A Hole By Any Other Name

President Trump allegedly called Haiti and some other countries in the Third World, “Shitholes.” We didn’t hear the president say this and the original source is one of his political enemies, Dick Durbin, who has a reputation for not being the most honest fellow.

The world is in a fake uproar over the alleged comments, with people calling the president a racist and screaming at the sky and finding all kinds of other ways to protest, including projecting the word “Shithole” onto the facade of a Trump hotel.

I believe in giving people the benefit of the doubt and I believe that the burden of proof falls on the accuser. I also believe our illustrious president has given up any claim on the benefit of the doubt because in his first year in office, he has hardly been able to get through two days without sticking his foot in his mouth.

Should people be offended by the comments? I don’t know. I believe that while words have meaning, their power to inspire and especially to offend, lie within the inspired or the offended. Is Haiti a shithole? Can you answer the question? I’ve been to Haiti and it was beautiful. Of course, I went to the tourist peninsula where the poverty and suffering are invisible, where all you see is clear ocean water, white sand and beautiful, towering mountains. I haven’t been to the cities, where garbage piles up in the street and people starve.

I grew up in South Florida and I have known many Haitians over the years. In my experience, they are decent, hardworking people of faith, who are dedicated to their families and communities. I also know that none of them left their homeland because it was an exceptionally beautiful place. I know they did not come to America because they grew weary of living in a utopia. They left for the same reason my family left Cuba. They left because it was a… well, you know.

That being said, I am not the president of the United States. The stock markets don’t rise and fall on my words. I don’t have the means to start wars or drive a nation into debt. I can say what I want and I may offend a few people, but if I’m being honest with myself, I know that no one cares what I say.

The president has accomplished quite a lot in his first year in office. He has cut taxes. He released us from the onerous, and unconstitutional, Obamacare mandate. He has cut regulation. He put ISIS down. If only he’d keep his mouth shut or at least use a TelePrompTer. And for God’s sweet sake, someone take away his phone.

The Clinton Foundation raped Haiti. This is fact. A close friend of mine, who is Haitian, has cried to me about the suffering in his country and how that suffering was exacerbated by the Clinton’s looting of the relief funds. But he suffered quietly. Someone says the president said “shithole,” and he is up in arms. Why do words matter so much? Why are we more outraged over one word than over the exploitation and corruption that have qualified these places to be categorized in such a way? Is it because we hear the word coming from someone we dislike? Is it because it’s easier to feign outrage over a word than to really confront the horrors in the world? Horrors which the United States has had a hand in creating?

Whatever the reason, whatever the emotion, this too, shall pass. We’ll forget all about it soon enough. And then a tweet will appear and that will be the end of that.

Adolfo Jimenez is an author, poet, and blogger. He lives in Hollywood, Florida. He has published eight books, which you can find here.







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