Category: History & Narrative Power

This post examines the 2026 UN resolution on reparations and the specific resistance from the United States, Israel, and Argentina through the historical lens of Haiti’s 1804 victory and the subsequent 1825 indemnity debt. We explore why the pursuit of external validation for historical crimes often leads to “internalized colonialism” and why true “decolonization of the mind” must begin with self-defined agency rather than waiting for global consensus.

Does a crime become real only when the criminal admits to it?

We are watching a peculiar theater in the halls of the United Nations.

On March 25, 2026, the world stood at a crossroads of conscience.

A resolution was tabled.

It declared the transatlantic trafficking of enslaved Africans a “crime against humanity.”

It called for reparatory justice.

It aimed to heal the structural fractures of a world built on stolen labor and broken bodies.

123 nations said yes.

52 nations looked at their shoes and abstained.

But three nations, the United States, Israel, and Argentina, said no.

The rejection was sharp.

It was calculated.

It was a reminder that the colonial mentality is not a relic of the past; it is a contemporary management strategy for the global narrative.

The Mirror of 1804

To understand this “no,” we must look back to 1804.

Haiti did not ask for a resolution to be free.

The ancestors did not wait for a committee to vote on their humanity.

They seized it.

They broke the most powerful army of the era and declared a truth that the world was not ready to hear: that Black life is inherently sovereign.

That was the “existential” battle.

It was raw.

It was bloody.

It was successful.

But the empire does not like to lose.

When the empire cannot win on the battlefield, it retreats to the ledger.

It moves from the bayonet to the bank.

This brings us to the ghost of 1825.

The Indemnity Trap

In 1825, France returned to Haitian shores, not with soldiers, but with warships and a bill.

King Charles X offered “recognition.”

He offered to “acknowledge” Haiti’s independence.

The price? 150 million gold francs.

This was the “Independence Debt.”

It was a ransom for a freedom that had already been won.

The colonizer “acknowledged” the crime of their own defeat, but they found a way to make the victim pay for that recognition.

It was the “double debt.”

Haiti paid for 122 years.

Haiti paid until 1947.

When we look at the recent UN vote, the ghost of 1825 is haunting the room.

The resistance from the US, Israel, and Argentina is a signal.

They fear the legal weight of jus cogens.

They fear that admitting the crime creates a financial and moral obligation they are not prepared to meet.

They are still trying to manage the narrative of who owes what to whom.

The Psychology of Permission

Why do we wait for the “no” to become a “yes”?

This is where the decolonization of the mind becomes critical.

When we seek reparations solely through the legal frameworks of those who benefited from the theft, we are often asking for permission to be whole.

We are operating under internalized colonialism.

The belief that our worth must be verified by the very systems that denied it.

The belief that justice is something granted, rather than something reclaimed.

In my book, Alike Regardless: This Is Where It Began, I talk about the necessity of self-reflection to find unity.

“The courage to see ourselves outside the lens of the oppressor is the first step toward true liberation.” (Duroseau, Alike Regardless, Chapter 2).

We must have the courage to define our own wholeness.

The courage to validate our own history.

The courage to exist without the master’s signature on our birth certificate.

The Meaning of Decolonization

What is the decolonization meaning in this context?

It is more than just a political process.

It is a psychological revolution.

It is how to decolonize your mind in a world that still insists on your inferiority through silent abstentions and loud “no” votes.

Decolonization psychology teaches us that the trauma of the past is stored in the way we view our future possibilities.

If we believe we are “broken” until a check is signed or an apology is whispered, we remain tethered to the 1825 mindset.

We remain in a state of waiting.

The US and its allies voted “no” because they know that apologies have consequences.

They know that the “colonial mentality” requires a hierarchy of worth.

If they admit the scale of the crime, they admit the illegitimacy of the wealth built upon it.

They are protecting their myth.

We must protect our truth.

A Call for Mental Liberation

We do not need a “guarantee of non-repetition” from those who haven’t changed their worldview.

We provide our own guarantee by being unrecognizable to the systems that once owned us.

We do this by reclaiming our language.

We do this by honoring our Ancestry, Legacy & Memory.

We do this by understanding that the decolonization of the mind is a daily practice, not a destination.

The UN vote is a mirror.

It shows us exactly where the world stands.

It shows us who is ready for a new humanism and who is still clinging to the wreckage of the 19th century.

Do not be discouraged by the “no.”

Be clarified by it.

The resistance of the powerful is the highest compliment to the truth of the marginalized.

It means they hear us.

It means they are afraid of what happens when we stop asking for permission.

Final Word

History is not a straight line; it is a circle that we must break.

The 1825 indemnity was a trap designed to keep Haiti in a state of perpetual “becoming.”

The modern refusal to acknowledge reparatory justice is the same trap, just with better lighting and more expensive suits.

Break the trap.

Decolonize your mind.

Our wholeness is not a line item in a UN budget.

It is our birthright.

It is time to stop looking for our reflection in the eyes of those who refuse to see us.

Pick up a copy of Alike Regardless: This Is Where It Began to start your own journey of self-reflection and liberation.

The revolution will not be voted on.

It will be lived.

It will be felt.

It will be ours.

For more deep dives into history, identity, and the path to mental freedom, visit the Yvener Duroseau website or reach out for media and speaking inquiries.