Haitian Identity
The Effects of Race Through Haitian History and Transnational Migration
Focus on the Dominican Republic and the United States
Gina Marie Eide
December 17, 1999
International Studies 595
Professor Van Dusenbery
Introduction
Haitians are moving. Since the 1950s large waves of Haitian migrants have been leaving the small island of Hispaniola and spreading to countries like the United States, Canada, France and the Bahamas for both political and economic. Even before the fifties, Haitians traveled across the Haitian border into the Dominican Republic. What happens to these Haitians in the new host countries? How does this migration affect their identity?
In Haitian migration, the migrants take on a variety of different identities depending on the various situations in each of the host countries. As an underlying theme, however, one notices race as a key factor affecting Haitian identity. Just as race plays a large role in Haitian history, it also affects how Haitians identify themselves and how they are identified in transnational migration. To look at the effects of race on identity, this paper focuses on Haitian migrants in the Dominican Republic and in the United States.
The Dominican Republic holds the greatest number of Haitian migrants abroad, about 500,000. This is also the country in which Haitian migrant identity is most severely affected by race. In fact, darker skin and Haitian identity are so stigmatized that many of Haitian descent may deny Haitian roots and identify themselves as Dominican if possible, to avoid the Haitian stigma. The Dominicans, however, associate Haitian identity with blackness; dark skin alone could identify someone as Haitian. A very dark skinned Dominican presidential candidate, Jose Francisco Pena Gomez, was called Haitian so many times because by his opposition, that he was forced to hire a noted genealogist to disprove this identification. (Wucker: 1996, par. 15)
The United States is another important node of migration for many Haitians. Large populations settled in Florida and New York. In the United States, race also affects Haitian identity as racial prejudice has factored into US history. In the early years of migration to the United States, US racism discouraged Haitians from identifying with their home country (known as the "Black Republic"), or the African Americans with whom they shared African cultural roots. Instead early migrants identified with their French colonialist roots. Later, as Haitian immigration increased, immigrants began associating more with Haiti. In the 1980s and 1990s, however, with the Center for Disease Control classifying Haitians as a higher risk group for HIV/AIDS and Haitians began taking on different identities, even allying themselves with Afro Caribbeans and African Americans.
Diaspora or Not?
Looking at the information on the Haitian case of migration, one can compare it to literature transnational migration in general. With the Haitian case, one sees multiple identities, not a single, cohesive identity taken on by all Haitians in migration. A single identity would suggest more of a diasporic consciousness similar to the Jewish, Armenian and Sikh diasporas. As to whether Haitians qualify as a diaspora is debatable.
Definitions of this newly trendy term vary. William Safran's strict definition of diaspora as only qualifies cases similar to the traditional Jewish model. Stuart Hall, on the other hand, considers diaspora as a "conception of identity which lives through, not despite, difference." (Hall cited in Cohen: 1997, 138) Robin Cohen, in his book Global Diasporas, has his own definition too. Cohen says diasporas must exhibit several of nine possible characteristics, such as a collective memory or myth of a homeland, a troubled relationship with the host country and a sense of solidarity with co ethnic members in a host country. (Cohen: 1997, 180) James Clifford, yet another theorist, says that an important characteristic of a diaspora is multiple connections between the communities of a dispersed population. (Clifford: 1997, 244)
Many members of the Haitian community in New York, Canada and France do have a sort of diasporic consciousness qualifying with the above definition. Though Haitians do not identically match the Jewish model, they do hold a strong sense of a homeland, have some troubles with the host community and sometimes share a solidarity with co ethnic minorities. But one strong argument for calling them a diaspora, is the connection between many of these Haitian communities. Some of the links between the say Paris, New York and Montreal are Haitian authors publishing literature in all three places for circulation and Haitian online chat groups, like Haitian Global Village conversing beyond nation state borders.
This conversation, however, is limited. Not all Haitian migrants identify with these "nodes of the diaspora." In the United States for example, many Haitian immigrants in metropolitan Atlanta prefer to blend in, not associating themselves as much with the five local Haitian churches around which the Haitian community centers. Though Haitians in this area are developing more of a Haitian consciousness with Haitian businesses such as grocery stores and beauty shops springing up, not everyone participates. (Kurylo: 1998, par 4)
In the Dominican Republic and Caribbean countries do not participate much at all with a sort of "diasporic consciousness." In these countries, Haitians are often so restricted in their movements and their communication, either by the government or their poverty, that they have little chance to even try communicating with Miami or Nice or Montreal. The diasporic example of transnationalism requires a high level of economic, political and cultural capital, more than the Haitian community has as a whole. So instead of taking a fully diasporic approach to the Haitian case, this paper identifies more with Glick Schiller et al. In their definition of transnationalism Glick Shiller et al. call transnationalism "a social process in which migrants establish social fields that cross geographic, cultural, and political borders. Immigrants are understood to be transmigrants when they develop and maintain multiple relations-familial, economic, social, organizational, religious, and political than span borders." (Glick Schiller et al: 199 , ix)
Haitians definitely fit the definition of transmigrants. Even migrants in the Dominican Republic have connections back to Haiti. Over all, some parts of the Haitian migrant group could qualify as diasporic, but the transnational definition better fits the Haitian case as whole.
Other Transnational Literature
When discussing transnationalism, it is also important to look at other key players in the discussion. Castles and Miller are two important authors to contend within the discussion. In their book, The Age of Migration they argue that historical precedent greatly influences contemporary migration along with many other factors, and that this migration leads to the formation of transnational linkages:
Contemporary patterns . . . are rooted in historical relationships and shaped by a multitude of political, demographic, socioeconomic, geographical and cultural factors. These flows result in greater ethnic diversity within countries and deepening transnational linkages between states and societies. International migrations are greatly affected by governmental policies and may, in fact, be started by decisions to recruit foreign workers or to admit refugees." (Castles, Miller 1998: 283)
Their theories definitely apply to the Haitian case. The legacy of colonialism gives Haiti strong ties to France their former colonial power, this not only encourages identifying with France, but migration patterns to France. Migration to the United States is encouraged not only by geographical proximity, but the historical tie as the United States invaded Haiti early in the twentieth century. Migration to the Dominican Republic also holds historical linkages as Haiti overran the Dominican Republic in the 1800s. Government policies also affect Haitian migration, as Castles and Miller suggest, as the Dominican government recruited Haitian workers and the United States heavily influence Haitian admittance into their country with their immigration and refugee policies.
Castles and Millers theories on migrant identity also apply to the Haitian case, suggesting migrants have multiple identities. "Immigrants and their descendants do not have static, closed and homogeneous ethnic identity, but instead dynamic multiple identities, influenced by a variety of cultural, social and other factors." (1998: 38) This paper supports this theory, showing that Haitian identity varies widely in different host cultures and for a variety of factors, focusing, however, on race and its affect on Haitian identity.
Castles and Miller define racism as "the process whereby social groups categorize other groups as different or inferior, on the basis of phenotypical or cultural markers." (1998: 32) This can be formal racism, that is policies or laws based on racism, which is seen in the Dominican Republic or informal racism, which is racist attitudes and discriminatory behavior by a members of the dominant group. Informal racism is the main form in the United States and France. This discrimination through racism may lead Haitians to articulate affirmative cultural identities. "Culture plays a key role as a source of identity and as a focus for resistance to exclusion and discrimination." (Castles, Miller 1998:37) This theory explains why Haitians choose to identify with the French culture or Haitian culture when in the United States, as resistance to the discrimination darker skinned people may face in the United States.
