Haiti’s independence declaration was deliberately drafted in language of extreme racial violence

Evidence

Dessalines, however, felt that it lacked the “heat and energy” required for the occasion. A young officer of color named Louis Félix Boisrond- Tonnerre declared: “In order to draw up our act of independence, we need the skin of a white to serve as a parchment, his skull as an inkwell, his blood for ink, and a bayonet for a pen.” Dessalines concurred, and put the task of writing a new version of the declaration of independence in Boisrond- Tonnerre’s hands. The latter stayed up all night writing the proclamation for the next day’s ceremony. The more moderate one it replaced was lost, leaving behind only the trace of its rejection. — Dubois, Laurent, Avengers of the New World_ The Story of…, 1052

Categorization

• ADDENDUM: Relevant to the Grafting piece’s framing about symbols of identity built from violent material rhetoric — or more precisely a strong parallel to violence rhetoric in any of the three pieces; closest resonance is rhetorical violence in the sacrifice piece.
• XREF: Contrasts with how the US and French declarations of independence were framed in universal terms; Dubois is showing Haiti’s founding text as deliberately particular and vengeful.