For the better part of two centuries, outsiders have been offering explanations that range from racist to learned-sounding - the supposed inferiority of blacks, the heritage of slavery, overpopulation - for why Haiti remains the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.
Interpretation
The quote critiques the simplistic and often prejudiced views on Haiti's poverty.
Adam Hochschild's quote reflects on the long-standing external perceptions regarding Haiti's socioeconomic struggles. He indicates that these views, ranging from racist to ostensibly educated, fail to capture the complex historical and systemic factors that contribute to the nation's poverty, including the legacy of slavery and colonialism. The quote challenges the reader to look beyond superficial explanations and consider the deeper sociopolitical realities that shape Haiti's current conditions.
In practice
During a social justice seminar discussing global poverty, this quote can serve to highlight the need for nuanced understanding.
Someday, I have no doubt, the dead from today's wars will be seen with a similar sense of sorrow at needless loss and folly as those millions of men who lie in the cemeteries of France and Belgium - and tens of millions of Americans will feel a similar revulsion for the politicians and generals who were so spendthrift with others' lives.
Are you searching for the river of your soul? _x000D_ Then come out of your prison. _x000D_ Leave the stream _x000D_ and join the river _x000D_ that flows into the ocean.
To whom can I expose the urgency of my own passion?…There is nobody—here among these grey arches, and moaning pigeons, and cheerful games and tradition and emulation, all so skilfully organised to prevent feeling alone.
I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity.
The Constitution overrides a statute, but a statute, if consistent with the Constitution, overrides the law of judges. In this sense, judge-made law is secondary and subordinate to the law that is made by legislators.
Marikana should not have happened. We are all to blame, and there are many stakeholders that should take the blame. But taking the blame should mean that we should make sure it never, ever, happens again.
There must be some kind of way out of here,' said the joker to the thief.
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