Pat Robertson’s comment that Haiti has been “cursed” by a “pact to the devil” has inspired several reactions since he made the remark Wednesday afternoon.
Wednesday evening on MSNBC, Haiti’s ambassador to the US, Raymond Joseph, slammed the televangelist for the comment, explaining that the Haitian slave revolt Robertson claimed was a “pact to the devil” enabled the United States and Latin America to prosper.
Joseph argued that the Haitian slave revolt allowed the United States to make the Louisiana Purchase for just $15 million, and that it allowed Simon Bolivar to “deliver Gran Colombia and the rest of South America.”
“What pact the Haitians made with the devil has helped the United States become what it is,” Joseph said.
WATCH:
All praises to the Haitian Ambassador for describing the world historical importance of the Haitian Revolution and rebutting the disgusting suggestion that the tragedy was an act of God. We have come to expect odious, profoundly confused remarks from Pat Robertson, but check out the comments by George Samuel Antoine, the Consul-General of Haiti in São Paulo, Brazil:
http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/mundo/ult94u679672.shtml
Antoine says: “The tragedy there is good for us here, you know. I think that all of that messing around with ‘macumba’ (ie. vodou), I don’t know what that is…The African is cursed. Every place that has Africans is f—ked.” The guy obviously didn’t realized that the tape was rolling, but it is still astounding that a Haitian official would make such a comment. It serves as a reminder of the deep conflicts in Haitian society over race, culture, and religion.