A History of Generosity Betrayed: How Haiti’s Humanity Was Met With Hypocrisy and Scorn Politics
Politics | The Haitian Pulse | July 12, 2025
Haiti has been mocked, maligned, and dismissed as a “failed state” by the very nations and leaders who owe it a profound debt. Chief among them is Donald Trump—the man who once branded Haiti a “sh*thole country” and now seeks to purge Haitians from American soil. Yet few know the irony buried in Trump’s own bloodline: his great-great-grandfather, Johannes Drumpft, found refuge and opportunity in Haiti after the revolution. Haiti extended its hand to the Drumpft family when it had every reason to close its borders to outsiders.
That act of generosity now hangs like a silent indictment over Trump’s every word and deed.
“History has a long memory. Those who betray the hands that fed them will not escape its judgment.”
Haiti Opened Its Doors to Trump’s Ancestors
Long before Donald J. Trump became America’s most divisive president, his family carried a different name: Drumpft. His great-great-grandfather, Johannes Drumpft, was born in Bavaria on March 26, 1789. In the late 18th century, he joined nearly 1,000 German settlers who sailed across the Atlantic and landed in Bombardopolis, Haiti.
These Germans came seeking opportunity. They cultivated coffee, raised families, and when Haiti declared independence in 1804, Emperor Jean‑Jacques Dessalines—the revolutionary giant who crushed Napoleon’s forces—granted them Haitian citizenship.
As Haitian historian Michel Soukar has revealed, Johannes Drumpft prospered in Haiti. He was welcomed, protected, and given a chance to build a life. Only years later did he return to Germany, where he died in Bavaria on November 22, 1835 at the age of 46, leaving behind three children: Maria Katharina Drumpft, Anna Elizabeth Schwinn, and Christian Johannes Trump—the latter becoming the father of Friedrich Trump, Donald Trump’s grandfather.
Haiti gave Donald Trump’s family refuge. And now, Trump repays that legacy by trampling on Haitians.
“Haiti was a land of refuge even for Europeans whose own countries cast them out. That generosity has never been repaid,” said Soukar in a lecture on Haitian-European relations.
Dessalines’ Universal Vision
Western history books often paint Dessalines as a bloodthirsty tyrant. But in truth, he was a visionary who sought to make Haiti a sanctuary for the oppressed—regardless of race.
In his 1804 Declaration of Independence, Dessalines thundered:
“We have dared to be free. Let us be consistent and refuse to share our freedom with those who would enslave us again.”
Yet even as he rejected French tyranny, Dessalines opened Haiti’s doors to Germans, Poles, and others who stood with the enslaved during the revolution. He granted them citizenship and integrated them into Haiti’s new society. He destroyed Napoleon’s armies, yes—but he did not destroy humanity.
As Martiniquan poet Aimé Césaire later wrote in Discourse on Colonialism:
“No race has a monopoly on intelligence, strength, or moral virtue… What colonialism fears most is not the savage, but the man who knows he is his own master.”
This was Dessalines’ Haiti—a land where the oppressed could rise and the oppressors could not return.
Haiti Helped Birth Israel. What Was the Reward?
Few know this: Haiti cast the deciding vote at the United Nations in 1947 to recognize the state of Israel. Without Haiti’s support, Israel might not exist today.
And how was Haiti repaid? With silence as its people suffered. With barriers when its citizens sought refuge. With disdain in international forums.
This is not just ungratefulness—it’s betrayal.
“Haiti has often been asked to lift others up, but when Haitians cry out, the world turns away,” said a diaspora leader during a recent conference in Miami.
Trump’s Hypocrisy Laid Bare
Fast forward to Trump’s America. The same man whose ancestors were sheltered in Haiti now leads the charge to deport Haitian immigrants, strip them of protections like TPS, and bar their children from schools and basic services.
This is not just policy—it’s hypocrisy at its ugliest.
Haitians in the U.S. work tirelessly in hospitals, farms, construction sites, and care homes. They pay taxes, raise families, and contribute to the very economy that Trump claims to defend. Yet he labels them undesirable, criminal, expendable.
It’s almost as if he has forgotten the soil his own bloodline once called home.
“The man whose family Haiti helped survive now vilifies its people with every breath. That is the deepest form of betrayal.”
A Broader Indictment
But Trump is not alone. The world has shown Haiti the same ingratitude.
France extracted 90 million gold francs in “reparations” for lost slaves after independence—plunging Haiti into debt for over a century. The United States occupied Haiti from 1915 to 1934, looting its reserves and leaving behind a legacy of political instability.
Haitian intellectual Anténor Firmin warned of this pattern in his book The Equality of the Human Races:
“Those who deem themselves superior seek only to dominate, never to uplift. True civilization is measured by how it treats the weak.”
And now, as Haiti reels from gang violence and poverty, these same powers close their borders, lecture Haitians about “self-reliance,” and quietly fuel the chaos through arms shipments and economic strangleholds.
“Haiti is not broken; it has been broken repeatedly by those who profit from its pain,” said a Haitian economist in Port-au-Prince.
A Final Call to the Haitian Diaspora
Haiti’s history is not one of failure—it is one of betrayal. And the time has come to say enough.
This is not just about Trump. It is about every global power that has drained Haiti’s wealth and dignity while rewriting history to paint Haitians as the problem.
But here’s what they forget: Haiti will rise again.
The true sons and daughters of Dessalines are taking notes. They are organizing, consolidating resources, and preparing to rebuild their homeland—not as beggars, but as masters of their own destiny.
To the diaspora: you have the power, the capital, and the knowledge. The time for waiting is over.
“When spiders unite, they can tie up a lion.” — Ethiopian proverb
If we do not come together now, Haiti’s enemies will tighten their grip and extinguish the last flickers of our dream.
As Dessalines once said:
“The liberty we have won is not for sale, and no man can take it unless we surrender it.”
The Haitian Pulse delivers fearless, diasporic perspectives that challenge corruption, expose opportunism, and amplify voices too often silenced. Every story we publish is rooted in integrity and an unwavering commitment to a better future for Haiti and its people.
Comments