Watson investigates the emigration of indigenous Amerindians in the West Indies during the period 1834-1900 and their replacement with enslaved Africans. After the emancipation of the slaves in 1833, the poor whites, who used to perform militia service on plantations in the West Indies, were forced to emigrate due to lack of employment opportunities.;
"In our Cold War fight with Castro, (we were) willing to subsidize Cubans to leave to come here and at the same time lock Haitians out. That is not fair, and we deserve a different policy," [Jesse L. Jackson Sr.] said. He said the U.S. pays to bring Cubans here, subsidizes them, but pays to send Haitians back to Haiti. "That's not fair," he stated. "Haiti fought for our freedom." "The Cubans are political refugees looking for political freedom, and they're given money to come, but, the Haitians are economic refugees so they must go back. There are more Haitians who've died... than Cubans," Jackson said calling for an end to the double standard of refugees between Cuba and Haitians seeking to come to America.