The Castles and Miller approach to transnational migration follows the same lines of Aihwa Ong's ideas. The goal of Ong's book, Flexible Citizenship, is to "analytically link actual institutions of state power, capitalism and transnational networks to such forms of cultural reproduction, inventiveness and possibilities." Her book follows the flexible citizenship of "Chinese" transnational subjects, multiple passport holders or "astronauts" shuttling across borders on business who have "parachute kids" which are dropped off in another country by parents on a "trans-Pacific business commute." (Ong 1999: 19) Along the same lines as Ong's subjects' flexible citizenship, Haitians in some cases have "flexible identities," such as Haitians in New York who sometimes identify as Haitian, sometimes French, sometimes as Caribbean, sometimes even with the African American community.
Ong, however, in her introduction, mainly focuses on the elite, the Chinese business traveling elite in her case study, ignoring a majority of the population. In fact, she does exactly what she criticizes in Arjun Appadurai, who focused on "and emerging global elite, mostly urban-based . . .while more than half of humanity is left out." (Ong 1999: 19) Her notion of flexible citizenship holds little application for the impoverished Haitian migrant workers in the Dominican Republic. Though some could actually have dual citizenship having been born on Dominican soil to Haitian parents, many don't hold any passports or identification as a citizen of any country, let alone several.
The US centered theories of migration by authors such as Linda Basch, and Nina Glick Schiller discuss the change of migration studies from previous models of immigrants uprooting themselves from their home countries and assimilating into the new country. Now they show how immigrants develop networks, activities, patterns of living and ideologies that span the borders of the host country and the homeland. (Basch 1994: 4) This definitely holds true for Haitian immigrants in the United States. In the Dominican Republic, however, where communication is not as easy and Haitians are often prevented by armed guards from leaving the Bateys transnational networks impeded in their formation. The authors however, do show that Haitian identity in the United States is influenced by race: "Identities and loyalties of transmigrants have been identified and identify themselves in terms of race, ethnicity and nation." (Basch 1994: 18)
Carolle Charles, another US based migration theorist shows how Haitian identity in the United States centers on avoiding categorization with African Americans. (Charles: 199, 103) Common skin color may induce Haitians to be identified with African Americans showing race's influence on identity, however, this paper also argues that Haitians sometimes do identify with African Americans. Charles assumes that for many Haitians they do not see it as beneficial to ally with African Americans. She however ignores the Haitian migrant children in New York City going to school in African American dominated schools. An National Public Radio reports discusses how Haitian children try to cover up Haitian identity and try to assimilate to fit in with the African American children. (Haitians Experience Prejudice: 1994) She also ignores recent campaigning of Haitian groups and African American groups together to fight against blanket discrimination based on skin color. Charles' contention that Haitians avoid African American identity is valid, but not in all cases. As the literature suggests, Haitian migrants take on different identities based on different factors, one of them being race. To understand how race continues to affect Haitian identity in its transnational migration, identity must first be looked at in Haitian history.
Haitian History and the Influence on Race
Haiti would not be the nation it is today without the European colonial invasion. Christopher Colombus landing on the shores of Hispaniola in 1492 completely changed the course of Haitian history, also changing the island's racial makeup and power structures.
The Spanish were the first Europeans to land on the island, setting up operations to look for gold. When little gold was found, many Spanish left to pursue more precious metals on the American continent, leaving only a small settlement on the Eastern half of the Hispaniola. The French took advantage of the thinly dispersed Spanish and began encroaching on the Western half of the island. "France saw gold in Hispaniola in the form of agriculture: coffee, mahogany, sugar and molasses." (Wucker: 1999, 30) The French settlement continued to grow until the Treaty of Riswick officially transferred ownership of this Western portion of the island from Spain to France in 1697. The French named their portion of the island Saint Domingue, and the Spanish called theirs Santo Domingo. But the French and Spanish were not the only inhabitants of the island.
When Colombus "discovered" Hispaniola (one-third of which is modern day Haiti), he found a "virtual paradise: opulent, peaceful, densely populated, and rich in resources." (Noam Chompsky as quoted in Farmer: 1994, 16) The native Tatino and Arawak inhabitants who warmly welcomed Colombus soon discovered the brutality of their new guests. The Europeans not only subjected them to slavery but outright slaughter. Along with the impact of European diseases, by 1510 , the number of natives, as high as eight million before 1492, plummeted to around 500,000. By 1550, the Tatinos and Arawaks may have only numbered in the hundreds. (Farmer: 1994, 60)
Having killed off the majority (more than 90%) of native populations, the Europeans needed a different labor source. The colonizers first tried to use European indentured servants, but as the island's operations changed more to sugar production, an even greater supply of labor was needed. The colonizers turned to Africa. (Sheridan: 1997, 28) As Eric Williams stated the problem, (quoted in Dupy's work):
The decisive question was a labor supply that was, firstly, adequate and even in excess of the need; secondly, cheap; thirdly docile or that could be whipped into docility' finally, that could be degraded to the point of which sugar cultivation required. The white servant satisfied none of these desiderata. . . Because Africans differed culturally from the Europeans, they could be treated differently . . . the Africans could be whipped into docility and degraded through enslavement without the social and political repercussions which the enslavement of European laborers would have triggered. (Dupy: 1989, 19)
Based on this "enlightened criteria," the French began importing African slaves to the island. As this passage suggests, the new African slaves are not given the same respect as the Europeans, identified as a group that can be "whipped into docility."
In their conquering pursuits, the Europeans completely changed the demographics of the Hispaniola island. First they decimated the native populations, then they imported more white Europeans and then they began mass importations of African slaves. As one could guess, the society set up by the French put the whites at the top of the social strata and the black African slaves at the bottom. According to Farmer, the social strata in Haiti ranked with the Grand Planteurs at the top, French land owners who often controlled their properties from France; then the Petits Blancs, white French descended landowners living in Saint Domingue; then the Mulattoes, a land owning group mainly working in coffee; then the freed African slaves; and finally the African slaves. (Farmer: 1994, 65) Though with time, the degree of this social strata will lessen, the repercussions of the conquerors reverberate even to the present day.
The "Black" Revolution
In 1879, the French Revolution overthrew the ruling monarchy temporarily destabilizing the government and sending the ideals of the revolution throughout the world, even to Saint Domingue. The Mulattoes and the African slaves were inspired by the egalitarian ideas of the French Revolution and began in 1791 a series of revolts that lead to the ousting of French control in Saint Domingue. The Mulattoes staged a revolt in the beginning of 1791 and slave revolts followed later in the year:
Revolts, alleged poisonings of whites, arson and the standard battery of slave abuse led slowly to the first explosion . . . on the night of August 22, under a lashing tropical storm, tens of thousands of slaves set forth to wreak vengeance. Armed with picks, machetes, clubs and torches they razed approximately 180 sugar plantations, and approximately 900 plantations of coffee, cotton and indigo. At least a thousand whites lost their lives; well over 10,000 slaves were killed outright, and up to 25,000 were though to have taken to the hills. (Farmer: 1994, 68)
These revolts and the leadership of three Generals, Toussaint de L'Ouverture, Dessalines and Petion led to Saint Domingue's freedom from colonial rule in 1804. Sainte Domingue's name was changed to Haiti, the island's original name in the Tatino language. General Dessalines assumed control of the new nation in on September 2, 1804. (Galens et al.: 1995, 642)
The revolution dismantled parts of the colonial class system and redistributed colonist land to the control of the state. Though most of the whites fled back to France, the revolution also produced the first wave of Haitian migration to the United States between 1791 and 1803. (Galens et al.: 1995, 643)
The white world felt threatened by this new "Black Republic" and many governments began to diplomatically isolate through non recognition of its government. For the United States, the events in Haiti were a nightmare as slave owning was still sanctioned. Haiti, however, proud of its slave based revolution declared open asylum for any escaped slaves.
