1917–1922: (Haitians Predisposed to Self-Endangerment — US Officials Constructing a Discourse That Haitians Did Not Know How to Move Through Their Own Street…

1917–1922: (Haitians Predisposed to Self-Endangerment — US Officials Constructing a Discourse That Haitians Did Not Know How to Move Through Their Own Streets, Several Months After Adirenng’s Case Joseph Jean Hit by Captain Mayer’s Horse, the Investigator Asking Whether the Natives Seemed Careless Compared to People in the States, Witnesses Attributing It to the Man’s Own Carelessness, the Inquiry Concluding Port-au-Princians Were Predisposed to Personal Endangerment, In Adirenng’s Case the Court Presenting Medical Records to Insinuate She Was Mentally Unwell — Road Accidents Functioning as Violent Referendums on Haitian Bodies and Ways of Being): Several reports from automobile and horse accidents provide evidence that US officials generally endorsed the idea that Haitians did not know how to move through their own streets. In a case several months after Adirenng’s, a pedestrian named Joseph Jean was struck by a glancing blow from Captain Mayer’s horse. The leading investigator asked whether the natives of Port-au-Prince seemed careless of their persons compared to people in the States — the question itself encoding the answer. The witnesses attributed the accident to the man’s own carelessness. The inquiry concluded that Port-au-Princians were predisposed to personal endangerment and negligible concern for their own bodies. In Adirenng’s case, the court even presented medical records to insinuate she was mentally unwell. Though articulated as unavoidable, these road accidents were maddening and violent referendums on Haitian bodies and ways of being.