This story is particularly troubling. Ten white missionaries, from Idaho no less, went down to Haiti. In the chaos and the destruction, they just grabbed some young Haitian children and tried to leave the country with them. They were found out trying to cross the border into the Dominician Republic. Now, they are stuck in a Haitian prison, cloaking themselves in the "Lord's work."

While I don't believe these folks were actually engaging in human trafficking, as very often happens in poor countries. Whether it's for sex or body parts (check out this, this, and this on the organ trafficking business.). But human trafficking and organ trafficking are very real issues. And they are not the only ones.

What really gets me is the sheer arrogance, the blindness of white privilege and the blatant ignorance of "so-called" Christians. Even if the children were in fact orphans, and it appears that some weren't, who on Earth would waltz into a country, ignore their laws, and honestly think they could just grab the nearest babies they found and walk away with them?

The answer: White American Christians in a poor and most likely black foreign country.

They would have never tried this crap in Croatia, or any other predominately white and poor country in the world. It's as if the history of slavery and the history of European colonialism has been entirely missed. Or maybe it hasn't and that's the real problem.

Sure, there must be something to say for the pure motives here. These folks appear as if they were motivated by their desire to save children, not sell them into prostitution. You can argue that they simply wanted to give these children a better life. But where? And with whom? Removing a child from their culture, their family, without the consent of that family, sounds less like Christian empathy than "soul snatching." And what? They were just going to cart these kids back to the U.S. without birth certificates or papers? Put them into the U.S. adoption system and pray that another good "Christian" family adopted them?

Maybe it's a good time to examine exactly how Haiti became such a poverty-struck country in the first place, wrought by corruption, delapidated infrastructure, disease and malnutrition? It is somewhat due to the same white savior complex from which these fools in Idaho appear to suffer.

The U.S. military took down president Aristide, deported him to Central Africa, and took over Haiti with hired thugs and death squads, then used the UN and the NGO squads to deflect charges of terror, racism and imperialism. That we did, by cloaking ourselves in altruism and "foreign aid." The U.N. remains there, but not to protect Haitian rights and the sovereignty, but to clear the road for corporations that build sweatshops, trans-national corporations that rape the countyr of its gold, iridium, copper, oil and diamonds. And of course the oil companies there do whatever the hell they please. That we did, by cloaking ourselves in free trade, and global economic development initiatives.

When that massive earthquake hit the country, we were all enthralled by the level of poverty. We shook in our boots at the thought of drinking your own urine in order to survive. And one of our sanctified "white saviors," Pat Robertson, tells the world the disaster in Haiti has nothing to do with corporate, greed, colonialism, or our constant meddling in the governing of other countries. No, it's because the Haitian people made a pact with the devil. Nice.

And now the white saviours have been charged .....

The 10 Americans detained in Haiti after getting caught trying to smuggle 33 Haitian kids across the border have been formally charged with child abduction. The Haitian Deputy Prosecutor told the Americans that their case was being sent to an investigative judge who" ... can free you but he can also continue to hold you for further proceedings," according to Reuters.

The Americans continue to deny wrongdoing, claiming they were merely trying to help kids orphaned by the earthquake, or abandoned by their families in its aftermath. Laura Silsby, who heads the group, said to AFP, "We came here literally to just help the children. Our intentions were good."

But according to the aid group now caring for the children, many of the kids had parents who were still alive. On the Today Show Tuesday, the group's CEO stated that parents were coming to reclaim their children.

Several of the parents claimed that the group told them their kids would be attending school in the Dominican Republic, and would be free to return to Haiti to visit their parents. In fact, the group planned to transport the kids to an orphanage in the neighboring country, where they would be in line for adoption.

http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/2010/02/04/10-u-s-baptists-charged-with-child-abduction-in-haiti/