Haitians found themselves in a world entirely hostile to the idea of self-governing blacks. Sidney Minz puts it neatly when he suggested that the birth of Haiti was a 'nightmare' for every nation in which slavery endured. The new nation was surrounded by islands ruled by slave owners. A southerner from the United States declared . . . 'Some gentlemen will declare St. Domingo free; if any gentleman harbors such sentiments let him come forward boldly and declare it. In such case, he will cover himself in detestation. A system that will bring immediate and horrible destruction on the fairest portion of America.' (Farmer: 1994, 74)
The idea of so many free blacks ruling themselves so scared the Western world. The United States did not recognize Haiti until the Civil War when it became politically convenient for Lincoln.
The revolution freed the Haitian blacks from their slavery, but class structures based on race did not disappear with the flight of the French. The country became divided by another issue--division over Haitian participation in the global economy. "This division reintroduced the inequalities of the colonial system, replacing the gulf between master and slave with a gap between those whose interests led toward participation in the global economy and those who saw more advantage in keeping a safe distance from it." (Farmer: 1994, 74) The power in the capital, Port-au-Prince, continued to remain with the lighter skinned, more European influenced mulattoes, thought there was also a balancing power residing in a darker-skinned military, the black cacaos. Interestingly, the darker-skinned peasants, predominantly former slaves, largely ignored the central government.
"After a spectacular war of independence, which jolted the world's European masters two centuries ago, Haitians kept their guns and a sturdy tradition of confronting their rulers. Yet disputes were mostly petty, personal or based on color, and produced merely defiance rather than revolution..
Most people retreated to tiny plots of land in remote valleys and mornes (mountians),, their Voodoo religion partially insulating them against poverty and injustice. The countryside was pitted against the power and officials of the towns . . . and Port au Prince . . . Only rarely did a major class-based mass movement appear, such as the one which formed around Jean-Jacques Acaau in Grande Anse (1843-45 or around President Sylvaind Salnave before an alliance of the ruling mulatto minority and black cacos (rebels) pushed him out. (Chamberlain:1995, 13)
So the mulattoes and a group of blacks held control in Port-au-Prince; however, few of the Haitian masses identified with either group. And slowly in the late 1800's power in Port-au-Prince began to concentrate more in the hands of darker skinned rulers, diminishing some of the power of the mulatto elite. (Chamberlain: 1995, 15)
Unfortunately, when the US Marines invaded Haiti in 1915, they destroyed much of the power black leaders had been gaining as they consistently put lighter skinned mulattoes back in control. There was a "marked preference of US officials for mulattoes, whom they brought into power in a variety of different ways." (Skidmore: 1997 , 304) Another set back that would take decades to undo.
The end of the US occupation began a rebirth in pride of African heritage and the Negritude movement of which François Duvalier (1957-1971) would later capitalize on. The post occupation era lead to a series of different leaders culminating in the brutal Duvalier regime. As a presidential candidate, Duvalier declared himself a noiriste (similar to Negritude) or a partisan of the black people, rather than the lighter urban elites. The army supported Duvalier, or Papa Doc as most know him, as they thought he would be easily controllable, simply an "owlish doctor who dabbled in anthropology." (Farmer: 1994, 106)
Duvalier's election led to a "mass exodus of middle class, elite and professionals." (Minz: 1989, 271) Duvalier even expelled mulattoes from the national bureaucracy. (Skidmore: 1997, 304) Duvalier soon proved not to be as pliable as the army assumed and Duvalier as he set up his own secret police to assure his political control. The Volunteers for National Security or Tonton Macoutes,(1) as they were more commonly known cracked down on all political dissent and even usurped the army's control. Duvalier's henchmen spread into every crevice of Haitian society, even in the countryside. Duvalier further gained power over the Haitian masses by associating himself with figures in the Vodùm religion. (Skidmore: 1997, 304) Many of Duvalier's Tonton Macoutes were dark-skinned peasants. Duvalier immobilized opposition in the army within seven years of his election by destabilizing them, revamping their leadership five times. In this power shifting, Duvalier consistently rewarded young darker- skinned men with promotions. (Minz: 1989, 283)
Duvalier declared himself President à Vie or President for Life in 1964, continuing his brutal reign until his death in 1979. Duvalier and the Tonton Macoutes are accused of killing tens of thousands of Haitians, even wiping out whole families if one member was accused of political dissident. (Farmer: 1994, 108) In addition, Duvalier greatly changed Haitian society as he chased away Haiti's professionals and middle class. He also undid some of the mulatto power base that the US occupation had put in place, further changing Haitian power structures.
With Papa Doc's death, Haitian leadership was passed on to his son, Jean Claude Duvalier continued his father's reign. Baby Doc ruled (and some even claim a little less brutally than his father (Farmer: 1994, 114)) until 1986 when popular movements forced him into exile. Several interim leaders ruled Haiti until elections were finally held in 1990. A former priest, Father Jean Bertrand Aristide was elected to power in December of 1990 with a strong base within Haiti's impoverished masses. Aristide, however, was deposed in an army coup on September 30, 1991. The United States government invaded Haiti later in 1994 to bring Aristide back into power. (Farmer: 1994, 218) The US has occupied Haiti ever since putting Aristide back in power, the United States will pull out soon.
Looking at Haitian history, one sees the effects of race throughout. The French conquerors completely changed the demographics of Haiti, not only wiping out most all the native populations, but populating the whole island with displaced Africans. The legacy of the colonial system and the power structure divides marked by racial difference affect Haiti to this day. Though the racial divisions of Haitian social class have diminished much in the last century, the reverberations of old racism can still be felt, just as the legacy of US slavery continues to affect the racial politics in the United States today.
Haitian Identity in the Dominican Republic
Sharing the small Caribbean island of Hispaniola, the nations of Haiti and the Dominican Republic have also shared a very fluid border throughout post colonial history. Currently, around 500,000 first and second generation Haitians live in the Dominican Republic working on the sugar plantations, comprising almost seven percent of the Dominican population. (Wucker: 1996) Despite their close historical ties, animosity between the two countries has run deep with it roots in the 1822 Haitian occupation of the Dominican Republic. The animosity of Dominicans towards Haitians remains so strong that instead of celebrating their independence from Spain, their colonial conquerors, they celebrate their independence from Haiti in February 27, 1844. (Haq: 1996)
The twenty-year Haitian occupation at the same time as creating animosity between the nations, also indelibly mixed the two nations, giving many Dominicans, Haitian blood. Even Raphael Leonidas Trujillo (1930-1961), the bloody Dominican dictator famous for his hatred of Haitians, had a Haitian grandmother.
