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From NFL players to college presidents to think-tank heads, influential Haitians living abroad could be a powerful voice for reform.
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Tennis star Naomi Osaka holds the Olympic torch during the opening ceremony of the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, July 23, 2021. Osaka was born to a Haitian father and a Japanese mother. | AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko |
Joel Dreyfuss is a founder of the National Association of
Black Journalists and a former Global Opinions columnist for the Washington
Post. He is writing a book about his family's 300-year involvement with Haiti.
Source: Politico
When Naomi Osaka lit the Olympic torch at opening ceremonies
for Tokyo 2020, thousands of Haitians swelled with pride. And when she lost
unexpectedly in the tennis competition, many in the country shared her pain.
For Haitians, Osaka, whose father is Haitian-American, is yet another
high-profile member of a vibrant Haitian diaspora that could play an important
role in addressing Haiti’s chronic political problems.
The yet-unsolved assassination of President Jovenel Moise
has put Haiti’s volatile politics and grinding poverty into the spotlight. A
month after Moise’s death, a new prime minister has introduced a new cabinet
and the U.S. has dispatched security experts to help the Haitian government
secure vital infrastructure, though the White House insists there is still no
plan to send troops.
The debate about what to do in the aftermath has yet to
invoke an important resource: the more than 2 million Haitians living abroad.
That’s not surprising. The Haitians in the diaspora evoke mixed feelings in
Haiti: pride in successes like Osaka’s and disdain because they left the
country. For a number of years, “Diaspo” has been a derogatory term, evoking
the image of an arrogant Americanized Haitian who came home to flaunt his or
her success.
But as Haiti has sunk into despair, the diaspora could be a
lifeline. Haitians living abroad are not tainted by the corruption that
pervades the political class in Haiti, and have achieved success in more
meritocratic societies. The diaspora has acquired expertise, cultural and
political clout, and experience living in democratic countries. As America
struggles to respond to Haiti’s crisis, policymakers in Washington and diaspora
members themselves should think about how to tap this resource. In particular,
the diaspora can use their influence in Washington—as well as Ottawa and
Paris—to bring international attention to the work of a commission of
progressive reformers in Haiti. By shining a light on Haitian solutions to
Haitian problems, the community can help break Haiti’s vicious cycle of
disorder, hope and disappointment.
Haitians have been migrating in large numbers to the U.S.
and Canada since Francois Duvalier seized power in the late 1950s. A second,
larger wave fled when his son Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier succeeded his
father in 1971. Haitian communities abroad, now in their second and third
generations, have produced notable examples of upward mobility and achievement.
Haitian-Americans are corporate executives, college presidents and deans,
writers and playwrights, elected officials, actors and professional athletes,
doctors and nurses, technicians and caregivers. Prominent Haitian-Americans
include former Nintendo of North America President and CEO Reginald Fils-Aimé,
Xavier University of Louisiana President Reynold Verette, novelist and
MacArthur “genius” Edwidge Danticat, reality-show producer Mona Scott-Young
(“Love and Hip Hop”), musician Wyclef Jean, University of Miami medical school
dean Henri Ford, former Republican congresswoman Mia Love, essayist Roxanne Gay
and NFL linebacker Jason Pierre-Paul.
It’s not just in the U.S. Michaëlle Jean served as Canada’s
governor general from 2005 to 2010 while Dominique Anglade, a former cabinet
minister, became head of Canada’s Quebec Liberal Party last year.
Haiti has a highly successful cultural sector that depends
on talent both in Haiti and abroad. Haitian literature is highly regarded in
the French-speaking world. Haitian authors, including Yanick Lahens and
Louis-Philippe Dalembert, have garnered top literary prizes in France and
Canada. Dany Laferrière is a member of that élite arbiter of the French
language, the Académie Francaise. Haitian art has won critical acclaim and
Haitian music has flourished in the Caribbean, Europe and Africa.
While the Haitian community has made a name for itself
abroad, young people in Haiti itself—galvanized by social media—are making
their voices heard in the country’s politics. The civil society movement behind
more than two years of massive anti-regime protests in Haiti, formally called
the Commission To Search for a Haitian Solution to the Crisis, reflects this
new involvement. The commission sees the installation of Prime Minister Ariel
Henry as a ritual shuffle of the same rotten cards and a setup for a sham
election. Instead, it wants an interim government with a limited portfolio to
reform the judicial system and the police before credible elections can be
scheduled.
But the structural reforms that Haitian progressives
envision will be a tough sell to the international community. Policy experts
talk about “Haiti fatigue” after the failed multibillion-dollar intervention
following the 2010 earthquake. The Biden administration has signaled a lack of
interest in nation-building projects. Haiti will have to make a compelling case
that this time it’s different.
