Paternalism and the US Occupation of Haiti...

To characterize Mary Renda’s Taking Haiti as impactful is an understatement. Each chapter was beyond enlightening, partially because I was able to reflect on the information I learned this summer (Study Abroad DR) through a different lens. I also don’t believe I fully grasped the concept of paternalism until now. Usually when I hear paternalism referenced it’s only in the context of US slavery, but learning about it from a transnational perspective exacerbates feelings I have towards US foreign policy. “Treating paternalism as an obvious good, a mitigating factor, or a transparent veneer to be ‘seen through,’ historians have failed to notice its importance and complexity as an element of US foreign policy” (15).  I completely agree with that, and I am glad that I finally have the tools to name it. I have always felt uneasy when I hear about certain US groups acting as “white saviors” in a sense, that are on a quest to rescue Black and Brown people from their circumstances. It has always been peculiar to me that as Americans we feel we have the moral authority to tell someone else what they “should” be doing, not fully grasping how that mindset is rooted in paternalism. An example of this was the “Stop Kony” campaign that took place a few years back. I remember thinking to myself that although this sounded like a good cause, I feel like something is missing. In the months to follow it became apparent that not only was Joseph Kony not the threat that he was portrayed to be, but that the organization that initiated the campaign “Invisible Children”, was accused of “slacktivism”. By no means am I absolving Joseph Kony from the horrific crimes he committed, but what I am saying is that the information we (Americans) were given was very skewed. Many of us shared videos and perpetuated fabricated information, often oblivious to the fact that we were enabling a paternalistic approach to this issue. In so many words, we were being asked to once again save poor and primitive Black people from themselves, in the same way the occupation was intended to do for Haiti. 

What is also interesting was the way in which ideas about race framed the way US marines interacted with the Haitian population. To read about the dehumanization of Haitian people at the hands of American troops was heartbreaking but it did not surprise me. Unfortunately xenophobia and racism are inextricable for those coming from a nation rooted in white supremacy, but to the degree in which it occurred was absurd. I think Renda conceptualized it best through her criticism of paternalism. She states “ Killing came to seem like an amusement. The racism that placed white men back home in front of a beebee gun and an image of a Black man resounded in this foreign context, challenging the logic of paternalism that earlier helped him pull the trigger” (156).  By failing to confront the racism and discrimination against African Americans back home, the US occupation was bound to be a detriment to the Haitian population.