Why is Vodou disparaged in the USA? [View All]

[not systems]

With Haiti in the news I was wondering about the negative attitudes about religions of African origin in the USA.

"Bush accused of supporting Haitian rebels"
http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20040227-055619-8595r

I think back over all the movie images of "zombies" and the endless negativity about any rituals involving blood sacrifice
as I have read exists in Vodou rituals.

This picture from the "I walk with a zombie" from 1943 seems to characterize what I see as a stereotype of vodou that
I believe still exists widely in American popular culture.



I was reading some about the history of our involvement in Haiti which became the first nation founded by slaves in the
Western Hemisphere in 1791 after a successful slave revolt.

I also looked at this interesting image from about collection of Haitian art "Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou."



It depicts "The Anti-Superstition Campaign" the caption reads:

"The Catholic church, aided by the government and the
bourgeoisie, tried to force Vodouists to reject Vodou.
Vodou temples were sacked. cult objects burned, Vodou
priests and initiates arrested and publicly denounced.
Those leading the campaign thought they could suppress
what seemed in the eyes of the entire world to be
primitivism and savagery."

I was interested to read this history and wondered what people thought of this aspect of Haitian culture and how it relates
to US involvement in the current coup.

What do people think of this description of religious persecution at the hands of another religion?

I thought back to Clinton's intervention in Haiti and remembered this picture:




I guess this is about what people knew about Haiti ten years ago.

What do we know now?

Is Satan in this photo?