This Columnist Has Produced A Film On the Early History of Haiti to Be Shown Sun., Oct. 13, 2024

I would like to invite the community to join me for a viewing of my film on the topic of the Real History of Haiti. It will be shown at the Merriweather Library on Sunday, October 13, 2024 from 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm. This film is appropriate for the entire family.

I am showing this film to counter the negative comments of former President Donald Trump and Vice-President J.D. Vance about the Haitian community in Springfield, Ohio. They have suffered from these accusations. It has not only harmed the Haitian immigrants in Ohio, but it has affected Haitians in other parts of the country. Haitian people have made many positive contributions to our country in the past and still do today. This columnist wrote an 8-part series of articles in October, 1994 on the history of Haiti. This film is based on these articles.

The film opens up with the fact that Christopher Columbus discovered the island of Haiti in 1492. He found the beautiful Arawak Indians. He claimed to be a friend to the Indians. He charmed them with gifts. The Indians were the original inhabitants of this country. In 50 years, the Indians were destroyed by making them slaves. Their culture and traditions disappeared as the invaders forced them to work in the gold mines. The destruction of the native Indian population brought about the beginning of African enslavement. The Indians were treated so badly that by 1530, only a few hundred Indians were alive.

The film that I produced will show how the Haitians people fought the invasion. It will show the Haitian liberators such as Toussaint L. Overture and General Dessalines. Haiti was not always a poor country. European invaders stripped the county of its many resources. The wealth of the French was built on the backs of Black slaves. The slaves were uprooted from Africa and treated in the most barbaric way. The French became super rich dealing in sugar, coffee, indigo and spice plantations of Haiti. The French left a system of military rule and a system of racism which Haiti has never been able to overcome.

You will learn things about the history of Haiti that you have never heard before. You don’t want to miss this film! Special thanks to Gregory D. Barber who assisted me as the Director of the film. Mr. Barber is a videographer and a public relations specialist. If you miss the film this month, I plan to show it again during Black History month in February for the 46th anniversary of the Eye On History Column.

For more information you can call (716) 847-6010 or send an email message to me at ewriter52@roadrunner.com. Admission to this program is free and open to the public.