From the night we met Sarah Palin at the Republican Convention, it was clear that she was willing to use and abuse people. I was offended as I watched her parading Trig before thousands of people at the convention, holding him facing outward, as a prop or trophy. Some people thought I was being too harsh in my criticism. After all he was her child. The rest of her children were there. My response was that he should have been home in bed. It didn’t take courage for her to give birth to a special needs child. The courage that would be necessary, having made a decision to give birth to a special needs child, is the courage to provide the daily care, support, health care, education, and love this child would need for the rest of his life. Palin has repeatedly demonstrated that she lacks that courage. She used Trig. Now she uses the tragedy of the people of Haiti for her political advantage.

Sarah Palin is a BIGOT. When I read the internet story about Palin making reference to the President as “Sambo” I believed it, but wondered if it was true. http://www.laprogressive.com/election-reform-campaigns/alaskans-speak-in-a-frightened-whisper-palin-is-%E2%80%9Cracist-sexist-vindictive-and-mean%E2%80%9D/. The more I learned about Palin’s attitudes the more outraged I became that anyone so racist could ever be so close to the White House. Bishop Dave Thomas, senior pastor of an Anchorage-based African-American church, reported that the Palin administration excluded black business owners from the Alaskan oil and gas pipeline board. Blacks were not allowed to even go into the meetings to seek contracts for the pipeline. Palin distinguished herself as the first Alaskan Governor to fail to recognize the Juneteenth celebration of the emancipation proclamation. She didn’t hire any Blacks while Governor. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/max-blumenthal/how-sarah-palin-has-exclu_b_134403.html.

In case her history in office was not sufficiently clear, Palin made it painfully obvious that she supports racism in America. She has gratuitously defended Dr. Laura’s use of the “N” word eleven times on national radio, even though Dr. Laura was not a Palin supporter. http://malialitman.wordpress.com/2010/08/21/palin-respects-those-who-dont-respect-her/.

The tragic earthquake in Haiti occurred almost one year ago, on Jan 12, 2010. It was a 7.0 scale quake. More than 250,000 people died in the disaster, and thousands were left injured and homeless. The devastation for the people of Haiti was exaggerated by the poverty that plagued the country before the disaster. Most Haitians live on $2 or less per day. Before the quake Haiti only had 50% literacy and more than 80% of college graduates from Haiti have emigrated, mostly to the United States. Poverty has forced at least 225,000 Haitian children to work as restavecs (unpaid household servants); the United Nations considers this to be a modern-day form of slavery.

Half of the children in Haiti are unvaccinated and just 40% of the population has access to basic health care. Even before the 2010 earthquake, nearly half the causes of deaths have been attributed to HIV/AIDS, respiratory infections, meningitis and diarrheal diseases, including cholera and typhoid, according to the World Health Organization. Ninety percent of Haiti’s children suffer from waterborne diseases and intestinal parasites. Cases of tuberculosis (TB) in Haiti are more than ten times as high as those in other Latin American countries. Some 30,000 people in Haiti suffer each year from malaria.
Most people living in Haiti are at a high risk for major infectious diseases. Food or waterborne diseases are common. Hepatitis A and E, and typhoid fever, dengue fever and malaria are just a few of the common diseases in Haiti. Roughly three-fourths of Haitian households lack running water. Unsafe water— along with inadequate housing and unsanitary living conditions, contribute to the high incidence of infectious diseases. There is a chronic shortage of health care personnel, and hospitals lack resources, a situation that became readily apparent after the January 2010 earthquake. Thus Haiti faced overwhelming problems before the earthquake. After the earthquake, the devastation seemed insurmountable. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haiti#2010_earthquake

Over the last year many people and organizations have attempted to provide aid. Several international appeals were launched within days of the earthquake, including the Disasters Emergency Committee in the United Kingdom, Young Artists for Haiti (Canada) and Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief based in the USA, which was a global effort to raise relief funds by way of a charity telethon held on January 22, 2010. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haiti#2010_earthquake. Thousands of people have made personal journeys to Haiti to increase awareness, to lend aid, to provide hands-on support, to provide medical care, and to address the multitude of problems facing the country. To name just a few, consider the work of Bill Clinton and the video he made just days after the disaster. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdnUf1cssMc. President Obama encouraged the American people to lend aid and support the day after the deadly earthquake. http://www.tonic.com/article/letter-from-the-white-house/. The President of the Rotarians visited Haiti in February and urged Rotarians to help. http://www.rotary.org/en/mediaandnews/news/pages/100305_news_haiti_trip.aspx. Ministers have dedicated themselves to the relief effort. The United Methodist Church has raised forty million dollars . http://new.gbgm-umc.org/umcor/newsroom/releases/archives2010/volunteerteamsaidinhaiti/. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have donated $1,000,000 to Doctors Without Borders. Golfer Wyclef Jean donated $3,000,000 to Haiti charity. http://www.foxnews.com/topics/haiti-angelina-jolie.htm. Sean Penn has devoted over 6 months of his life working in Haiti to make a difference for the people there. http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6670179n&tag=related;photovideo. Even Katie Couric did a special three months after the devastation. http://www.metacafe.com/watch/cb-xT_BNf4neFxvYKH3veMxKG0_3Zo4XSZN/katie_couric_back_in_haiti.

