Last May, President Bush signed an Executive Order allowing the Coast Guard to immediately turn back Haitian boat refugees without checking to determine if they were fleeing political persecution. Before that, thousands of Haitians had crowded into unsafe boats to try to get away from their dangerous homeland. The U.S. tagged them "economic" rather than political refugees. "The fact is our government has turned a blind eye to Haitians," said Wade Henderson, director of NAACP's Washington bureau. I have a dream that I intend to make a reality. I'm calling on African Americans and Haitians here in Miami to come together to sit down, talk and work out a plan to help Haitians. But I'm also asking that Hispanics, Jews, Anglos -- everyone -- pitch in to help.
Amid the flurry of designations by the media, law enforcement officials, and advocacy organizations--terms ranging from "migrants" to "asylum-seekers" to "economic refugees"--one thing was clear. The people aboard that boat had fled desperate conditions for safe harbor in the U.S. What awaited them when they touched land was then, and remains, a matter of great contention. When asked about the implications of the designation "migrant," Miami field office INS public relations officer Barbara Gonzalez said that in the context of INS policy, "There is really no such thing as a migrant." She said, "Many use the word," when the correct terminology for what they intend is "non-immigrant." How about the terms "alien" and "refugee?" Amnesty International notes that the term "alien" has been used in U.S. legislation to describe various types of non-citizens, including those Amnesty would call "asylum-seekers." Similarly, the INS describes an alien as any non-citizen or national of the U.S.
One group of Black immigrants have become involved in the economic and political life of Miami, and their power is being felt in North Dade. I call this the New Haitian Revolution. It began on many fronts. I remember listening to some Black American men laughing-at Haitians because family members would pool their money to buy a home. Multiple families would live in the house, and then the families would pool together and buy another house. Eventually, all of the Haitian families would own a home. I wonder what those same Black men are saying now, when Haitians now own homes and their detractors are still renting. This was the start of a quiet new Haitian revolution. Haitians working together to improve their economic fortunes - a method employed by other successful immigrant groups such as Jews and Cubans. The revolution took place quietly, but it is now clear that there is a new power group in this community. Haitians have started successful medical practices, radio stations, law firms, and other businesses. They have taken over the politics of the City of North Miami, and are one of the new power groups being courted by anyone running a county wide race.
Another established Caribbean tradition runs counter to the claim that racism there is unusual and of recent origin. This is the tendency to account for a person's character by identifying the racial identity of that individual's parents. West Indians, quite spontaneously, account for each other's personality traits with statements such as "Well, after all, his father was white," or "His father was quite dark you know. In Guyana and Trinidad, one hears frequently that East Indians are by nature "cheap". Elsewhere, Syrians and Jews are, reportedly, successful merchants because of their "clannishness". The Caribs of Dominica are described as Creoles as "lazy drunkards", and the Caribs accuse Creoles of being "mean" and "immoral". Throughout the islands, Creoles who are dark are said to be less motivated for success, and those who are lighter are accused of being snobbish and too sober for their own good. Since independence, racial discrimination has been systemically condemned, and with a good deal of success. But racism (at least in the form of the belief that "once we know a person's racial background, we then know much about that persons' abilities and character traits,") is very much ingrained in the thinking of many West Indians. This style of racism has met with no effective challenge comparable to the American Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's. In the absence of racial segregation or the North American type of racial polarization, and with what scholars call the Caribbean "myth of racial harmony," most leaders throughout the region seldom address this insidious racism.
The carnival image of racial harmony When Brazil became a democracy in 1988, the new constitution specified that they should be given land. But in practice, only a handful have. The local priest in Camburi, Father [Alexander Coelho], urges villagers to unite to demand land. He says that Brazil has a race problem which it is only starting to face up to. "Three hundred years of slavery, 300 hundred years of submission - it's hard to teach people to change that mindset," he says. "In Brazil, there was no discussion about race ... there was a pseudo-equality. When we started to talk about it, we were accused of bringing racism to Brazil," he argues.
Looking at members of the audience during Mr. [Noel Alexander]'s delivery (in English), their disgust was clearly evident, as if to say..."how dare he come before this commission into our future country, Quebec and deliver a prepared speech in English." As if to underline this, a Bloc Quebecois member of parliament recently said that "...the future of Quebec should be decided only by 'Quebecois de souche...'" That was the right thing to do. (Notwithstanding the fact that some French-speaking Jewish people who support Quebec independence say that the Canadian Jewish Congress "don't speak for all Jews.)"
Over half a century later, it would be Marcus Garvey, the goer, against WEB Dubois, the stayer. Although, even Du Bois himself was to get so fed up with American racism that in the `60s at the time of the great new possibilities promised by the Dr King's Civil Rights Movement, he left America to go to Nkrumah's Ghana where he was to die on the eve of Dr King's, `I Have a Dream Speech'. Following Du Bois and Garvey, the Rastafarian movement-which was founded in the 1930's in Jamaica, were to be the next manifestation of goers even though its real impact was not to be felt for another forty years. They were followed by the next great two goers and stayers - Malcolm X (and the Nation of Islam) and Martin Luther King. Luther King's `I Have a Dream' speech was in the tradition of frederick [Frederick Douglass], and was perhaps the most eloquent statement yet of the need to sit tight, fight and make manifest the dream of the brotherhood of man. Dream So [Bernie Grant]'s latest call is in the tradition of many others before him - [Martin Delany], Garvey, the later Du Bois, and Malcolm X. Many of those who denounce Bernie at the movement, would turn around and cite some of those whose tradition Bernie embraces as heroes.
