Word: haiti
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...might be easy to forget that just over a week ago, Haiti experienced its largest earthquake in 200 years, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths, hundreds of thousands of injuries and infections, and unthinkable devastation in the capital of Port-au-Prince. The media has already begun to turn its focus to other issues, but we must not forget about Haiti so soon—not again...
...long, Haitians have been neglected by their northern neighbors and forgotten by the constituencies on whose behalf wealthier governments claim to act. After being established by former slaves and revolting against its French master in 1804, Haiti was not welcomed into the international community of independent nations. The United States, viewing a nation of former slaves as a threat to slavery in the Western hemisphere, refused to grant diplomatic recognition to Haiti until 1862. The French demanded that Haiti pay an unreasonable price for the new nation to receive diplomatic recognition—150 million gold francs to French citizens...
Before the earthquake, Haiti was the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere. Over the past two weeks, it is now clear Haiti has lost almost everything, from its already fragile infrastructure to its lifeline of international aid. While no accurate death toll figure exists yet, The Haitian government has said that 150,000 have died in the capital of Port-au-Prince alone. The capital lies in ruins, and the surviving population hangs by a thread in tent towns now housing millions of homeless Haitians...
...simply cannot allow our devotion to this cause slip away as it turns from a current event to a past tragedy. The truth remains that people are dying in Haiti, and that these deaths are avoidable. In a state so fragile, lives can be saved for the amount of a book. Our actions now can, and must, account for past transgressions. We have a responsibility to all Haitians to provide them with the tools to rebuild, the tools we have denied them for two hundred years...
...fearful of how it will be treated by the man who crushed its hopes of a homeland, during his speech following the election results, he said, "I am the President of those who voted for me and those who did not." (See TIME's complete coverage of the Haiti earthquake...