Given this animosity and culture mixing how do Haitians identify themselves and how are they identified in the Dominican Republic? One Dominican of Haitian descent said "Here, to be black is Haitian. And to be Haitian is to be poor, hungry, ignorant, everything that is bad." (Fainaru: 1999, par 19) Blackness holds a key role in identification of Haitians in the Dominican Republic. Molly Oona Sheridan in a Macalester Honors Project writes of an African American student traveling to the Dominican Republic who is constantly called "Haitian" by Dominicans. The student's only connection to Haiti was the color of his skin, showing the extreme role of skin color in how Dominicans identify Haitians. (Sheridan: 1997, 3)
Then how do Haitians to identify themselves? Given the stigma attached to the Haitian identity, many Dominican citizens of Haitian descent try to avoid "Haitian" identification. As previously mentioned, many Dominican citizens are actually of Haitian descent, such as Trujillo. Trujillo did not call himself Dominico-Haitian, only Dominican. Trujillo even caked his face with pancake makeup to avoid any dark skinned Haitian identification. (Wucker: 1998, par 5)
Some migrants of Haitian descent, however, cannot take on Dominican identity are not recognized by the Dominican government. Though Dominican law promises citizenship to anyone born on Dominican soil, Haitians born on the Dominican sugar plantations rarely receive birth certificates or any sort of documentation. Since these people, technically Dominican citizens, have no proof otherwise, skin color brands them as Haitian.
In a Wucker article a shocking quote shows another way Haitian migrants may be identified. A Haitian migrant woman working said: "Nou pa moun" in Creole. For this woman the slavelike treatment of the Haitians on the sugar plantations and their "other-ing" by Dominicans led this Haitian woman to consider herself worthless, inhuman almost. Translated she said "We're not people." (Wucker: 1996, par. 16) So with skin color influencing each of these identities, those of Haitian descent consider themselves all way from fully Dominican to "nou pa moun."
Colonial Differences: Santo Domingo versus Saint-Domingue
The difference between Haitians and Dominicans stems back to colonial times with the Spanish colonizing the Eastern half of the Hispaniola, calling it Santo Domingo, and the French on the Northwestern portion of the island, calling their colony Saint-Domingue. Not only did the differing French and Spanish cultures influence the two halves of the island, but the type of agriculture each half pursued, their import of slaves and the subsequent colonial treatment of the slaves.
In the Dominican Republic, their broad open lands let the land to be more suited to cattle. Sugar cultivation only became strongly significant since the Twentieth century. The French half of the island, however, relied on labor intensive sugar and tobacco cultivation. A Dominican historian Frank Moya Pons suggests that these economies heavily influence the current class and racial structures in the Dominican Republic and Haiti. His views are summarized in Michele Wucker's book:
"Cattle herding cannot work without cooperation between the owners of the land and the men who work it; by contrast, plantation farming requires a strict hierarchy of powerful landowners as masters of the masses who work the land. The result was that the free European and the enslaved African populations remained separate in Saint-Domingue but mixed in Santo Domingo." (Wucker: 1999, 31)
These two different economies led to a strictly racial divisions in Haiti based and a more mixed, egalitarian society in the Dominican Republic.
Another reason for the greater racial mixing in the Dominican Republic is that in the late 16th century, Spain wanted to increase its hold on Santo Domingo, to fend off pirates such as Sir Frances Drake. The Spanish government then began to encourage its Spanish settlers to ally more with the African slaves to fed off attacks. The colonial government even encouraged white colonists to marry the former slaves to further populate the island. The mixed-race children of these unions were treated as Spanish and white.
In Saint-Domingue colonial practices took a different turn. In the beginning, King Louis XIV's 1685 Code Noir allowed French slave owners to marry the slaves that bore them children. Under the code, those children were equal to whites. As the years progressed and the number of mulattoes grew, the whites wanted to assure their power positions and began imposing laws that ate away at non white rights. As imports of African slaves continued at the rate of 40,000 per year, blacks soon outnumbered Haitians ten to one, and the divisions among the classes grew leaving a small minority of French descended whites in control of the African slave majority. (Wucker: 1999, 35)
Due to the huge divide among the classes, fewer European traditions were passed onto the African slaves. The Saint Domingue slaves therefore kept more of their traditional African religions than the Santo Domingo. The religions blended with European Catholicism creating Vodùm. This also lead to the Haitian creole called Kreyol, which is a mixture of French, African and Tatino languages. In Santo Domingo, as the Spanish held closer contact with the slaves, they imparted more of their language and their religion onto their slaves.
These linguistic, religious, racial and historical differences led to the animosity between Haitians and Dominant. Haitians who had thrown off colonial rule in 1804, often associated the Catholic church with the detested French colonialism. So when the Haitians overtook the Dominican Republic in 1822, one of the first things they did was confiscate church property, deport foreign clergy and sever ties with the Vatican. This upset a majority of Dominicans who were "aggravated by their [Haitian's] lack of respect for the Church. The folk and African influences in the Haitian religions were seen as uncivilized and based on superstitions by the Dominicans." (Sheridan 1997, 36) The occupation furthered the animosity of many Dominican attitudes towards the Haitians.
Ever since this independence from the Haitian occupation, "Haitian" identity has become the "other," the enemy of the Dominican Republic. "The goals of political and cultural life in the Dominican Republic were to become everything that Haiti was not." (Sheridan 1997, 37)
Race and Identity Under Trujillo
No leader "other-ed" Haitians more than Trujillo, who idolized Hitler. "Hitler's ideas gave Trujillo a racist and nationalist plan to distract Dominicans from their empty stomachs." (Wucker: 1998, par. 7) Trujillo used Haitians as scapegoats for Dominican problems, claiming that if Dominicans could not feed themselves, how could they afford to feed Haitian foreigners too. Under Trujillo, Haitian migrant workers were treated terribly and often erratically quickly deported, though the sugar plantations still needed Haitian help. Powerful American sugar companies encouraged, even brought, Haitians in the Dominican Republic-thwarting Trujillo's plans to deport them. American companies, one of Haitians few supporters, protected the Haitians, but only because they would work for practically nothing.
Trujillo sought to boost Dominican nationalism by hyping up white, European roots and denying African ones. One of Trujillo's most devastating escapades to "whiten" his country was a massacre of up to 40,000 "Haitians" on the border of the Dominican Republic and Haiti in 1937. October 3, when drunk at a party, Trujillo ordered a "solution" to the Haitian problem, a week long spree of massacre. Many of Trujillo's men were deployed to the border with machetes (using blades, not bullets, to pretend it was a peasant uprising) to kill dark skinned Haitians in the Dominican Republic. (Wucker: 1998, par 8)
Now how did the soldiers determine the difference between the Haitians and the Dominicans? Apparently they used a "Shibboleth"(2) to separate the Haitians from the Dominicans. The soldiers apparently held up a sprig of parsley up in front of any dark skinned person they encountered. If the person called the sprig "perejil" with the Spanish trilled "R", the person was saved. If the person instead used the wide, flat Kreyol "R" the person was killed. So in this case, Haitians were identified not only by their dark skin color but by their language. (Wucker 1998: par 12) Scholars however, question this hypothesis as many on the Dominico-Haitian border are bilingual, and therefore could pronounce the R in either the Spanish or Kreyol fashion. Most likely, the only way the soldiers identified "Haitians" was by skin color. Besides, Trujillo's main objective was whitening the race. Even if the soldiers did kill Dominicans, they still succeeded in killing off more dark skinned people. Here the Dominicans used both language and skin color to identify Haitians. They spared few:
Loyal servants of Dominicans were not spared, nor were Haitian husbands and wives of Dominicans. Sometimes, if they were lucky, the victims convinced their murderers to let their children flee to Haiti. "The children cry in Spanish now. Who will understand them in Haiti? (Wucker 1999: 50)
These children were forced to flee to Haiti even though the Haitians would not understand them. The Dominican murderers forced the Haitian identity upon them, though their Spanish would probably have characterized them as Dominican.
