PAT ROBERTSON’S COMMENTS ON HAITI EARTHQUAKE SPARK PROTESTS

"Something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it," said Robertson on the Christian Broadcasting Network's "The 700 Club." "They were under the heel of the French. You know, Napoleon III, or whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, we will serve you if you'll get us free from the French. True story. And so, the devil said, okay it's a deal."

 

Robertson goes on to say that "ever since, they have been cursed by one thing after the other" contrasting Haiti with its neighbor, the Dominican Republic. "That island of Hispaniola is one island. It is cut down the middle; on the one side is Haiti on the other is the Dominican Republic," he said. "Dominican Republic is prosperous, healthy, full of resorts, etc. Haiti is in desperate poverty. Same island. They need to have and we need to pray for them a great turning to god and out of this tragedy I'm optimistic something good may come. But right now we are helping the suffering people and the suffering is unimaginable."

 

If you were offended by Robertson’s bigotry and would like to take a stand we encourage you to tell your cable provider to remove him from the air. If you're a Time Warner Cable copy & paste this email and send it to their Office of the President:

 

Subject: Remove CBN From My Cable Package: Hate Speech on 700 Club

To: twc.cotp@twcable.com

cc: Julius.Genachowski@fcc.gov, Michael.Copps@fcc.gov, Robert.McDowell@fcc.gov, Mignon.Clyburn@fcc.gov, Meredith.Baker@fcc.gov

 

On Wednesday, January 13, 2010, the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) aired an episode of Pat Robertson's 700 Club that I found deeply offensive. In the wake of potentially hundreds of thousands of deaths in Haiti -- the most devastating natural catastrophe since the 2004 tsunami -- Pat Robertson asserted that the citizens of this impoverished country were being punished by God for making "a pact to the devil." Here is the entire quote:

 

"[S]omething happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it. They were under the heel of the French, you know, Napoleon the Third and whatever, and they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, 'We will serve you if you'll get us free from the French.' True story. And so the devil said, 'O.K., it's a deal.'"

 

To any sensible person, this amounts to hate speech.

 

The 700 Club has aired similar assertions in the past, most notably following 9-11 when Jerry Falwell asserted that al-Qaeda's slaughtering of innocent Americans was God's wrath:

 

"The abortionists have got to bear some burden for [9-11] because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way -- all of them who have tried to secularize America -- I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen.'"

 

As a Time Warner Cable subscriber, I am writing to request that the CBN be unbundled from my cable package until they agree to stop airing the 700 Club.

 

I am a firm defender of the First Amendment and free speech, but as a customer of Time Warner Cable I should not have to pay for what I believe constitutes hate speech.

 

If my request is not addressed, I will have to consider terminating my service.

 

Sincerely,

 

INSERT NAME