This is where Haitians abroad come in, if they can organize
into a coherent force. The diaspora has helped move the needle on political
issues related to Haiti in the past. On April 20, 1990, 100,000
Haitian-Americans marched across the Brooklyn Bridge to protest an FDA ban on
blood donations by sub-Saharan Africans and Haitians because of fears about
HIV. The size of the protest shocked the New York political establishment and
launched a wave of political activism among Haitians in New York. Eventually,
the FDA ban was withdrawn. More recently, Haitian-Americans have teamed up with
the Congressional Black Caucus and other supporters of Haiti to press the U.S.
government on immigration issues, such as temporary protected status.
Today, the diaspora can serve as a voice for reform in the
corridors of power in Washington, Ottawa and Paris, and counter the lobbyists
hired by influential Haitians who want to maintain the status quo. The House
Haiti Caucus, formed a few months before Moise’s assassination, has urged the Biden
administration to pay attention to the grassroots movement. In Canada, more
than 20 human rights, labor and Haitian diaspora organizations recently sent a
letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urging him to support the views of the
commission on prioritizing reform before elections.
Patrick Gaspard, the new head of the influential
left-leaning think tank, the Center for American Progress, is Haitian-American.
To capitalize on existing momentum and help mobilize the diaspora, he could
organize a think tank dedicated to Haiti or a conference where Haitians living
in Haiti can make the case to policymakers for a new approach. One important
topic could be building more transparent and tamper-proof systems for
management of government finances to help regain the Haitian public’s trust.
The group could also expand on an initiative launched by lawyers based in France
to teach mediation to members of the Haitian judiciary—a much-needed skill in a
winner-take-all political culture.
Financially, Haitians overseas already play a crucial role
keeping their home country afloat. According to the World Bank, Haitians living
abroad sent $3.3 billion a year in remittances (cash transfers) in 2019, nearly
25 percent of the country’s GDP. The money from Haitian communities in the
U.S., Canada, France, Brazil and elsewhere feeds, clothes, shelters and
educates relatives left behind. The diaspora can build on this role by
targeting investments to sectors that need foreign capital such as renewable
energy and food production, areas the oligarchs are not likely to embrace.
The Haitian government has the potential to play spoiler to
the diaspora’s efforts. For years, politicians in Haiti have paid lip service
to engaging the diaspora’s expertise and capital, but have done little to make
it happen. For a long time, Haiti did not recognize dual citizenship, barring
Haitians who have taken citizenship abroad from running for high office or
voting in elections. By contrast, immigrants from the Dominican Republic, which
shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, can vote in Dominican elections,
playing a role in setting their native country’s political agenda.
Haitians abroad hesitate to invest their talent and money
for the same reasons the country has trouble attracting other investors:
corruption. The late President Moise and his predecessor Michel Martelly
repeatedly declared that “Haiti is open for business” and urged Haitians abroad
to pool their resources to help develop their country of origin. But neither
president was able to move the needle on Haiti’s poor reputation as a place to
invest. In 2019, Transparency International ranked Haiti 170th of the 180
countries it rates for public-sector corruption.
Meanwhile, the United States—whose interventions have done
more harm than good, even when well-intentioned—is similarly failing to
capitalize on this influential group. American policy toward Haiti has consistently
favored stability over reform, though that “stability” is increasingly elusive.
Moise’s moves to undermine democracy and consolidate power before his death
drew mild rebuke from Washington. When U.S. officials visited Haiti several
days after the assassination, they failed to meet with the commission, one
member told me. Many diaspora organizations in New York, Miami and Boston are
similarly frustrated that they don’t get adequate face time with policymakers.
Listening to ideas from the Haitian community—both in Haiti and abroad—on how
to rebuild their country would be a novelty after years of intervention by
“friendly” governments and NGOs.
“The Commission has always considered the diaspora as a key
stakeholder,” Monique Clesca, a member of the Commission and a former United
Nations employee, told me, adding that the group has consulted key members of
the Haitian community abroad about its plans.
To be clear, Haitian-Americans should approach the task with
humility, making sure above all to listen to the people with the most direct
stake in Haiti’s future—the people of Haiti. Diaspora Haitians can play a role
in spurring necessary reforms without ending up as yet another outside group
professing to know what’s best for Haiti. They have had the valuable experience
of living in a democracy. They bring expertise in dozens of disciplines and
management skills that are sorely needed in a Haiti weakened by decades of
brain drain. And they have a track record of success that can be applied to a
country that badly needs a new narrative.
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