My political love affair with Obama is experiencing some heartache. The Obama Administration has recently begun deporting 30,000 Haitians, many of whom have lived in the States for years, are married and even have children there. This while Haiti is still experiencing the fallout from last summer's hurricanes, skyrocketing food insecurity, and potential political instability with upcoming elections... In protest, the Haitian government is refusing to process the paperwork allowing these deportees to return to Haiti.
Here's a pretty good article about the situation. If you're put off by the fact that it's on the World Socialist Website (whoops, yours truly does in fact have some socialist leanings), here's an article that you might find more balanced.
Readers in the States will recognize this as a complex issue, but to most Haitians it boils down to racism, pure and simple. They look at how easy it is for light-skinned Cubans to find amnesty in the States and given that their own country is far more unstable, can only deduce that their difficulty in obtaining US visas is because of the color of their skin. Interestingly, most seem to disassociate Obama from this. He's still the good guy, just catering to the interests of his conservative, white constituents.
Tomorrow I'll be representing the Platform of Haitian Human Rights Organizations at a round table discussion hosted by IOM (the International Organization for Migration). If I learn anything of interest, I'll report it here.
2 comments:
he's an interesting person. appreciate your thoughts.
Wow. Of course in the UK this was barely covered, because Obama seems spotless. We will hope for a miracle. Please give us an update from the Human Rights forum! We miss you two.
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