We need a new paradigm in The Bahamas to govern our relationship with Haiti and Haitians

What we resist will persist: The quiet Haitian revolution
By NOELLE NICOLLS
Tribune Staff Reporter
nnicolls@tribunemedia.net


PEOPLE say I am Haitian. They call me a Haitian sympathiser. They even question my patriotism. Their biggest mistake is they think I care either way. I have no insecurities about my identity or my affinity to Haiti.

I recall once upon a time people used to say black is beastly. Thankfully today is another day. In my time, black is beautiful and being Haitian is no shame. So call me what you may, call me what you might, my conviction will not change. Somehow through the thicket of our discontent as a nation, we need a new paradigm to govern our relationship with Haiti and Haitians.

I know most Bahamians can relate to a time as a child when all reason was replaced with rage, and the end result was a temper tantrum. Imagine that one occasion when a moment of stillness emerged after the tears subsided. In that moment, your mother, who did not budge through it all, may have spoken these words: "Finished? Can we go now?" And as if enlightened by divine favour, you began to see with new eyes. Often I wish a moment of calm like that would sweep the collective consciousness of Bahamians, so we would stop the childish hysterics and really start to solve our problems.

Let us imagine for a second that this is that moment and I am the mother. And let us assume for argument's sake that we have new eyes. This is what I would have you contemplate next.

With all the money, time and passion thrown at dealing with the "Haitian problem", have we got anywhere? Last week I contemplated that there is a better way: It requires less money, less resources and fewer headaches, but it is infinitely more difficult, but only because it requires a mental shift.

Last week I examined the Bahamas' unexplored and underdeveloped economic interest in Haiti. I reasoned that the Bahamians had concerns about a scarcity of resources, the security of our people and the sovereignty of our nation. To advance the conversation let us explore the concern about our national sovereignty.

A Tribune242 reader in response to "Time to stop prostituting Haitians", wanted to know if I was advocating the government "halt deportation, because the only thing that would do is send a green light to Haitians that the Bahamas wants them to come". The reader said Miami is a case study of what would be the result.

There are a few things that need to be said. Haitians have never needed a "green light" to come to the Bahamas. We market ourselves around the world with the message that "it's better in the Bahamas." Haitians have reasons to believe that is true. There is a greater probability of dying in Haiti before age 40 than there is in the Bahamas, according to the United Nations Human Development Report of 2005. In Haiti, 65 per cent of the population lives below the income poverty line, unlike the Bahamas with only 9 per cent.

No, I am not saying halt deportation. The Department of Immigration has a role to play, but based on the nature of the beast, it is a limited one. The past decades of raids, deportation and immigration policies have shown us how futile our single-minded strategy has been. Haitians risk the peril of death and the certainty of being marginalized for the chance of opportunity in the Bahamas. How do you really compete against that?

The Department of Immigration has a role to play, but it does not have the power to stop Haitian immigrants from leaving Haiti's shores; to prevent some of them from entering; or to stop Bahamians from exercising their will to hire Haitians, whether legally or illegally.

I am saying: Raids in the order of Thursday night's Fox Hill raid serve no useful purpose. One eyewitness told me of the raid and said they took people out of their homes and beat them for no reason. One person was left red from all the blood that covered his clothes and body. It was like they just took their pent up frustration out on a few random Haitians.

Let us be reminded, as another Tribune242 reader said: "They are not just 'Haitians' or 'foreigners', but each has a face, a name and an identity (like YOU and ME), a story to tell (like YOU and ME) and struggles, pain and heartaches to overcome (like YOU and ME). Where is our compassion for others?"

I am also saying: It is because we force Haitian immigrants into the margins of our society that we create a whole host of counter-productive and self-defeating problems: Squatter communities and marginalised youth, to name a few.

The reader feared a Miami-like situation emerging in the Bahamas, where "the language and culture of the city has been completely taken over by Cubans so much so that you are looked at funny if you can't speak Spanish." Theoretically I suppose this is a risk Bahamians may need to take, but aren't risks a part of life?

There is a universal lesson to learn from the South Florida immigrant population, comprised mainly of people of Latin American descent. South Florida is a handy card to draw to stoke fears, but its example cannot stand scrutiny. When we look at the pattern of integration in South Florida, or lack thereof, there is evidence that it does not fit the American norm or the Bahamian model.

