US-Based Dominican Collective Stands with Haiti; Condemns Trump’s Racism

January 18, 2018 Nelson Santana

Photo: Andrés Rodríguez

By ESENDOM
January 18, 2018

Dominican activists in the United States are standing with the Haitian community presently under attack by President Donald Trump. His racist “shithole” comments about Haiti, El Salvador and the African continent has been widely condemned by people from all walks of life.

Trump is also waging an all-out war against Haitian immigrants. As ESENDOM reported:

Trump made it clear he dislikes Haitians. At the meeting, he asked: “Why do we need more Haitians?” and sources confirmed he said, “Take them out.” In November, the Trump administration revoked deportation protection for 60,000 Haitians, thus giving all Haitians affected by the 2010 earthquake the ultimatum of returning to Haiti by July 2019.

On Jan. 12, members of the collective We Are All Dominican (WAAD) expressed solidarity with the Haitian community and remembered those who died during the 2010 earthquake. WAAD released the following statement and posted it on their Facebook page alongside an image of Sonia Pierre, the late civil rights Dominican activist of Haitian descent:

As Dominican-Americans who have been fighting for years against efforts by the Dominican government to revoke the citizenship of Dominicans of Haitian descent and to deport tens of thousands of Haitian immigrants, we understand all too well that the hateful and racist statements made by the President of the United States — coupled with ending Temporary Protected Status for Haitians in the United States — inevitably leads to hate, violence, and mass deportations.

Globally, hatred and violence against Haitians has been a pillar of the Western world, and a key manifestation of this pattern has been systematic violence against people of Haitian descent under the guise of immigration control in both the Dominican Republic and the United States. State violence is intersectional and complex—but so is our analysis and our strategies of resistance. We have seen this pattern too many times before. The racist rhetoric and policies being pushed by Donald Trump continue to expand the stage for violence against Black communities, immigrants, and other vulnerable members of our communities.

We Are All Dominican makes the connection between the global anti-Black violence that’s currently taking the form of anti-Haitian immigration policies in the United States and the Dominican Republic. We must come together and stand against anti-Black immigration rhetoric and policies #AquíYAllá.