Miami, Florida - Celebrated tennis athlete Naomi Osaka, currently competing in the Miami Open, has added her star power to growing calls for reparations for Haiti.

Osaka shared a news update on X referring to French lawmaker Raphael Glucksmann's call for the US to return the Statue of Liberty, suggesting the country no longer lives up to the values she represents.

"Since we’re trying to repossess things, can Haiti get their money back?" the Japanese athlete shot back.

The comment amplifies urgent demands for reparations for Haiti following generations of enslavement and exploitation.

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Once France's most-profitable colony, Haiti became the first Black nation established by formerly enslaved people – something the colonizers couldn't let stand.

France used military force to demand the country pay 150 million francs in regular installments as the price for independence and recognition. A 2022 New York Times analysis found that the money Haiti gave France would have added at least $21 billion to the country's economy over the last two centuries.

US Marines invaded and looted Haiti's National Bank in December 1914, transferring $500,000 in gold reserves to New York. The next summer, the US launched a 19-year occupation of the country.

This legacy of intervention triggered cycles of debt, vulnerability, and trauma that persist to the present day, even as the Haitian Revolution remains a powerful symbol of Black liberation and anti-colonial resistance.

The strong statement by Osaka, whose father is Haitian American, draws attention to France's historical debt to the Haitian people.