Haiti became independent in 1804. The first Black republic in the history of the world. Born from the only successful slave revolution in history. And France, whose enslaved people had just won their freedom, sent warships. Not to reconquer. To collect. France demanded 150 million gold francs as compensation. Compensation for the "loss" of the enslaved people who had freed themselves. Compensation for the property that had refused to remain property. Haiti paid. It paid because the alternative was invasion and re-enslavement and international isolation. The indemnity became a chain of loans and refinancing that burdened Haiti for 122 years. The last debt descended from it was extinguished in 1947. And in between? America occupied Haiti for nineteen years. It controlled its finances. It intervened in its politics. It rewrote its constitution. Later, Washington propped up the Duvalier dynasty, sustaining one of Haiti’s most brutal dictatorships whenever it served American interests. And then the economists wondered why Haiti was poor. And the newspapers wrote about Haitian corruption and Haitian dysfunction and Haitian culture. And the word "reparations" was treated as a radical idea. The reparations had already been paid. In the wrong direction. For generations.