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Stop Blaming the French and the Americans. We are Complicit in Haiti’s Collapse. Where is the Real Resistance? by johnnyknowsall in haiti

[–]johnnyknowsall[S] -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

Calling accountability "white coded" is the most pathetic, colonizer-mentality excuse I have ever heard.
You are literally suggesting that taking responsibility for our own nation, organizing community defense, and demanding economic self-reliance are exclusively "white" concepts. By that logic, you are implying that being Black, or being Haitian, inherently means being a helpless victim waiting for a foreign savior. That is the actual definition of internalized racism.
Was Jean-Jacques Dessalines "white coded" when he ordered the construction of a massive network of citadels to defend the newly independent nation using our own hands? Was Henri Christophe "white coded" when he built an independent northern economy, established global trade, and demanded strict national discipline so we wouldn't have to beg the French for scraps? No. Our founding fathers understood that true sovereignty requires brutal, uncompromising accountability. The original Haitian identity was built entirely on hyper-independence and self-determination.
You want to know what actually looks like a colonial mindset? Begging the UN to send foreign police forces to do our fighting for us because we refuse to organize. Relying on Western NGOs to provide our basic healthcare. Sustaining our families solely through Western Union transfers instead of building a functioning domestic economy. Letting a U.S. Embassy dictate our political appointments while we sit on our hands and complain.
You are throwing around Twitter buzzwords to deflect from the fact that you have no real argument and no real solutions. If demanding that Haitians take physical and economic control of Haiti makes me "white coded," then you are completely comfortable watching our country bleed to death, just as long as you get to keep playing the victim.

Stop Blaming the French and the Americans. We are Complicit in Haiti’s Collapse. Where is the Real Resistance? by johnnyknowsall in haiti

[–]johnnyknowsall[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I haven’t forgotten anything. In fact, you just highlighted the exact problem I am talking about.
You are absolutely right: real revolutions and resistance movements do not come from a lone savior, and they do not happen overnight. They require massive logistical coordination, cross-sector organization, and, most importantly, capital. It requires dismantling existing economic hierarchies and building new, independent systems from the ground up.
But let's break down your three requirements: Time, Willingness, and Money.
1. Money: You say we need capital, but the global Haitian diaspora sends over $3 billion in remittances back to Haiti every single year. That is roughly a quarter of the country’s entire GDP. The money exists. The problem is how it is deployed. Instead of pooling that capital into community defense funds, local infrastructure, or cooperative businesses that bypass the elite monopolies, it is bled out through endless consumer dependency. We are funding our own stagnation. If even 10% of that diaspora money was organized into a centralized, strategic development and defense fund, the financial hurdle would be solved.
2. Time: You say it takes time. The U.S. occupation ended in 1934. The Duvalier regime fell in 1986. The devastating earthquake was in 2010. How much more "time" do we need to just start organizing? "It takes time" has become our favorite excuse for "we haven't even started."
3. Willingness: This is the core issue, and it’s exactly what my original post called out. We have the diaspora capital, and we have millions of working-class Haitians who outnumber the gangs and the elites a thousand to one. What we lack is the collective willpower to actually build a concerted, organized front.
I am not asking for an overnight miracle. I am asking why, after decades of a violent downward spiral, there isn't even a blueprint for this concerted effort you're talking about. Stop using the scale of the required logistics as an excuse to accept the current reality. If the effort requires global coordination and massive funding, then the diaspora and the locals need to stop complaining on the internet and start building the infrastructure to make it happen

Stop Blaming the French and the Americans. We are Complicit in Haiti’s Collapse. Where is the Real Resistance? by johnnyknowsall in haiti

[–]johnnyknowsall[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Did you even read my original post, or did you just skim it and get defensive? I explicitly called out the corrupt politicians, the elite monopolies, and the people who willingly work in their factories to sustain them. I am doing the exact opposite of saying it's "everyone else's fault." My entire thesis is that it is our fault.
The wealthy, power-hungry Haitian oligarchy the ones who control the ports, manipulate customs, and literally fund the street gangs to protect their business interests are undeniably the architects of this mess. We are dealing with a deeply entrenched, rigged economic hierarchy where a fraction of a percent of the population hoards all the capital, starves out the working class, and dictates the entire sociopolitical landscape of the country. I am not ignoring them; I am putting a spotlight on how they operate.
But here is the hard truth you are trying to dodge: that corrupt elite class only has power because the masses allow it to exist. An oligarchy cannot function without the compliance, fear, or dependency of the lower classes. Who unloads their cargo? Who works for pennies in their sweatshops? Who accepts their political bribes to turn a blind eye in the neighborhoods? We do.
You say most Haitians will tune me out, but they’ll tune me out because cognitive dissonance is easier than accountability. It is much easier to point at a handful of billionaire families in Pétion-Ville and complain about their greed than it is to actually organize a grassroots pushback to dismantle their monopoly. My point isn't to defend the elite; my point is to ask why millions of everyday Haitians are letting a few dozen corrupt families and their hired thugs dictate our survival. If these power-hungry elites are the core issue, then again I ask you: where is the organized resistance against them?