Haitians Migrating to the Dominican Republic
So why are there so many Haitians in the Dominican Republic? Sugar plantations began growing up in the Twentieth Century particularly after the US invasion from 1916 to 1924, heavily increasing the need for cheap labor. Sugar cane production grew from 4,000 tons in 1900 to 50,000 tons in 1905 to 204,018 tons in 1919. Since there were not sufficient Dominican laborers, the primarily US owned plantations began recruiting Haitians to supply labor. The Haitian migrant populations in the Dominican Republic grew from 28,258 in 1920 to 52,567 in 1935. (Migration Rights Group 1986:9)
The Dominican sugar plantations had first used workers from throughout the West Indies. The fall in sugar prices in 1920 and the 1929 Depression pushed plantations to rely even more heavily on the cheapest labor available . . the nearby Haitians. (Migration Rights Group 1986: 9) The American press in Haiti began spreading rumors that Haitians could get rich by migrating to Haiti to cut cane. (Sheridan 1997: 40) So this peasant movement was voluntary in that Haitians often chose to cross the border lured by claims of fat paychecks. However, according to the Migration Rights Group:
The policies and actions of the Government of Haiti have obscured the distinction between voluntary and involuntary migration. When a government not only seems disinterested in promoting general development, but even seems to promote such development as does occur through displacement, motivations for migration can only be labeled as both economic and political. These same policies have made the Haitian workers a poor and compliant labor force. Not surprisingly throughout the Caribbean region they are the most exploited and mistreated migrant labor group." (1986: 9)
So though Haitians often freely moved into the Dominican Republic, when government policies
do little to help the economic situation at home, even encouraging their migration, Haitians can be seen as both economic and political refugees. This explanation does not even cover the political suffering Haitians have suffered, particularly under the Duvalier regime with his brutal Tonton Macoutes secret police force.
In 1939, under Trujillo's leadership the Dominican state began regulating of Haitian workers began including military transportation. These regulations, however, lapsed between 1940 and 1952. During this time Haitians still remained the mainstay of Dominican sugar production. (Migration Rights Group 1986: 9) In 1952, Trujillo began other guest worker programs which have been likened to slavery. Under this contract labor system migration grew until in 1980 about 200,000 (conservatively estimated) Haitians worked in the Dominican Republic. These workers worked on a piece rate of $1.55 to $1.70 per ton, now around $3 says an Organization of American State Document. (OAS: 1999) The amount of cane cut depends on the worker, one could probably get up to three tons per day. (Stepick: 1986, 10)
The Haitian government also received compensation for their export of labor. With Cuba losing its favored status with the United States when Castro came to power in 1959, the Dominican Republic began receiving more of the US sugar quota. In order to assure Haitian labor, new President Joaquín Balaguer (former right hand man of the late Trujillo) met with François Duvalier (Papa Doc) to determine financial arrangements for the sugar cane season. In 1966 the Haitian government received $1,380,000 for contracts with 20,000 workers. Interestingly, the sum never made it into the Haitian budget . . . (Sheridan 1997: 45)
In 1980, however, a Duvalier, this time Jean Claude (Baby Doc) received $1.6 million in "recruitment costs" plus an additional $251,000. This extra cash was for about 100 Tonton Macoutes labeled "supervisors" who both defused worker protests and also to spy on Haitian political exiles. (Stepick: 1986, 9) As one could guess, these Haitian laborers were not going to do much "communicating" in the Diaspora of Haitians. If their poverty didn't keep their voices from being heard, the Tonton Makouts would do the stifling. The bilateral agreements regarding trade continued until 1986 with the fall of the Duvalier regime. (Van Hear: 1998, 134)
In the last 30 years, another important aspect of Haitian migration has been the hiring of buscones, or contractors hired by sugar corporations. The buscones, usually Haitian, can get paid $10 to $25 for each man they bring to the plantation. The Dominican border patrol, often involved in the migration, sends migrants attempting to cross the border to plantations to work. (Sheridan 1997: 46) With the bilateral recruitment falling apart in 1986, a labor shortage developed in the Dominican Republic making the role of buscones even more important. (Van Hear: 1998, 134)
Life on the Batey
Life on the Batey is often referred to as slavery as the workers are paid so terribly or even not at all. They obviously have no freedom as armed guards force them to stay on the plantations, supposedly to keep them from spreading disease to the Dominicans. A Dominican attorney and Haitian immigrant specialist said that, "In the entire continent, there are no human beings who receive more cruel treatment than the Haitian braceros in the Dominican Republic, regardless of what the law says." Batey conditions include dirt-floored barracks and a diet of cane juice with lemon and bread. Most workers are plagued by infections which often cover a large proportion of their bodies, most also suffer from dislocated backs. (Stepick: 1986, 10)
In Michel Wucker's book, she describes the harsh realities of the Bateys through the eye (only one for his right eye was lost when from a flying piece of sugar cane) of Julien Emanuel who migrated to the Dominican Republic when a recruiter arrived in his Haitian village promising $25 a day, in US dollars too, for cane workers. Far from $25 dollars a day, Julien found a life of quazi-slavery with not enough pay to cover the bare necessities at the company store. Barely one third of the Haitian workers can read and typically only attended one and a half years of school. One in five braceros is seriously injured each year. (Wucker 1999: 95)
Very few Haitians ever obtain legal status in the Dominican Republic, though many were even recruited by the government. Migration authorities report that between 500,000 and 700,000 Haitian workers are in the Dominican Republic however only about 5% of them have identification. Many braceros are actually Dominican citizens according to the constitution since they were born on Dominican land, however, since the children were born on the bateys, their births were never documented and they never received citizenship. Even a case of a Haitian migrant worker who had documentation of his children's birth was denied Dominican national cedula cards. (OAS 1998: par 357) Living on the Batey kept these Haitian descended children from claiming Dominican identity, even though they legally merited it. In 1996, Dominican authorities went on a rampage rounding up Braceros and forcing them to Haiti, even destroyed identity cards. Often, race played a role in who they rounded up to repatriate as the police didn't even ask where they workers were from or how long they were in the Dominican Republic. (OAS 1998: par 329)
Human rights groups traveling to the Dominican Republic in 1998 determined that "Haitian workers and Dominican workers of Haitian origin, like their wives and children, continued being victims of racial discrimination and human rights violations." (OAS 1998: 336) The racism in the Dominican Republic is so bad that if a migrant of Haitian descent gets a Dominican cedula, identity card much of the time may ignore their Haitian identity instead conforming more to the Dominican identity. Jose Adame is an example of this, Adame is not a Dominican citizen but of Haitian descent. He does not continue to identify with the plight of the Haitians in the Dominican Republic. Instead he says: "I have a cedula because I was born here and my father is Dominican. But people who don't have their papers, the Dominicans have every right to deport them. They are illegal." The bad racial climate of the Dominican Republic, forces even those with Haitian blood to identify with the plight of the Haitian.
