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.
60 p., Explores the legal means by which victims of natural disasters could qualify as refugees and thus benefit from the power of migration as a tool for disaster recovery.
Discussed is the case of Elian Gonzalez, a six-year-old Cuban boy whom U. S. officials want to send back to his father in Cuba. Dawkins hopes that the case will be the catalyst for further national debate over immigration
TransAfrica Executive Director Randall Robinson is prepared to starve himself to death in protest of the Clinton administration policy on Haiti, and he has the overwhelming support of the CBC.
