Last week, during a deep and spirited conversation with a friend, we landed on a topic that sits heavy in the heart but is often tiptoed around—slavery and human nature.
My friend said something I’ve heard before: that human nature is cyclical, that injustices like slavery have always existed and will continue unless someone disrupts the pattern. And because of this, we shouldn’t place blame—it’s simply human nature.
But what does it mean to invoke “human nature” when talking about something as brutal, as inhumane, and as historically distinct as the transatlantic slave trade?
Human Nature: A Convenient Escape from Accountability?
I understand the logic. Truly. History shows a pattern of exploitation. But saying “this is just how people are” feels more like a way out than a way forward.
Human nature isn’t a fixed blueprint. It evolves. It’s shaped, stretched, transformed by culture, belief, and courage. It expresses cruelty and violence, yes—but also resistance, empathy, and transformation. We have seen that change is possible—because people made it happen. Abolitionists, rebels, organizers, and artists have all disrupted cycles of injustice.
A Personal Memory: Reparations and Denial
I once dated a Jewish businessman—briefly. We were having dinner one night and the topic of reparations came up. Calmly and confidently, he said, “Black people can’t get reparations the way Jewish people did. It’s not the same.”
That statement stayed with me. Not because it was new—but because of how casually it was said. Like a settled fact. Like our pain wasn’t even worth debating.
But we are worth the debate. We’re worth the reckoning.
Reparations: Who Receives Them and Who Doesn’t?
History shows that some groups have been acknowledged and compensated:
– Holocaust survivors received reparations from Germany.
– Japanese Americans were paid for internment.
– Indigenous peoples in Canada and Australia have received public apologies and financial settlements (though far from enough).
But Black people—descendants of enslaved Africans—are still waiting. Somehow, there’s always a reason why we must keep waiting.
They say, “Everyone practiced slavery.” But:
– Not everyone built entire economies off it.
– Not everyone turned humans into generational capital.
– Not everyone forced newly freed people to pay back their oppressors.
The Haitian Example: Independence Came with a Bill
Today is Haitian Flag Day. A day of pride, strength, and history.
But let us never forget that Haiti—the first Black republic, the first to break free from slavery, the first to aid every nation seeking liberation from bondage—was forced to pay 150 million francs to France as compensation for “lost property.”
Yes, you read that right. The descendants of the enslaved had to pay their oppressors for their own freedom.
That debt crippled Haiti’s economy and is one of the root causes of the country’s long-standing poverty and instability.
Lynching and Injustice Are Not Ancient History
We often hear people say, “That was a long time ago.” But lynching in America was happening well into the 1970s. Some of those lynchers are still alive. So are the mothers and fathers of the victims.
And the systems that allowed those acts—law enforcement, courts, churches and communities—have not all vanished.
Take the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, for example. Black men were denied treatment for decades just so scientists could study the effects of untreated syphilis. This happened well into the 1970s, without consent or ethical standards.
Why ‘Human Nature’ Is Not an Excuse
Using “human nature” to justify horrors like slavery or racial injustice isn’t just dismissive and lazy—it’s dangerous.
Because behind that argument is a deeper message: “Nothing will change unless someone does something different.”
Well—we are those someones.
We are the cycle-breakers, the question-askers, the memory-keepers.
Final Thoughts: Haitian Flag Day Calls Us to Remember and Resist
So on this Haitian Flag Day, let’s not just celebrate the beauty of the bicolor flag. Let us also remember the cost of that freedom and the ways in which oppression rebranded itself through economics, policies, and silence.
Mwen pap dakò. Sa pa ase.
This isn’t just history. It’s ongoing.
And if we care about justice—real, soul-deep justice—then we have to challenge every excuse that says we don’t deserve it.
Until next time,
Happy Haitian Flag Day.
Xoxo, JPP