In the Dominican Republic we see multiple identities Dominicans identifying anyone who is black as Haitian and worthless, and Haitians trying to identify as Dominican if possible. The example of Haitians in the Dominican Republic does not have the sort of Diasporic Consciousness exemplified by the diaspora theorists.
Haitian Identity in the United States
History of Haitian Migration to the United States
Transnational migration from Haiti to the United States began when slave rebellion lead to the independence of Haiti from France. Many white slave owners fled to the United States and France around 12,000 Haitian slaves were also brought to the United States with their fleeing masters. (Goldberg 1992: 209) In Twentieth Century, the Duvalier regime was the main catalyst pushing Haitians abroad. In the decades before the Duvaliers, only about 3,000 Haitians migrated to the United States (Basch 1994:157) With the elections of François Duvalier in 1959, the mulatto elite were the first wave of Haitians to flee. A second wave began around 1965 when Duvalier declared himself "president à vie." This wave included more of Haitian's middle class: educators, professionals, merchants, civil servants and students. (Averill:254) Between 1961 and 1980 about 90,834 legal immigrants arrived in the US with about another 90,000 arriving illegally. (Basch 1994: 157) These early Haitian migrants, mainly considered themselves "temporary migrants" waiting for political conditions in Haiti to improve. Since the migrants energies were so focused on Haiti, they did not unite together as a political force in the United States. The classes also did not want to mix, since many migrants were still concerned about preserving their social status back in Haiti.
Social prejudice derived from insular Haiti guided behavior in the new environment, revealing the deep divisions of class and race among Haitian immigrants. When possible upper-class Haitians moved out of lower-class neighborhoods like Bedford Stuyvesant or the Flatbush area or into Queens or out of the city entirely to places like Rockland County. The Queens-Brooklyn dichotomy came to represent a new dividing line between lelite-la and the piti pèp-la (elite and the "small people"). (Averill: 259)
These early Haitian migrants not only identified themselves as Haitian, but also still identified strongly with the social class positions that they had held in Haiti. And of course, as described in Haitian history, skin color played a large factor in how Haitian class was divided.
Soon however, even Haitians of the lower classes began migrating, as the economic and political life in the country degraded further under Duvalier. With the Tonton Makouts terrorizing the countryside, peasants began to pool their savings to send family members to the United States. (Averill: 255) 1963, the first boat of 25 Haitian refugees landed on US shores. In setting a precedent for the future, all 25 migrants asking for refugee status were denied asylum by the US government. (Farmer 1994:118) In 1972, even more Haitians began risking the long sea journey to the United States. By 1981, 50 to 60 boats were circulating between Haiti and the United States capable of carrying 100 people each. These boats making the US-Haiti trip once every 22 days carried 6,000 migrants per month. The prices were extravagant and the conditions terrible. The immigration business became profitable for some. (Stepick: 1986,11) Between 1971 and 1980 about 35,000 to 45,000 Haitians arrived on US shores by small boat. (Basch 1994: 161) By 1990, between 700,000 and 1,500,000 Haitians lived abroad. (Farmer 1994: 118)
With the end of the Duvalier regime and finally the election of Father Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 1990, the flow of Haitians fleeing the country slowed to a trickle until the military coup which ousted Aristide in September of 1991, only eight months after Aristide's election. With the coup, 100,000 Haitians fled to the Dominican Republic and tens of thousands fled by boat to the United States. In order to stop this flow of Haitians arriving on South Florida shores, the United States under President George Bush announced that it would stop the influx of migrants and return them forcibly to Haiti, calling them "economic" not political refugees. Senator Edward Kennedy and the Congressional Black Caucus criticized Bush's action and urged toughening of sanction against the new military government. (Farmer 1994: 199) Presidential candidate Bill Clinton, too, criticized the Bush policy, but continued it, even strengthening it, when he assumed the Presidency.
Which Identity?
So how have these Haitians in the United States identified themselves? Did they follow the model in the Dominican Republic where they were forced into the Other identity due to dark skin color? In the Dominican Republic, the Haitians took on the Dominican identity if possible to avoid the stigmatized Haitian connection. Did the Haitians strive to take on an American identity? Or did similar skin color and common African heritage lead Haitians to take on an African American or Afro Caribbean identity?
In the United States as in the Dominican Republic, history is filled with prejudice against those with darker skin. According to Carolle Charles, "US social structure tens to take the form of a polarized society organized primarily along racial lines in which the subordinated pole at the bottom--is filled by blacks." (Charles: 1992,104) Though Charles also points out that this is a perception and that it does not necessarily reflect the real socio-economic position of all blacks. However the perception is still strong and heavily influences identity. Based on the perception of blacks sitting on the bottom of this polarized society, Charles contends that Haitian identity is specifically formed to stay away from this "black" categorization: "In searching to achieve economic or social mobility, political power or civil rights, Haitian immigrants in New York City differentiate themselves from the black African population." (Charles: 1992, 110)
Charles contends that Haitians main concern in self identification is to differentiate from the black African population. The majority of Haitians definitely strive to develop their own sort of identity either Haitian, or French or Caribbean, however, more recently Haitians have also taken on the African American identity and do not always differentiate themselves. Haitians actually have taken on many identities over different periods of time, often based on politics of the time. Though out, however, skin color heavily influences the identities they take on.
The French Identity
The first migrants to the United States were predominantly the mulatto elite. In Haiti, this group held strong European ties and disassociated themselves with the darker skinned Haitian peasants. Upon arrival to the United States, these mulattoes found themselves characterized as fully black, based on their portion of African heritage. Charles describes this as :
"It was with the development of slavery that blackness came to be associated with the bottom . . . In that construct, all Africans, and thus all blacks, were incorporated into a single category, without distinguishing among them." (Charles: 1992, 105)
So a drop of African blood, categorized a person as black in the American mentality. How odd for the Haitian mulatto who considered black to be the Haitian peasantry. In order to separate themselves from this blackness and the subordinate bottom position of blacks, the early Haitian migrants associated themselves heavily with their European ancestors and French culture.
The need of Haitian immigrants to resist their placement in the US racial order led Haitian immigrants to present themselves publicly as bearers of French culture rather than as citizens of a black nation. (Basch 1994: 186)
A bilingual teacher named Yves Raymond, when interviewed by National Public Radio recalls being called "French Fry" in the 50s and 60s. (All Things Considered 1994) This shows how prevalent the identity became--school children were calling Haitians French, even if used pejoratively. Children even took pride in these nick-names. French speaking newspapers in New York further legitimized the Haitian French identity, by publishing little tidbits about Haiti and Haitian immigrants in their papers. (Basch 1994: 187)
And though many early Haitian immigrants identified themselves as French to the outside world, as mentioned before in the Haitian community, Haitians held tight to their social class identity from Haiti. This is one of the huge factors for why the Haitians did not join together more as a political force in the United States, class divisions. And as told in the Haitian History section, class divisions in Haiti, were often influenced by race. Haitian immigrants struggled to preserve their previous class identity with the bourgeoisie paying higher rents and even living in more crowded quarters just to move away from neighborhoods with many African Americans, Caribbeans and other Haitians. "Lines of class, delineated by categories of color, shaped the initial Haitian settlement." (Basch 1994: 189)
Though many immigrants may have had heavy African roots, they covered them up with the European. Henry Frank, who heads the Haitian Council Center described how Voodoo, by many, was shunned because of its heavy black, African connotations.