What happened in South Florida was a convergence of several factors: extremely large immigration numbers, not even comparable to the cumulative numbers seen in the Bahamas; a highly concentrated area; the marginalization of a cultural group; and a great white flight, which is probably the most significant of all factors.

"The number of Cubans that came to South Florida, nearly a quarter million of them, were concentrated in the same area. The English speaking Americans rather than trying to assimilate them fled north and left the Cuban Americans to fill a void that was created by their moving," said Mr Leonard Archer, former Ambassador to CARICOM.

"You had really a transplanted society of people who spoke the same language, with the same culture, living in a concentrated area. As a consequence there was less impetus to change and become a part of the mainstream. They created a society in South Florida that is not the normal pattern," he said.

Clearly, Bahamians are not going anywhere, so Haitian nationals are faced with the choice of integration, marginalisation or deportation.

Over the years, South Florida immigrants coalesced around their Latin American cultural identity because of their experience of being marginalised. The act of uniting was a form of resistance and survival. To win social rights, and in some cases basic human rights, the immigrants of common culture formed an organic constituency.

Over time, they acquired political power. So now, there is a large community of Americans of Latin American descent with no insecurities about their origins or their rights. Emboldened by its ability to acquire power in defiance of the system, and left to thrive in a cultural vacuum, there was no longer any need for the community to suppress its cultural identity or assimilate.

And today, South Florida has been enriched by the presence of Latin American immigrants, despite the annoyances of language dynamics. Bahamians who deny this might just be telling a bold face lie: After all, Bahamians practically live in South Florida and other areas in the immigrant nation we call the United States.

There are over 70,000 undocumented Bahamians living in the US, according to the US Immigration and Naturalization Service. Between 1989 and 2004, more than 5,000 Bahamians gained citizenship and there were 12,000 legal residents.

The lesson in all of this is: When a group's identity is the source of its oppression that group will likely bind together on the basis of that identity. The risk of our current policies, beliefs and practices is that the more we marginalise Haitian nationals, the more they can draw strength from that identity.

Marginalisation has not worked for us. One of the results has been squatter communities, like the former Mackey Yard. Bahamians allow Haitian communities to exist, but only on the peripheries. We have no problem when Haitians keep to themselves and stay out of sight. We tolerate them in our communities and hire them at will when they play the role we have designated for them. But we scorn the idea of bringing legitimacy to our sordid affair.

Another result of marginalization is the resentment it breeds and the segregation it creates. Do not be fooled: there is an entire generation of Haitian adolescents with legitimate claims to their Bahamian identity, who are smart, unassuming and legal. It is only a matter of time before they exert their power as entitled Bahamians.

It is not a violent revolution Bahamians should be looking for. The face of the revolution will be in Bahamian children with Haitian ancestry, who excel in education, who settle into the business class, the political class and acquire quiet power in an indistinguishable way.

There is already an entrenched class of fully integrated Haitian-Bahamians, who do not have to prove their Bahamian credentials. These are established and respected Bahamians who keep their Haitian heritage under wraps. But there will come a time when they will no longer have to do such a thing. Our governor general, Sir Arthur Foulkes is proof of that. What will Bahamians do when all of their neighbours take off their masks and say: "Surprise! There is Haitian blood in me too!" Bahamians might refuse to talk about integrating Haitian immigrants, but in doing so we might just be cutting off our nose to spite our face.

So what of integration? It is already happening under our very noses and there is nothing we can do to turn the clock back. Bahamians would curse the day we start having members of parliament self identify as Haitian-Bahamian, or a Haitian caucus in the House of Assembly. For now, Bahamians can breathe a sigh of relief, because we are far from that, but we need not go there if we make the right choice. After all, Ron Pinder and Keod Smith, who some say have claim to Haitian ancestry, would be more inclined to sue for libel than acknowledge any possible association. The model of American society, with all of its segregated cultural and racial groups is not necessarily something we want to emulate anyway.

But if we maintain the strategy of refusing to integrate Haitian immigrants and Bahamians with Haitian ancestry into the Bahamian society and drop the general stigma attached to being Haitian, sorry to say, we will more than likely arrive at that cursed day. The odds are not in our favour; we have the law of nature working against us: what you resist will persist.

