SF Chronicle | Vile roundup of Haitians in Texas proves the last thing America wants is more Black people
September 23, 2021
By Cat Brooks
Over 12,000 Haitians trekked thousands of miles, across countries and continents, through horrific conditions, including starvation, sickness, rape and sodomy to get to the U.S. for sanctuary.
The wealthiest and most resourced country on the planet told them to go home.
Not just told them — screamed it at them — laced with vile, race-base obscenities, manifesting in arguably the largest and fastest mass deportation since the last time we expelled Haitians.
The last thing America wants is more Black people.
The images are grotesque. Black folks being herded like cattle. Like dogs. Whipped with horse reins. Charged by cops on horses. Huddled under a bridge. Sweltering in 104-degree heat.
Humans seeking asylum and the American dream.
What a nightmare.
White House spokesperson Jen Psaki says she doesn’t think anyone who sees the video of Haitian immigrants being charged with a horse would think it was “appropriate.”
You know what else ain’t “appropriate,” Jen? Denying asylum seekers the chance to seek refuge in America.
U.S. law states that any person fearing for their safety based on race, religion, nationality, membership in a social group or political opinion may be considered for refugee status. They are supposed to go through an actual process to determine if they are eligible — not packed onto planes and shipped off to the very place they fled from.
With the exception of my ancestors and Native Americans, who in this country does not descend from those seeking refuge, asylum or simply a better life?
I forgot. That is a white privilege. Or better stated, a privilege for the white.
Instead of honoring the law, a Democratic administration is continuing the inhumane legacy of Trump’s immigration policy through the invocation of Title 42, “an obscure law designed to protect the nation from diseases overseas,” as the New York Times put it.
Even prior to COVID, Trump adviser Stephen Miller devised using this loophole to stop asylum seekers, despite being told it was illegal. Immigration advocates were hopeful this barbaric policy would fade away into the sunset along with the president who first invoked it. But, well, here we are.
Trump made it clear he didn’t want immigrants coming to the United States from “s—hole” countries. Apparently Biden doesn't either. In case you weren’t clear: “s—hole” means Black. Haitians are not the only immigrants making their way into our country. They are, however, the only ones being deported thousands at a time.
What’s happening in Texas harks back to the days when Black bodies were chased down by the first police (slave catchers) on horseback with whips for doing little more than seeking freedom.
Sanctuary, if you will.
These are the moments where Black folks remember that regardless of which party dominates the White House, our conditions, and those of our people around the globe impacted by U.S. imperialism, rarely change.
No one should be surprised by how Haitians are being treated in Texas. It is simply a continuation of the dehumanizing and degrading way this country has consistently treated the most famous revolutionaries in the world.
See, the Haitian Revolution makes colonizers mad. Mad and scared. Then and now. To prevent other uppity Black folks from getting any wild ideas, global superpowers like the United States and France have been making Haiti pay ever since.
Why are Haitians at the border in the first place?
As explained by the Bay Area activist group Haiti Action Committee: “Many fled Haiti years ago as it descended into terror following the U.S.-orchestrated coup against Haiti’s democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, in 2004. After the coup, many left the country ... (as a) UN occupation shattered the economy and brought about a massive cholera epidemic. Many came from Brazil and Chile, where they had been recruited for low-wage labor after the earthquake of 2010, and then forced out when no longer needed.”
Additionally, many Haitians reported being the recipients of racist terror in Latin American countries after the economic downturns, particularly in Brazil after the Olympics. Add to this the recent earthquake in Haiti, which killed over 2,200 people and left hundreds of thousands without shelter, and the recent assassination of its president.
Now, the United States government, which bears such great responsibility for this migration, is loading up plane after plane for deportation to Haiti, which does not have the capacity to handle these refugees. Rather than absorb our responsibility and obligation, or fulfill our hollow promise of welcoming the world’s “tired and the poor,” America is expelling Haitians in the most degrading ways it can imagine.
America should be ashamed of itself. As a Black American, I’m ashamed because I haven’t done nearly enough to amplify the alarm bell being rung by brave Haitian activists and their Black American allies. I’m ashamed because, despite a wealth of political study, I didn’t understand how Haitian liberation was tied to my own. And I’m ashamed because I live in a country with “s—hole” policies when it comes to Black people.
This is America. Your America. Still.