So why is Sarah Palin making a trip to Haiti almost an entire year after the tragedy? If she were to actually contribute to the relief efforts I would applaud her efforts. However her history of racism and bigotry suggest that her goals are not charitable. The timing of the visit, after the November elections, and before she announces her bid for the Presidency is transparent. The fact that she held a “press conference” in Haiti, but didn’t answer questions, and failed to demonstrate any insight into the challenges that need to be addressed is an indication that this visit was motivated by political aspirations instead of a charitable spirit. The majority of the people filmed around Sarah Palin were reporters instead of Haitians. Even though the organization Palin was there to support, Samaratin’s Purse, has been in Haiti since the day after the quake, Palin is just now visiting. The time the people of Haiti were in urgent need of help was immediately after the earthquake, not immediately before an announcement that Sarah Palin will run for President of the United States.

Palin explained that her reason for not answering questions was that the visit was not “political” in nature. Wait a minute. She doesn’t answer questions of reporters in the United States when the reporters want to ask questions that ARE political in nature! Answering questions about the tragic conditions in Haiti would be the best way Sarah Palin could raise awareness. Was she was unwilling to answer questions about why was she there? Was she afraid of appearing clueless about the tragedy in Haiti? Was she afraid one of those pesky reporters would ask her if she knew if Haiti was a country or a continent? In spite of the fact that she has spent the last two years advocating less governmental intervention in American lives, and balancing the budget, she has suggested that the government SHOULD do more. Sarah Palin specifically said that “if some politicians” would visit Haiti they would have an increased understanding of the need for a military air lift of supplies. Thus, in a “non-political” press conference, Sarah Palin, in a five minute speech, provided no insight into the problems of Haiti, but criticized the American government for not devoting more resources to help people in another country, who have skin color the same as that of people she has disparaged. There were more reporters around Sarah Palin than any Haitians filmed around her. It was “PalinTV” that put the interview on the internet. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9AaJOK2Xk8.

Nothing was mentioned by Palin about a fellow Alaskan, Christa Brelsford, who was in Haiti at the time of the earthquake. Did Palin know that Christa’s story was one of charitable efforts in Haiti before the quake, incredible courage when faced with life threatening injury, and a Haitian who saved her life? Did Palin even know who Christa was or that she was badly injured as a result of the quake? Did Sarah Palin know, or care, that Christa suffered a broken tibia, gangrene, and two breaks of her fibula and that she had been trapped by huge slabs of concrete? Was Sarah Palin even aware of the struggle Christa had to endure to learn to walk on her prosthetic foot following the amputation? Maybe what bothered Palin was the hug Christa gave the young man who rescued her after being pinned underneath huge concrete slabs?

The young man who helped get Christa the medical care necessary to save her life, had black skin. It seems that if Palin had spent much time in Alaska over the last year she would have known that the parents of Christa were so grateful for the efforts of Weson in saving the life of their daughter, that they brought Weson back to Anchorage to get an education. If Palin were still the Governor of Alaska she would be in a position to gain national attention for “Christa’s Angels” which is Christa’s initiative to support reconstruction efforts in Haiti. Without ever leaving Alaska, Sarah Palin could have made a significant impact on relief efforts. Instead Sarah Palin has once again, exploited the tragedy of others for her political benefit. What makes conduct even more offensive is the fact that she is a bigot. Weson saved Christa’s life. Christa saved his. Palin has no apparent interest in the lives of Alaskans. Her focus is clear. The only person she intends to help is herself, and she is willing to use anybody available for her political advantage. Christa and Weson are heroes and deserve our admiration. Palin is not a hero. The word “charity” is not in her dictionary of made up-words.

If anyone reading this blog would like to make a charitable donation to Christa’s Angles, go to www.christasangels.org or call (866)-424-8403 Contributions are tax deductible.