Friday, January 15, 2010

Juxtapositions



"They said, we will serve you if you will get us free from the French. True story. And so, the devil said, okay it's a deal."

Televangelist Pat Robertson, on the January 2010 Haitian earthquake


"Haiti had been terra incognita to most Americans, though it was only six hundred miles away. As the first black republic, founded in 1804 after Toussaint L'Ouverture's revolt in 1791, it had been seen as a frightful omen by the slave states. Southerners spoke with dread of a 'second Haiti' [...]"

George Black, The Good Neighbor


"Thou hast left behind
Powers that will work for thee; air, earth, and skies;
There’s not a breathing of the common wind
That will forget thee; thou hast great allies;
Thy friends are exultations, agonies,
And love, and man’s unconquerable mind."

William Wordsworth, "To Toussaint L'Ouverture"


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