45 lines
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45 lines
2.4 KiB
Markdown
*Content Warning: This article contains discussion of disturbing
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subjects around murder and rape*
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The **US Occupation of Haiti** or the '''Rape of Haiti '''was an effort
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by the [USA](United_States_of_America "wikilink") to defend their
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[colonial ambitions](Timeline_of_US_Imperialism "wikilink") in Latin
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America from the expanding [German Empire](German_Empire "wikilink")
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from 1915 to 1934. Haiti became an occupied territory of an American
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Empire, and US soldiers killed, raped and tortured an unknown number of
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people.
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## Crimes Against Humanity
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### Sexual Violence
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During the occupation, the rape and murder of Haitian civilians by US
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soldiers was commonplace. Both officers and soldiers participated in the
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sexual violence, raping adult women and young girls, and sometimes
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holding women as sex slaves. The marines, who administered a group of
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Haitian gendarmes acting as police, were accused of widespread rapes of
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women and girls and of trying to use the gendarmes to find them women to
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use as concubines. Evidence exists that some military higher-ups knew of
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the sexual violence but did little to punish it, condoning it by denying
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it, questioning the virtue of Haitian women, and suggesting that raped
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women had actually consented. A victim blaming mentality existed among
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the occupiers, who thought of Haitian women as being "of easy virtue"—a
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mentality which served to justify and even deny the existence of sexual
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violence.
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Resentment grew on the part of Haitians and led to conflict with the
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occupiers. African-Americans also raised outcry about the marines'
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sexual violence; one reverend said, "in one night alone in …
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Port-au-Prince nine little girls from 8 to 12 years old died from the
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raping of American soldiers." In his 1920 campaign for presidency,
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Warren G. Harding criticized incumbent Woodrow Wilson, referring to the
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occupation as the "Rape of Haiti"; however after he won the election he
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continued the occupation in his own presidency (but remember you have to
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vote and cannot question our elected leaders\!).\[1\] America believes
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in the [rule of law](Rule_of_Law "wikilink") so strongly that they
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forgot to apply it here, and none of the soldiers, officers, commanders,
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politicians and businessmen who helped these digusting crimes against
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humanity were ever charged\! Oopsies daisy\!
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1. [Wikipedia](Wikipedia "wikilink") -
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<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_violence_in_Haiti#United_States_occupation_(1915%E2%80%931934)> |