"When I grew up, there was a tendency to show the world how sophisticated you were by denying your roots. Well-educated people would say they didn't know anything about Vodou. But as soon as they had trouble, they knew exactly where to go." (Winston: 1999)
Though this French affiliation and denying of African roots died off somewhat, even in 1992 a Haitian woman who spoke no French, enrolled her child in a bilingual school for French and English just because or the prestige. (Basch: 1994, 188)
The Haitian Identity
In the 1970s, the Haitian immigrant population began to change significantly with larger numbers of the rural population leaving for the United States. These new migrants became an increasingly visible sector of the Haitian immigrant population. "Their presence affected the perceptions of the US media. These images and the configuration of Haitian identity in the United States." (Basch 1994: 161) So the French identity of Haitian immigrants changes as the mulatto elite of the first migration waves become outnumbered.
The French identity is also challenged by the growing movement in Haiti in the end of the 1970s in which gave strength to the Kreyol language and more respect to the peasants. During this time, Duvalier switched a black nationalist rhetoric to one of democratic reform. The United States helped out with this new democratic cause supporting many grassroots projects for the peasants. Little churches sprung up called ti legliz that gave the Haitian peasantry a voice in Kreyol that also promoted African heritage. So the Haitian identity grew also in the United States as a culture tied to African cultures.
Unfortunately at the same time as Haitians are gaining pride in and developing a Haitian identity for themselves, the Haitian identity became more stigmatized. "As the recession of the 1970s grew, Haitians became scapegoats. Visibly black and immigrant, Haitians found themselves constructed by the US media as the undesirable other, differentiated as illiterate, impoverished, and ragged boat people." (Basch: 1994, 194) The Center for Disease Control also labeled Haitians as a higher risk group for AIDS. (This classification was finally dropped in 1990 as biased and inaccurate.) (Gordy 1994, par 7)
Children at schools picked on the Haitian immigrant children. A Haitian immigrant interviewed on NPR, author Edwine Danticat, discussed the teasing received from American kids:
Children at school were accused of having 'HBO'-Haitian Body Odor. Many of the American kids even accused Haitians of having AIDS because they had heard on television that only the four H's got AIDS-heroin addicts, hemophiliacs, homosexuals and Haitians. I wanted to tell my mother that I didn't want to go to school. Frankly, I was afraid. (All Things Considered: 1994)
Danticat also says that was in the early eighties, and things have gotten even worse. In an "all-black" Brooklyn public high school, Haitian students see much prejudice against them. One African American student Princess held strong opinions regarding Haitians:
They're trying to take what little we have away from us . . . I don't think they have no rights with nothing. They're dirty. They stinks. They always hit other people's cars with their dollar cars, so I don't like it. . . I don't care about Haitians because they don't care about me. (All Things Considered: 1994)
So how do Haitians deal with this prejudice against them, how does it affect their identity? For some, not being accepted into the African American community in schools forces Haitian students to unify more with each other. "We don't get harassed by the white kids or the Hispanics or the Asians, it's always the blacks. They picked on us one by one, and finally we decided to stand together," said Oliver Volcimus, a 16 year old Haitian immigrant at a New York school. (Gordy: 1999)
The fact that the Haitians mainly got harassed by the African Americans shows that skin color still influences identity. Many however say that Haitians should not be assumed to assimilate with African Americans because they share such completely different backgrounds. An assistant principle at Clara Barton High School in New York, Judith Garcia, says any solidarity that black students might feel about a common skin color is outweighed by stark cultural differences.
"The Haitian students almost always come from intact families and tend to be practicing Catholics who dress and act more conservatively than their African American peers. Often their parents encourage them to stay away from Americans-many of whom come from broken homes-for fear they'll pick up street values like drugs and premarital sex." (Gordy: 1999)
So not only do children get ostracized by the African Americans, but parents, according to Garcia, encourage them to stay separate. Though emphasizing an interesting view point, Garcia's view of Haitians is skewed. Garcia calls Haitians predominantly Catholic when the majority in Haiti practice Vodùm. Perhaps her school has more influence from the first and second waves of Haitian immigrants or else even more recent immigrants are identifying with Roman Catholics instead of Vodùm.
Another reason why Haitians may not bond more with the African American populations is that they haven't faced the same sort of racism that many African Americans have. For some Haitians, arriving in the United States is the first form of blatant racism that they have ever faced. (Charles:1992, 110) A study of identity development of 232 black Americans and Carribean immigrants in Manhattan and Brooklyn showed that immigrants identify less with the struggle against white racism because they didn't grow up with it. They may feel that they are less apt to be held back because of race because they come from countries where they were in the majority. (Gordy 1999)
Though the Haitians in the United States may try to separate themselves from the African Americans, oftentimes blackness is still a key part of their Haitian identity. When dark skinned Portuguese migrated to the United States and fought in the Army during World War II, they were classified as "Negro." Here, racial identity took precedence over former nationality or immigrant status. The same holds true for Haitians, however, Haitians also stress the pride in the darkness. Haitians hold special pride in their revolution, a slave revolt throwing off Napoleon is quite a feat.
Haitians have to struggle to be black with out becoming black. . . . One strategy is to disassociate from the American blacks by metaphorically placing themselves within the now venerable American immigrant experience . . .[the Haitian Revolution] had a deeper and more lasting impact on the self-image and nascent national identity of free blacks, especially in the northern United States . . . the revolution became a symbolic negation of everything slavery represented. (Goldberg: 1992, 209)
This Haitian pride as the ones who overthrew Napoleon is also important to the Haitian identity.
The African American Identity
Haitian pride in their history; the rebirth of Kreyol in Haiti; not wanting to be associate with African Americans perceived at the bottom of US polarized social structures; and also not being accepted by the African Americans shows why Haitians would take on the Haitian identity--forsaking alignment with African Americans. This argument agrees with Carolle Charles' thesis. However, in other cases, Haitians definitely do want to align themselves with African Americans.
For some school children in New York City, African American identity is one way to avoid the stigmatization of the Haitian identity. In the NPR report, they interviewed a Haitian student who encountered much prejudice against Haitians so he tried to meld in the best he could with the African Americans.
Narrator: Joseph has been cornered and threatened just because he's Haitian, and the attacks, he says are not just from other African Americans but, increasingly, from other Caribbean immigrants, immigrants from Trinidad and Jamaica. He sits on a stool, his baggy blue jeans hanging over his high top tennis shoes.
Joseph: Sometimes you don't want to look like Haitians. So- If you don't to be harassed, so, you wear big clothes like them so you can look like them. Sometimes when they see you, they say, 'He's Haitian,' so they don't talk to you. Sometimes you don't really feel like talking.
Narrator: So the clothes you are wearing today, you many not have worn those clothes, but you're wearing them for self-protection?
