can we as americans imagine paying england for the right to be independent? for winning a revolution? but france required it and we, the united states, forced that payment on haiti. a debt that took over a century to pay, paid to a european superpower that had colonialized and enslavinged them -- enslaved them, in order to profit from their labor and the resources of the land. like many european nations, the wealth and ease of living enjoyed by the french today were built at the expense of haiti, haitian people, and many other colonialized areas, affecting many generations. the continuous and often gross exploitation that organically accompanied colonial rule in places like haiti, along with the results that followed is something that is often ignored. we want to forget that that happened. we want to just look at this state that they are in now and not think about what brought them there, how we may have led to that exploitation as well. it is rarely acknowledged and almost never remediated. the nation of haiti, with its past, current and ongoing dilemmas, is