Joe Biden Saying Haiti 'Doesn't Matter' in 1994 Clip Resurfaces After Moïse Assassination
The White House described the Wednesday assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse as "horrific [and] tragic," but it's 27-year-old remarks President Joe Biden made about Haiti that gained attention as the U.S. vows to provide assistance to its Caribbean neighbor.
Speaking with PBS host Charlie Rose in 1994, the then-Delaware Senator addressed claims that he could not care less about Haitian foreign policy issues because the country's residents are predominately Black. The racially charged discussion from nearly three decades ago resurfaced Wednesday on social media as Haitian officials and international aid workers scramble in response to Moïse's assassination and the ensuing chaos in Port-au-Prince.
This is one of the most asinine things I've heard this man say - and there's been quite a bit of it. https://t.co/s5RmWt8ph3
— Sana Saeed (@SanaSaeed) July 7, 2021
Biden, who was chairman or ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for 12 years, was asked in 1994 to address his supposed lack of interest in helping majority-Black countries including Rwanda and Haiti. On the other hand, his critics claimed, he was very honed in on White European crises in places like Bosnia.
Biden told Rose that a "leading editor of a paper in the Delaware Valley" had reporters talk to him about Haiti just prior to the show, asking the then-senator, "Why is Biden so concerned about Bosnia and not about Haiti? Is it because Blacks are involved in Haiti? Blacks are what's at stake in Haiti? And in Bosnia, they are European Whites?"
Biden scoffed at the suggestion of racism and instead said Haiti was simply not a pressing matter of concern in comparison to Bosnia, where he said another world war could be started.
"If Haiti, a godawful thing to say, but if Haiti just quietly sunk into the Caribbean or just rose up 300 feet, it wouldn't matter a whole lot to our interests," Biden said.
Biden also spoke in 1994 with Penny Bender, the Washington correspondent for the Gannett News Service, telling her that death and poverty were equal tragedies in both Rwanda and Bosnia. But he noted the potential effects of the Bosnian war were worse for the U.S. in the 1990s because of the possibility the region could devolve into a political powder keg similar to the events which led to World War One.
"Wherever there are bombs, wherever there are nuclear weapons…there is much greater attention," Biden said.
In January 2018, former President Donald Trump reportedly referred to Haiti and African nations as "sh*thole countries," prompting accusations of racism.
Winston J. Allen, a research associate at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies think tank in Washington, told Bender at the time, "People don't normally want to deal with poor people because their problems are so complex. And the poor people around the world are usually Black."
Biden offered a very brief response to Moïse's assassination Wednesday, telling reporters outside the White House, "We need a lot more information but it's very worrisome about the state of Haiti."
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki offered a lengthier statement through CNN Wednesday: "The message to the people of Haiti is this is a tragic tragedy. And we stand ready and stand by them to provide any assistance that's needed."
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/joe-biden-saying-haiti-doesnt-matter-in-1994-clip-resurfaces-after-mo-c3-afse-assassination/ar-AALTio6
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Joe Biden in 1994: "If Haiti—a God-awful thing to say—if Haiti just quietly sunk into the Caribbean or rose up 300 feet, it wouldn't matter a whole lot to our interests."
https://t.co/s5RmWt8ph3