Joseph: That's true, that's right. (All Things Considered 1994)
Another student interviewed by NPR, Janette, also tells of how she changed her hair and clothes to seem less Haitian, changing from the elaborate braids she would wear in Haiti to a simple American ponytail in the United States. Covering up Janette's Haitian identity is the way she is able to deal with the prejudice she faces in school. Janette described how she didn't talk to her parents about the situation as they themselves had too much to worry about with their own lives. This is a definite difference from the situation described by Judith Garcia in Clara Barton High School, where Haitian parents are strongly discouraging identification with African Americans. Perhaps those Haitian parents are economically better off. Janette's parents, however, struggling with their own existence do not have the time to worry about who their child is hanging out with. For Janette and Joseph, trying to take on the African American identity seems to be the easiest and most beneficial identity to take on.
Shying away from the Haitian identity is not only an individual thing. In the late seventies when the Haitians began to receive more bad press, Haitian organizations themselves began taking on different identities to avoid the stigma the press was giving them. "As the attack on Haitians escalated, Haitian immigrants organized around religious, professional, fraternal, athletic, hometown, Caribbean, and African identities. The majority of the 98 Haitian immigrant organizations we had studied in 1985, had not chosen a Haitian public identity." (Basch 1994: 195) So here, Haitian groups are centering on non-Haitian organization. With the beginning of the 1990s, however, the political turmoil in Haiti, the Haitian community began allying more with the African American community.
In the early 1980s under Jean Claude Duvalier's repression and the boat people arriving on US shores, Haitian boats were being put into Florida's Krone Detention Center in "concentration camp-like settings." Lighter skinned Cubans were arriving at the same time and were welcomed as political refugees showing the inequalities of US immigration policy. The Congressional Black Caucus took on the cause and in 1981 began lobbying congress about the issue. Haitians too began to mobilize and there was a demonstration of 10,000 people in New York City. The political turmoil in Haiti in the early 1990s with the 1991 coup also sent more Haitians flooding into the seas and landing upon Florida shores, President Bush turned them around or sent them to camps on in Guantanamo. Again, members of the Congressional Black Caucus that began lobbying around the Haitians, urging Bush to do something more. (Farmer 1994: 199) The Congressional Black Caucus and Southern Baptist Churches also helped sponsoring Haitians as refugees. In spite of this help that the African American community was giving them, "the majority of African immigrants continued to believe that to obtain economic success and social acceptance in the United States they must distinguish themselves from African Americans." (Basch 1994: 200)
Many African American political groups thought that Haitians should align themselves with the African Americans.
They [African American groups] saw ethnicity and race as overlapping identities for Haitians. An African-American social worker told us that "Haitians should be part of a [black] network, should be part of the NAACP and all that good stuff, should pay some attention to organizing of blacks." (Basch 1994: 202)
This example shows the importance of race identity in the United States. Charles says that though race influences Haitian identity in Haiti, in the United States but in the United States race becomes an even more important issue:
[In Haiti] The formation of Haitian identity is not informed primarily by race. However, in the United States, blackness does inform consciousness and shape identities, in particular racial identity. (Charles: 1992, 109)
So it seems that with migration to the United States, the racial climate here forces Haitians to eventually take on a racial identity. Previously, Haitian immigrants did not organize politically since they saw themselves as only temporary migrants to the United States. But the longer Haitians stay, the more they vest in the politics of the host country. "Many of us have this notion that 'I am not going to die here, I'm going back home.' But that is changing now. Haitians are now saying, 'This is where I am going to be, and so I have to step up to the political plate and get involved. I have children here," said Ronald Aubourg of the Haitian Centers Council. (Marks 1999: par 5)
With the 1997 beating of Haitian immigrant Abner Louima by the New York police and the recent killing of an African immigrant racial tensions have heightened around the city. Max Lartigue, from Brooklyn says that the Haitian community and the black community are now one, that these events have now brought them together. Of the Louima beating, Lartigue says "It wasn't a Haitian thing, it was a black thing. Being Haitian, didn't mean anything. It was all because he was black." (Marks 1999: par 14)
So for increasing reasons, the Haitian community is aligning itself with the African American community. Both benefit from this by showing political strength. However some African Americans get upset that they help Haitians, then Haitians don't show up to help African Americans with their political mobilization. "When we have a march for democracy in Haiti, African Americans will show up to support us,. But when they hold a demonstration about problems here, Haitians almost never show up. We have to change that," said Jean Vernet a Haitian political activist. (Gordy 1999)
So Haitians now ally themselves slightly more with the African American community, though they shunned alignment in the beginning. However, Haitians still hold a very distinct identity. They are still concerned with the politics of their home country and have not lived with the same legacy of American racism that the African Americans have. The Haitians also hold a very distinct culture with African and European influences. They are also very colored by their pride in the 1804 revolution. Though common skin color may encourage Haitians to identify with African Americans, they with always carry their Haitian identity.
Haitian immigrants sometimes accept and sometimes reject self-identification as a population with a political future within the United States. While at times they see themselves as separate from other black populations in the United States, at other times they identify with these populations. (Basch 1994: 148)
So Haitians in the United States carry many different identities from French, to Haitian Kreyol, to African American, to Afro Caribbean, to black, to African. These multiple identities are very characteristic of transnational migration theory as "No single identity . . . fully articulates their spatially dislocated but interpersonally connected social experience." (Basch 1994: 148) However, each of these identities are heavily influenced by race.
Concluding Remarks on Haitian Identity and the Haitian Case
Looking at the effects of race in Haitian history as well as their identity in movement into the United States and the Dominican Republic, one can also make some educated guesses about Haitian identity in other sites of Haitian migration such as the Bahamas, France and Canada. As discussed previously, Haitian migrants have fared very differently in different countries. Based on a small amount of research, the Haitian case in the Bahamas mirrors that of Haitians in the Dominican Republic. Haitians migrate to the Bahamas for the same reasons, to work on sugar plantations. Haitians in Canada, particularly in French-speaking Quebec Montreal may have similar experiences as those in the United States. Though the French Canadian experience varies slightly as the Haitians may have more cultural capital as some speak French.
The migrants to France may have different identities too, but because France is so much further away, this presupposes a fair amount more capital to sustain a lifestyle so far from the homeland. But racism has been growing in France particularly towards North Africans. This probably has a huge affect on Haitians as they might want to show the importance of their French and perhaps Roman Catholic heritage to differentiate themselves from the North Africans many of whom are Muslim. It would be interesting if Haitians are trying to blend in more, or perhaps associating more with the communities from France's Departement's D'Outre Mer like Guadeloupe and Martinique. Looking at how Haitians wanted to avoid identification with African Americans for fear of incurring stigma, it would be doubtful that Haitians would try to ally themselves with the North Africans, though they do share common African roots.
Looking at Haitian migrants through out the world, one thing is clear, that they have MANY identities based on varying circumstances in the host country and that often the identities are affected by race. This lack of one common unifying identity shows that there isn't one diasporic consciousness as with the Jewish, Armenia or Sikh case. Though there is a diasporic conversation and connections among several nodes of the diaspora, notably France, the United States and Canada, however, this ignores Haitians in migration in the Bahamas and the Dominican Republic. Perhaps one day as the Haitian migrants grow in power, in political, cultural and economic capital, we will see a larger diasporic consciousness with the Jewish form as a model as Safran suggests. But until then one sees the Haitian transnational migration as a sort of Half diaspora.
1. Meaning: Bogeymen with Sacks
2. In the book of Judges, forth thousand Ephraimites were killed at the River Jordan because of their inability to pronounce "Shibboleth" a word which betrayed them as foreigners. (Wucker 1998) Now Shibboleth is a term used to describe a word with betrays origins.