The survival of the Bahamas and the inheritance of our children does not depend, as some believe, on us "getting them out of here." Our national sovereignty is not at risk, but you can hardly reason away the belief in some that Haitians if we let them, will take over the country. Our survival depends on us growing up; on us allowing compassion, wisdom and reason to be our compass.

Let us refresh our memory with a look at some of the "evidence-based information" in the 2005 International Organisation for Migration (IOM) study, prepared by the College of the Bahamas. The in-depth study in 2005 found what some of us already knew: "Perceptions have replaced evidence-based rational debate" due to a lack of information on the Haitian community.

Estimates on the size of the Haitian population reported in the media over the years range anywhere between 15,000 and 80,000. The IOM study notes that counting illegal immigrants is notoriously difficult, so it uses corroborating data and statistical models to arrive at a population range for the Haitian community of 30-60,000.

In 2003 the US Homeland Security Department estimated there were 60,000 illegal immigrants in Bahamas. The 2000 census recorded 21,000 Haitian residents of which 28.3 per cent came from the 5-19 age group. Between 1974 and 2004, over 23,000 Haitians registered with the National Insurance Board, and in 2005 the Haitian Embassy reported 25,000 documented migrants with about three children per family.

The IOM study provides a useful analysis of population figures.

"During the period 1963 to 2000, the size of the resident Haitian community has increased from 4,170 to 21,426, which represents approximately a decennial increase of approximately 39 per cent from one census to the next," states the IMO report. There were five census counts in that time period.

If we apply a 39 per cent increase to the IOM's top estimate from its 2005 analysis, we can project a Haitian population of about 83,000 in 2010 and 116,000 in 2020. Population estimates for the Bahamas in those years are: 350,000 in 2010 and 414,000 in 2010. Based on liberal estimates then, the Haitian population in 20 years would represent 28 per cent of the total Bahamian population.

All of the figures are cumulative, so they represent the size of the Haitian community based on migration trends over the decades, not net inflows and outflows on an annual basis. In none of the available statistics is there a clear distinction made between illegal Haitian immigrants, Haitians with work permits, Haitians with permanent residence or citizenship or flow-through migrants.

There are so many gaps in available data that few reliable conclusions can be drawn. One conclusion I think it is fair to make is that hundreds of thousands of Haitians are not arriving at one time. According to Mr Archer, the Bahamas would need to be overwhelmed by those types of numbers at one time for a "takeover" to be possible, if that was the desired objective.

"The business of them coming in at a couple hundred a year, there is no possibility of a takeover. I challenge anyone to tell me any society where a take over has occurred in this fashion," said Mr Archer.

Theoretically, similar fears could be stoked over the West Indian population in England, but for the most part, "no one complains of the West Indians in England trying to take over the English society," said Mr Archer.

"The fears are unfounded. The Haitian people who are coming here are not coming to attempt to take over. They are coming to survive because they want something better for themselves. They want to become a part of the society, and their children tend to be as Bahamian as any other Bahamian child," he said.

Culturally speaking, Mr Archer asked: "Where is the influence?"

When you look at Bahamian cultural expressions - dance, music, food, religion, and politics - there have been no drastic changes from the influence of Haitian nationals. The same cannot be said about the American cultural influences. And, of course, we still maintain many of our inherited British cultural traits and some from our African heritage.

It is undeniable how American pop culture has transformed Bahamian society over the past 60 years; much of the influence has produced unfortunate results. On the other hand, one could maybe only point to some Haitian influence in cuisine and music, and that influence is certainly something for Bahamians to appreciate.

Mr Archer suggests: If Haitians in their numbers, can come into the Bahamas of near 400,000 people and "radically change that culture from within that says something about the culture." Perhaps this is what Bahamians fear. We are notoriously insecure about our budding cultural identity.

In all of this I know it is an uphill battle to chisel away the stone from the hearts and minds of Bahamians. As misinformed as we sometimes are, our resistance is not born from a lack of information. Our resistance is born of emotive reasons, like fear, prejudice, politics and hype.

Because of this, I believe it will take the concerted effort of our leaders and the might of our education system to reach our people. We have a long road ahead of us, as there is preliminary work to do in both institutions to fertilise the soil.

Sadly, but not surprisingly, this discussion will not sway the majority.

But for now, those with eyes to see, the beauty and the potential, and those with courage to say, we are proud of our Haitian connection, we must press on. With each step we are creating the new paradigm.

February 07, 2011

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