Thoughts on Haiti and Haitian asylum seekers (9.24.21)

    In the final song on the album Frankenchrist, Jello Biafra tells us that “our real test of strength is caring, not the war toys we sell the world”. With recent headlines bringing us stories of Haitian refugees and the sale of nuclear submarines to Australia, this line has been going through my mind a lot lately.

       The world in general and the United States in particular owes more to Haiti than we can ever rightfully give. Back when France was having their revolution, the enslaved peoples of Saint Domingue insisted that the ideals of Liberty, Egalite, and Fraternity apply to peoples of all race, and freed themselves from their oppressors. Napoleon did not like the idea of the most profitable colony on the globe slipping through French fingers, so he sent the military to reinvade and reenslave. When this failed, the French simply refused to recognise the newly independent state of Haiti - the British and Americans, also both economies centred on the exploitation of enslaved Africans, refused to trade with the young republic.

     In 1825, in exchange for international recognition, the Haitian and French governments reached an agreement that Haiti would pay an indemnity of 150m Francs - essentially paying France for all the trouble they had caused by demanding their freedom. The United States financed loans for Haiti to pay off this indemnity, and in 1915, when it looked like Haiti was going to have trouble making full regular payments, the US invaded and took control of their finances. The occupation lasted nineteen years; Haiti finally finished paying everyone back in 1947. 

     During the Cold War, with fears that Caribbean nations might follow the lead of communist Cuba, the United States began supporting a series of fascist dictators in the region. In Haiti, the dictator was “Papa Doc” Duvalier. Papa Doc, and then his son “Baby Doc”, ruled Haiti for decades as a totalitarian dictatorship, killing anyone and everyone who tried to speak out for the ideals that the United States takes for granted - namely life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. After the fall of Baby Doc, the United States invaded Haiti a second time.

     Donald Trump famously referred to Haiti as a “shithole country”. If Haiti is a shithole country, it is so because of policy choices supported by centuries of US leaders. Instead of being referred to as “The First Black Republic” or “The Only Successful Slave Revolt in History”, Haiti’s most popular sobriquet is “The Poorest Country in the Western Hemisphere”. After the 2010 earthquake, Barack Obama wrote the cover story for Newsweek, titled “Why Haiti Matters”. The developed world largely forgave Haitian debts, and France gave millions of dollars in aid. None of this did little more than scratch the surface of Haiti’s long term economic woes. 

      Earlier this summer, assassins killed the President of Haiti in his home. Few shed any tears, as the deeply corrupt Moïse was not a believer in democracy, but it did take an already bad situation and make it much worse. Then last month a 7.2 magnitude earthquake rocked the country; thousands are dead and hundreds of thousands are displaced. For many, Haiti is now uninhabitable.

       The 14th article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that the people on this planet have the right to seek asylum. Knowing that continued existence in Haiti would yield a life of fear and want, about fifteen thousand Haitians have decided to exercise their right to asylum by coming to the United States. They have been greeted by border patrol agents on horseback who carry whips; the situation has gotten so bad that the US Special Envoy to Haiti, Daniel Foote, has resigned in protest.

        Whatever our feelings about immigration are generally, all of this is obviously so very wrong. Haiti and Haitians deserve better than the hand they have been dealt. As humans we have a built in “just world” bias; we believe that when good things happen to us, we deserve it, and that when bad things happen to other people, they too deserve it. The truth is that the United States is responsible for the current state Haiti finds itself in; if after 1804 we had welcomed Haiti into the community of nations in the spirit of solidarity as a fellow nation that cast off the yoke of European colonialism, things today would be very different. Instead we set up a trade embargo, financed a high interest loan they were forced into, invaded and occupied them (twice), and supported autocratic dictators. Asylum is now the least we can offer. 

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