Obama, Haiti

Dear Mr. President,

Did you know one of the communities housing roughly 50,000 displaced Haitians since the earthquake in 2010 is called Obama? There’s also Canaan and Jerusalem. It’s not clear if the names are cynical or hopeful; I expect the latter but I keep thinking about your 2008 campaign slogan of Hope. 50,000 people living in tents, shanties, self-built houses off the grid—no water, sewage or electricity—and with no help from anyone including their own government. Tens of thousands more refugees have simply disappeared into the hills, out of sight, out of mind. The article in this morning’s paper talks about two US missionary groups who teamed up to build houses for the refugees, about 300 so far at a cost of $6,000 each, but their funds are limited. Their leader is quoted as saying, “I don’t understand, for all the money that came into Haiti, why there aren’t houses everywhere.” Good question. Where did all the money go? I remember you appointing Clinton and Bush II to head aid for Haiti, a much photographed event, billions pledged and the result? No relief to those who needed it but a windfall for a handful of elites and corporate America in a project to turn a pristine mangrove swamp far from the disaster site into a deep-water port. The displaced of Haiti, the displaced of New Orleans, the displaced of every natural and manmade disaster out of sight, conveniently forgotten, lost in a haze of goodwill and empty promises while tens of billions are spent to kill, maim and destroy in the phony war on terror. The antiwar protesters have it right, Mr. President, Swords into Ploughshares, that’s the way to peace. That’s the way to really deserve that Nobel Peace Prize. Not by shredding the Constitution, violating human rights and ignoring the rule of law but by restoring the social contract and respecting life, all life, that unspoken humanity deep in us all that compels us to help our fellow beings in trouble, to not abandon them or forsake them and let them die on their own. A final thought. Yesterday I read that HCA, the big hospital chain is now the model for profitable hospitals. But it has become profitable through aggressive billing practices and cost cutting. One of the cost-cutting measures was to stop treating the uninsured who come to the ER unless they can pay or their life is in immediate danger. And who owns HCA? Romney’s company, Bain Capital, one of three private equity firms that bought the chain in 2006. A portent of things to come.