On the night of 14 August 1791, a man named Dutty Boukman organised a meeting with enslaved Africans in Bois Caiman, in the northern mountains of the island of Santo Domingo.
This meeting preceded the uprising that began on 22 August 1791 and which would pave the way towards Haiti's independence. The French quickly captured Boukman, who was leading the uprising, beheaded him and brought the rebellion under control.
They dispalyed Boukman's head on Cap's square to show the slaves that their invincible leader was dead. By 1804 the enslaved Africans had established the first independent Black state in the Americas - sounding the death knell of French imperial ambitions in the Americas. Haiti became a beacon for enslaved Africans, and its revolution led to the eventual end of plantation slavery.
Pat Robertson, a ultraconservative preacher, stated on the 700 Club today:
"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."
What Robertson really meant was that is that it would be impossible for blacks to defeat white plantation owners during the Haitian revolution without the help of Satan. This is, of course, a blatantly racist view. It also insults the Haitian VooDou religion.
Robertson should immediately apologise. The devil did not cause an Earthquake in Haiti. We do not need this sort of rhetoric during this horrible tragedy.
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