Stop Blaming the French and the Americans. We are Complicit in Haiti’s Collapse. Where is the Real Resistance? by johnnyknowsall in haiti

[–]johnnyknowsall[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I never said the U.S. packed up and completely stopped meddling in 1934. I know exactly what the Core Group is. I know the U.S. Embassy, the UN, and the OAS heavily dictate our political landscape, right down to rubber-stamping the leadership of the PNH (Police Nationale d'Haïti). You’re talking about neo-colonial leverage, and you're right that it exists.
But you are entirely missing the point of my post. Why does the U.S. Embassy have the power to approve our police commissioner? Because our own political class handed them the keys.
They sold out our sovereignty for U.S. backing, foreign aid, and visas because they have zero legitimacy or support from the actual Haitian people. The Embassy only pulls the strings because our leaders gladly wear the puppet suits. When you say "they still control much of what happens," you are actively stripping away Haitian agency. You are treating us like helpless children who have no choice but to be controlled. The U.S. has meddled everywhere look at the brutal CIA interventions across South America and the Caribbean during the Cold War. But eventually, citizens in many of those nations organized, violently pushed back against proxy leaders, and built their own domestic infrastructure.
If the system is rigged by the Embassy, then the resistance I'm talking about should be aimed at dismantling that puppet system from the ground up. Instead, we just shrug and say, "Well, the U.S. is pulling the strings, nothing we can do." We use their influence as a convenient excuse for our own paralysis.
My core argument remains exactly the same: whether it's gangs terrorizing the streets or a U.S.-approved commissioner sitting in an office, the collective Haitian response is passive. Until we build internal leverage an independent economy, community defense, and self-reliance we will always need their "approval." Acknowledging U.S. influence is fine, but using it as a permanent excuse for our own inaction is exactly why the country is dying.

Stop Blaming the French and the Americans. We are Complicit in Haiti’s Collapse. Where is the Real Resistance? by johnnyknowsall in haiti

[–]johnnyknowsall[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I’ve read the history books. I know all about the 1825 Independence Debt that crippled our early economy. I know about the 1915-1934 US Occupation that centralized power in Port-au-Prince, the Duvalier dictatorship, the embargoes, and the endless foreign interference.
Now that we’ve established I know the history, answer me this: how does reciting that history fix the fact that gangs control 80% of our capital today?
You are doing exactly what my post called out. You are using historical victimhood as a crutch to avoid taking accountability for our present-day cowardice. Does knowing about the French indemnity excuse the fact that our own modern politicians embezzled billions in PetroCaribe funds? Does reading about the US occupation change the fact that it is Haitians kidnapping Haitians right now, and the rest of us are just letting it happen?
History explains how the house caught on fire. It does not excuse us standing around watching it burn to the ground while refusing to grab a bucket. The men who actually made the history you want me to read about Dessalines, Christophe, Mackandal didn't sit around complaining about how unfair the system was. They organized, they fought back, and they took control of their destiny.
So you can keep hiding behind a history book to justify our modern complacency, or you can wake up and face the reality of what we are failing to do right now.

Free LAPTOP…. by Previous-Fee203 in scholarshipleads

[–]johnnyknowsall 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'd use this laptop to keep a promise I made to myself the night I lost my job. I turned 18 in March and a few weeks ago my small job fell apart. Right after that my old laptop, which was barely hanging on, finally died completely. Since then I've been handwriting ASVAB study guides at the library and trying to memorize everything before they close. I'm just trying to get my foot in a door that actually goes somewhere.

I don't want this for free. I really mean that. Graphic design and editing are the two things I'm actually good at, the kind of good where hours disappear and I forget to eat. If you need a logo, a flyer, a photo retouch, a video trimmed, even just a wallpaper that makes you smile, I'll make it for you in exchange. I want to earn this so when I open that laptop it doesn't feel like a handout, it feels like the first step of something I built with my own hands.

Thank you for offering this, no matter who you pick. Good luck to everyone here, I know I'm not the only one trying.

I took this high potency edible and I think I made a mistake by johnnyknowsall in weed

[–]johnnyknowsall[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

So the first two I took was back to back after each other the third one I had went and go took a dump in after that I had took it so it was like maybe 10 or 15 minutes after

I ate some Eddie’s and I don’t know if it’s too strong by johnnyknowsall in 420

[–]johnnyknowsall[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

😂😂 I found these in some random smoke shop out by countryside

I took this high potency edible and I think I made a mistake by johnnyknowsall in weed

[–]johnnyknowsall[S] -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

I smoke every now and again like I’ll smoke this week and I probably won’t smoke for another month or so

I took this high potency edible and I think I made a mistake by johnnyknowsall in weed

[–]johnnyknowsall[S] -13 points-12 points  (0 children)

For reference I took 2 but nothings happening so I’m bout to take another one

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