Leave it to the ignorant and arrogant, who are put in positions of authority, to perpetuate racial bias in our "United" States of America. Earlier this week angry parents demonstrated outside a Queens elementary school where Assistant Principal, Nancy Miller, dehumanized a group of Haitian students.
After a scuffle broke out between two students on March 16, Miller apparently forced the all-Haitian class to eat on the floor with their hands. Miller, who has since been reassigned to another school, was heard saying, In Haiti, they treat you like animals, and I will treat you the same way here."
Growing up in this country as a first-generation Haitian-American often made me wonder if Haitians are the most reviled ethnicity in the land. I defer to the well-documented history of the mistreatment and abuse of Haitian immigrants under the "care" of US officials, the Abner Luima police sodomy case, and the initial blaming of Haitians for the AIDS epidemic in the 80s.
Contrast that with the with the huge humanitarian outreach and global attention given to little Elian Gonzalez in the 90s, when the light-skinned Cuban immigrant was found abandoned on a raft headed to Florida.
It's no secret that President Bush despises the poor, combined with the fact the Haiti has no oil resources the US can capitalize on, put Haiti and it's people at a disadvantage when it comes to garnering mass humanitarian sympathizers from Americans.
For now (at least partially), the strength of Haitians lie in self-empowerment through education and spiritual independence. Once we can carry on without depending on US moral support and psychological oppression, Haitians have a fighting chance at renewal and reform.
