238 Appendixesceaselessly fixed on the ocean over which through the centuries has come so much
good and so much evil. The first predators who settled on our countryside brought
with them the cross in one hand and the sword in the other; in doing so they set the
course of our historical destiny. The result of their despoiling passage was the slave
trade, suggested and indirectly instigated by Las Casas.
You will, during these few days, identify the cultural imprint which, through
their long journey, their complex process of adaptation and their protective and
survival mechanisms, the victims of the slave trade clearly and indelibly impressed
on the different fields of human activity in the places and societies where they had
to make their lives.
This is, without doubt, an exciting and constructive task which, while there
may be gaps in our knowledge and many traps to be avoided, is pregnant with unex-
pected discoveries that will provide the impetus for new historical, sociological and
philosophical advances for the benefit of mankind.
While these remarks are not off the subject, they must seem to you who are
precise men of science rather illusory and pointless.
You will have to set down the interactions, extrapolations and end results of
extraordinary adventures lived by our fathers uprooted from Africa and cast into
the outer darkness of slavery.
From the confrontation of your different theories and painstaking research
we shall obtain a clear, precise and informative picture of the impact of the slave
trade and its indelible imprint on the old as well as the new world.
I do not wish to take up more of the precious and unfortunately limited time
which you have to discuss your researches and reflections on so fascinating a subject
as the slave trade, but in this arduous task, you have my warmest wishes for the
successful accomplishment of your task. May you have a happy and fruitful stay in
Haiti.
Raoul PIERRE-LOUIS
Secretary of State
for Education, Haiti