytime my friend…anytime.
By: Mark Trail on February 2, 2010
at 2:32 pm
Your points are well taken as well as admired. I host a weekly talk show titled ‘Culturally Speaking with Doctor Derrick’ which airs every Saturday morning from 8:30 to 9:00am. We discuss the solutions to the cultural challenges that exist in our schools, workplaces, and communities.
It bothers me to live in the “most powerful country in the world” and the effects of racism are allowed to continue. It bother’s me as a Black man that we have the highest unemployment rate in the ‘most powerful county in the world”.
It bothers me that historically underserved students have the lowest academic achievement rate in the “most powerful country in the world” while Asian students who have a closer resemblance to the majority continue to advance.
It bothers me that the poorest of countries in the western world are composed of predominately historically underserved people.
It bothers me that capitalism seems to be the vehicle that allows racism against the historically underserved communities to continue to expand.
It bothers me the most that the “most powerful country in the world” cannot or will not solve their cultural challenges.
It just bothers me and that is why I continue to seek the solution.
Thanks for blogging with me
By: Dr. Derrick L. Campbell on February 3, 2010
at 7:13 pm
This was a good Haitian conversational piece until it morphed into an American racial debate… If Dr. Campbell would like to discuss the issue, he should start his own blog… Don’t let him hijack this one…
By: Anonymous Coward on February 4, 2010
at 6:40 pm
I have a rule for my blog that I am carrying over from my previous blog…all respectful points of view are always welcome.
By: Mark Trail on February 5, 2010
at 2:30 am
I think it is great that Mark truly embraces the concept of Freedom of Speech.
Thanks Mark.
By: Dr. Derrick L. Campbell on February 5, 2010
at 3:29 am
I served in the United States Navy defending it…and I would do it again. I have too many friends who paid too high of a price not to respect it.
By: Mark Trail on February 5, 2010
at 6:00 am