Racism on the Island of Haiti

As we all know racism (white supremacy) is a worldwide phenomenon. There isn’t any corner of the world that this great evil has not reached. Wherever capitalism sinks its roots, there too you will find racist notions and actions.

The same is true on the island of Haiti. Many people call the island Hispaniola, where the Republic of Haiti and the Dominican Republic are neighbors. Named Hispaniola, or “Little Spain,” by Christopher Columbus, it is inappropriate to use this term because it will appear that we are sanctioning murder, rape, and genocide. Nor should we use the term Quisqueya, which is in common use in the Dominican Republic but which is historically inaccurate, and used by Dominican elites to fabricate differences between Dominicans and Haitians. Instead, we should use the term that was used by the original inhabitants of the island, Haiti.

On the island of Haiti we have seen one of the most exciting and important events of human history, the establishment of the first Black republic in the Americas. The fact that enslaved Africans rose up from bondage and defeated the Spanish, French, and British and end ed slavery and beca me a safe haven for escaped slaves was a momentous event with far reaching consequences.

However, in order to isolate and destroy the gains of the first Black republic, many imperialist nations, including the United States, have used the Dominican Republic to crush the Haitian Revolution. In opposition to the vast majority of the Dominican population, the “blancos de la tierra” (the whites of the land), who rule the Dominican Republic, have over time increasingly become the agents of racist propaganda and actions against Haitians, Dominicans of Haitian-descent, and Dominicans " accused " of being Haitian.

The height of this anti-Haitian, anti-Black, and anti-African racist hysteria was reached under the United States-imposed dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo. As an admirer and client of the United States Marine Corps, Trujillo readily adopted its racist ethos. He consolidated his fascist control over the Dominican Republic and dictated that the education system, as well as all state institutions popularize a virulent anti-Haitian and white-supremacist worldview.

In 1937, during Trujillo’s dictatorship, 15 to 30 thousand Haitians were massacred in what he termed a defense of the Dominican Republic against a “Haitian invasion of our border.” Of course Trujillo was only mimicking the mass deportations of Mexicans and Mexican-Americans going on in the United States between 1929 and 1939, and the genocide of Jews in Europe, unleashed by Hitler’s rise to power in Germany.

The depth of the racist ideas embedded in the Dominican Republic during the Trujillo epoch can still be seen today in school textbooks. It can also be seen in the fact that although most Dominicans are of African descent, most will not admit being Black. Currently, categories such as trigueno (the color of wheat), indio (indian) and mulatto are used to describe Dominicans, while Black is only used to identify Haitians. The internalized racism can also be seen in criminal actions, such as mass deportations and frequent pogroms aimed at Haitian migrant workers and their Dominican - born spouses and descendants. Clearly, the Dominican Republic is still under the shadow of the tyrant Trujillo. In fact, many Dominicans on the island support the campaign against the “Haitianization” of their country. Nevertheless, there are also significant numbers of Dominicans, on the island and overseas, who denounce the current attacks and the justification s used to rally poor and working class Dominicans to this racist cause.

When we look at the circumstances of many Haitians living in the Dominican Republic we find that, like many immigrants in the United States, they are seeking work looking to be in order to support their families. Victims of U . S . intervention, in 2004, involving the kidnapping and coup against the popularly elected Haitian President Bertrand Aristide, and the subsequent invasion by a U.S. imposed U.N. Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), Haitians have had to deal with an repressive political situation in their country. Adding to their misery was the devastation of the 2010 earthquake which killed over 200,000 people and affected about 3 million .

With billions of dollars pledged to rebuild the Republic of Haiti, despite (or because of) the presence of thousands of non-profit organizations , the country has still not recovered . Instead, it has been a gold mine for contractors who are more concerned about amassing corrupt profits than the effort to rebuild the country . The Haitian elites, along with their Dominican counterparts, find it more profitable to further U.S. interests on the island than to support their own people.

Making matters worse, the Dominican Supreme Court has even gone so far as to deny citizenship to Dominicans of Haitian descent going back to 1929. Putting millions of Dominicans in a legal limbo with the possibility of being deported to the Republic of Haiti, a land which they have never even visited. It is important to understand that these racist attitudes and actions against Haitians are used by the government and ruling families to divide and conquer. If poor and working class Dominicans were to unite with their Haitian sisters and brothers, the island would experience a second Haitian Revolution , a revolution that could not be extinguished by the island elites nor by the United States.

Today, it is our responsibility, as people who organize for social justice and want to make fundamental social change, to be in solidarity with our Dominican and Haitian sisters and brothers who are trying to promote unity . It is also our responsibility to pressure the Dominican elites to stop their racist, anti-Haitian actions by organizing boycotts against Dominican tourism and companies. We must also defend the rights of immigrants in the United States as we demand that the U.S. government rein in the Dominican elites who are its agents on the island. Let us not forget that there have been more detentions and deportations of immigrants under Obama 's presidency than under the previous Republican administration. Finally, we must demand that the United States government stop its manipulation of circumstances in Haiti, so that the Haitian people can exercise self-determination and rebuild their country and economy.

For more information please contact us at (917)289-0964, or [email protected], or Facebook.com/2011peoplepower.

* Mark Torres is Chair, People Power Movement-Movimiento Poder Popular

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