It’s a small island. You’d think Haitians and Dominicans would have learned to get along by now. Not so much.
In May, the Dominican Republic ruled that if you were born of Haitian parents any time after 1929 (which means, basically, all of them) you would be stripped of your Dominican citizenship and deported. Never mind that these people have lived there all their lives, and have never even been to Haiti.
But to make matters even worse, the government is refusing to provide them with any proof of their existence. Haitian-Dominicans cannot get their birth certificates or any form of identification. That means even if they do get deported, no one will take them. And if they stay, they can’t go to university or get any kind of white collar job, and have to live in constant fear of being stopped on the street by police and asked for papers that they can’t produce. People with bright futures, who have been offered full ride scholarships, are forced to become construction workers. These people have no options. They are basically without citizenship and without hope, simply because of who their parents were.
What did they do to deserve this? Maybe it’s because it’s a small island. You’ve got two groups of culturally distinct people competing for limited resources, and Haiti is one of the poorest countries on the planet, so that has got to count for some border tension.
Here’s what’s wrong with the small island theory: North America is a big continent, and America shares a border with a much poorer Mexico, and we’ve been treating Mexican-Americans like crap for as long as there have been Mexicans and Americans. So size apparently doesn’t matter in this instance.
I think it has more to do with economics, fear and prejudice than anything else.
When the economy is bad and there are few jobs to go around, people get scared and they want to blame someone. In this case, the Haitian-Dominican minority makes an excellent scapegoat. The same thing happened in Nazi Germany. The economy tanked, so the people blamed the Jews.
And then there’s prejudice. I could go on for pages offering up examples of groups of people who have been abused and marginalized simply because of their race or creed. Apparently Dominicans tend to reject their African heritage, whereas Haitians embrace it, and, well, we can’t have that, now, can we?
Suffice it to say it’s not a good time to be Haitian-Dominican. And while all this is going on the world apparently feels content to look the other way. Why should we get involved, after all? It’s not like they have oil or anything. It’s not like this tiny island has any significance to our daily lives, right?
I leave you with this poem written in 1946 by Martin Niemöller, a German theologian and Lutheran pastor.
“First they came for the communists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist.
Then they came for the socialists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Jew.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Catholic.
Then they came for me,
and there was no one left to speak for me.”
[Image credit: The Record at Fordham Law]
The View from a Drawbridge 
Powerful poem that says it all. Thank You.
It always makes me think. And it always makes me want to bear witness, at the very least, rather than averting my eyes.
You are becoming quite the social conscience… awesome…
It wasn’t my plan, but sometimes i have a hard time keeping my mouth shut.
I like that about you.
The sign of a true blogger. 🙂
Or a blue trogger.
Gasp! No you didn’t!
No… I didn’t… did I?
“It’s not like they have oil or anything”
This statement is not accurate. Haiti is rich in resources, particularly oil, but also mineral wealth.
January 28, 2008 – http://bit.ly/IbAJYU
Haiti is full of oil say Daniel and Ginette Mathurin
G/translation:
“Scientists Daniel and Ginette Mathurin indicate that under Haitian soil is rich in oil and fuel fossible that were listed by foreign specialists and Haiti . ” We identified 20 oil sites,” says Daniel Mathurin stating that 5 of them are considered of great importance by specialists and politicians.
The Central Plateau, including the region of Thomonde the plain of the cul- de-sac and the bay of Port -au- Prince are full of hydrocarbons, he said, adding that Haiti ‘s oil reserves are larger than those of Venezuela . ” An Olympic pool compared to a glass of water that is the comparison to show the importance of oil Haitian compared to those of Venezuela ,” he explains .
Venezuela is one of the world’s largest oil producers.
Daniel Mathurin reveals that investigations of several previous governments have verified the existence of these large deposits of oil. It reminds a document of Lavalas party to power in 2004 , had said many hydrocarbons Haiti sites.
According to Daniel and Ginette Mathurin, the lake region , with cities like Thomazeau and Cornillon , contains large deposits of oil.
Asked about the non- use of these sites , Ginette Mathurin said that these deposits are declared strategic reserves of the United States of America. While stating his incomprehension of such a situation , it reminds that the Caribbean is considered the backyard of the United States .
But Daniel and Ginette Mathurin indicate that the U.S. government had in 2005 approved the use of strategic reserves of the United States. The door must be used by the Haitian political négiciations to launch with U.S. companies in the context of the exploitation of these deposits adds Daniel Mathurin
Experts argue that the gouvenement Jean Claude Duvalier had verified the existence of a large oil field in the Bay of Port -au- Prince shortly before his downfall.
In addition, Daniel and Ginette Mathurin show that uranium 238 and 235 and the deposit zyconium exist in several regions including in Jacmel. Uranium is used in nuclear reactors for the production of electrical energy.”
This is really interesting! Thank you for sharing. But I’d like to think the world would find Haiti and its people valuable even without the oil.I’m a little naive, I guess.
Reblogged this on The View from a Drawbridge and commented:
I posted this way back in 2013, and it looks like the very worst is coming to pass for people who have lived in the Dominican Republic their whole lives and are about to be rendered stateless. What will become of these people? Does anyone care? I do. I will never give my travel dollars to the Dominican Republic as long as this outrage continues.