For most people the entire world stopped when the small country of Haiti experienced a 7.0 magnitude earthquake on January 12, 2010—the most powerful to hit Haiti in a century. Casualties from the earthquake count 230,000 but we always have reasons to believe the number to be quite higher than that. Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince experienced large devastation from the severe damaging of vital infrastructure: hospitals, schools, communication systems and many homes. This catastrophe for the Western Hemisphere's poorest nation meant a state of emergency for everyone, much aid and assistance would be needed to restore Haiti.On February 22, 2010, Mr. Joe Madison, Ms. Roberte Exantus, Ms. Nicole Lee, and Professor Yanick Rice Lamb all came out to speak at the forum “What happened in Haiti!” conducted in Cramton Auditorium at Howard University. When I arrived at the forum, Joe Madison was speaking about current conditions of Haiti, since he had just visited the country post-earthquake. Madison, often called by the nickname “The Black Eagle” is radio talk show host and activist. He explained that displaced Haitians are being sheltered by tents when hurricane season is starting. Was this a bad idea? Nevertheless, the tents in Haiti get in the way of reconstruction, but we should ask ourselves, what else can the government do for Haiti? Madison explained that the rubble from the earthquake will take up to 3 years to remove. The Haitian government and United States government want to recycle the rubble and use it to repave roads.
The highlight of the forum for me was the discussion of how Haiti became the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere. We praise Haiti for being the first Black republic to achieve independence against the French, but 100 years later, Haiti is in the state of “total embargo”. No imports, no trade—the French destroyed Haiti. Madison also made this point clear in his discussion. The question, “What Happened to Haiti?” is far more complex than the recent destructive earthquake, it involves hundreds of year’s worth of history that left Haiti isolated and ignored. In my opinion the 2010 earthquake only reminded the world that Haiti still exists, because in everyone’s mind it is long forgotten.
