No number of raids or repatriations will solve The Bahamas' immigration problem

The Bahamas and Haiti: Forty years of missed opportunities
By NOELLE NICOLLS
Tribune Staff Reporter
nnicolls@tribunemedia.net



When the African world needed a sign that its certain fate would not be decided by the interests of slave masters and colonial rulers, it was a group of disparate Africans on the island of Hispaniola, with the backing of their ancestors and the divine spirits, who rose to the occasion.

Empowered by a collective will they planted the seed in the African consciousness that we are more than they say we are; we deserve more than what they want for us.

Two hundred years later, Haiti that gave us hope, faces a seemingly hopeless fate. All we see of its people is that of their apparent worst side.

The eyes of the world take an interest only when the story line is of strife and scandal; when the images fit the narrative of poor, desolate, pagan and black.

In the minds of most Bahamians, the light that is Haiti has faded: obscured by fatigue, resentment, tough love, scarcity, indifference, misinformation and prejudice.

The light has also faded in the minds of many Haitians: obscured by exhaustion, hunger, insecurity, anger, self-hate.

Experience tells us that in our weakest times as human beings, it often takes a light, whether shone by an external source or a spark in our own spirits, to help us overcome.

In an Avatarish way that light speaks to us and says: "I see you." In an African way that light says, harambe, "the community needs you." In the language of psychotherapy, the light says, "tap into the greatness that lies within and live it." And in the language of our queen mothers it says, "I love you."

The call to Africans across the globe is to inform/educate yourself; elevate your consciousness about Haiti so our people and the entire world knows, Haiti is more and Haiti deserves more.

It is more than what the international media depicts. It is more than the actions of its political electorate. It is more than the folly that befalls it. It is more than what our eyes see.

As African people we need to care enough to demand that Haiti fulfil its revolutionary promise of being the beacon of light.

In this season of suffering, Haiti needs not our pity nor our charity, it needs our great expectations, and with our collective consciousness, we will call out its greatness.

Haiti has much work to do, but I wonder if we as African people will start to play our part. Certainly, in the history of our relationship with Haiti, the Bahamas has missed countless opportunities, largely because of our singular focus on immigration.

If we date the start of diplomatic relations to 1971, when the Bahamas signed the first of three bilateral treaties, then we can claim the 40-year prize of missed opportunities in building a meaningful relationship.

With newly acquired rights to self governance, and a dispatch from the UK Foreign Common Law Office giving it limited authority to conduct external affairs, the Bahamas government negotiated its first bilateral agreement in 1971. Haiti was the foreign partner.

Whatever promise this sign may have represented was short lived because the 1971 agreement was "never really actualised," according to Joshua Sears, director general, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

And it was the only agreement that envisaged a broad range of relationships, including commercial trade and technical cooperation, education exchanges and cultural linkages. The central issue of subsequent agreements - 1985 and 1995 - was immigration.

Although Haitians have been migrating to the Bahamas for centuries, the Haitian immigration "problem" only dates back to the 1950s.

The Department of Immigration was formed as a statutory body from 1939, but for all its efforts over 60 plus years, the solution to the "immigration problem" still evades the government.

This is not withstanding the notoriously draconian efforts of Minister of Immigration Loftus Roker to round up "illegals."

One day, hopefully, Bahamians will wake up and realise, as sure as a man cannot cheat death, no number of raids or repatriations will solve the "immigration problem."

Neither the Department of Immigration, the Defence Force nor the entire might of the state has the power to ease the desire of desperate-minded people seeking a better life.

And we have no friend in the Haitian government, where that is concerned. In a country of 10 million, with a Diaspora probably twice that size, the hundreds of people who migrate to the Bahamas, whether legally or illegally, is not a problem on the minds of most.

For centuries, migration has been the answer to populations seeking a better life, said Leonard Archer, former CARICOM Ambassador. This is the story of Europe, Asia, Africa, everywhere in the world. When people experience scarcity, drought, famine, hardship, persecution in one area they move to another.

"If you interview the Haitian people who are coming, a number of them have been deported two, three, four times. People are desperate. The reality is desperate people will always move and we can't afford to put a wall around the country," said Mr Archer.

"We have been deporting people to Haiti since the 1970s. Has it helped? Has it worked?" he asked.

We are banging our heads on the wall with our hysteria over the so-called illegals. History has shown us, we are inextricably linked to Haiti. Today is no different. Waves of immigration are seen anytime public confidence wanes, during economic crises, at the mere threat of political instability, and at times of natural disaster, of which Haiti is no stranger.

Short of Haiti being restored as the pride of the world, the migration is not going to stop. Not that the Bahamas should ignore its national interests, but all that banging is just giving us a headache.


January 31, 2011

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