Honoring Dessalines
Haiti’s founding father, Jean Jacques Dessalines understood the fundamental worth of every human being. He understood that there was one humanity and that all the members of that human family were all equal- Tout Ayisyen, kèlkeswa koulè yo, nanchon yo, se yon sèl ras. Today, 204 years after his death, the scientific community and DNA evidence supports Dessalines’ position. Today we know that a human being’s skin color is just an environmental adaptation, and not a badge of superiority or inferiority.
Dessalines valued everyone except slave-owners. He made slave-owning a crime in Haiti -punishable by death. If you were a slave-owner in Dessalines’ world, you were considered a terrorist who merited capital punishment. Dessalines established security, shared prosperity, and human rights as the top priorities of his government and in doing so, he created a lasting legacy. Today, 204 years later, we can hear echoes of Emperor Dessalines ideas in the voice of former United Nations Secretary General, Mr. Kofi Annan, who before leaving his U. N. position as the leader of our global community offered these parting words:
· In today’s world, we are responsible for each other’s security- This responsibility includes our shared responsibility to protect people from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity…
· We are responsible for each other’s welfare- We have to give all our fellow human beings at least a chance to share in our prosperity.
· Both security and prosperity depend on respect for human rights and the rule of law. If our communities are to live in peace, we must stress (also) what unites us: our common humanity and the need for our human dignity and rights to be protected by law. No community suffers from too much rule of law; many suffer from too little…
Security, Prosperity, Human Rights. The Secretary General reminds us that these are essential principles in our global community. Haiti’s founding father, Emperor Jean-Jacques Dessalines had the wisdom and the vision to establish them as priorities 204 years ago.
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