the crackhouse
09-20-2003, 01:44 PM
I just saw a documentary about this fortress somewhere in Haiti, and it was absolutly fascinating.
There was only local guides who were telling the story of the place and why it has been build.
I didn't see the face of king cristophe, but he is the man who set free all the black slaves who were serving the frenchs in Haiti, 150 years ago.
He asked the citizens to build a huge fortress were he could see the ennemy approach and it was full of like 170 canons ready to fire, on a high mountain.
He said something that really touched me and which is in my sense a hero and humanist sentence :
"The people of Haiti are not pride people. They are not proud enough. I will teach them to be proud, even if I have to teach them by the whip."
That's what he did, and one day the builders told him that they were stopping the work, that they felt like being slaves again. This day, he accepted their demand and commited suicide by a bullet in the heart. His wife exiled to Italy and the citizens took all the rights in the fortress.
Today King Cristophe is a hero and a pride for all the Haiti nation. It was a long time before that I have felt this feeling : the world is wide and I don't know nothing at all. My life can be something and not only a selfish existence.
I only saw a documentary of 20 minutes but I think it will be a good thing if some people bring some more infos, this story is a strong example of what are imperial thoughts and is important for the one who are sons of slavery.
I once felt in such a way when I saw the documentary "When we were kings.", about Mohamed Ali.
There was only local guides who were telling the story of the place and why it has been build.
I didn't see the face of king cristophe, but he is the man who set free all the black slaves who were serving the frenchs in Haiti, 150 years ago.
He asked the citizens to build a huge fortress were he could see the ennemy approach and it was full of like 170 canons ready to fire, on a high mountain.
He said something that really touched me and which is in my sense a hero and humanist sentence :
"The people of Haiti are not pride people. They are not proud enough. I will teach them to be proud, even if I have to teach them by the whip."
That's what he did, and one day the builders told him that they were stopping the work, that they felt like being slaves again. This day, he accepted their demand and commited suicide by a bullet in the heart. His wife exiled to Italy and the citizens took all the rights in the fortress.
Today King Cristophe is a hero and a pride for all the Haiti nation. It was a long time before that I have felt this feeling : the world is wide and I don't know nothing at all. My life can be something and not only a selfish existence.
I only saw a documentary of 20 minutes but I think it will be a good thing if some people bring some more infos, this story is a strong example of what are imperial thoughts and is important for the one who are sons of slavery.
I once felt in such a way when I saw the documentary "When we were kings.", about Mohamed Ali.