Anti-Haitianism

By Garvrielle Joseph, HSO President

For over a century and a half, Haiti and the Dominican Republic have shared the island of Hispaniola. However, their relationship has rarely been amicable. This antagonism in the Dominican Republic has led to anti-Haitian preconceptions called Antihaitianismo, or its most common name, anti-Haitianism. According to “A Case of Mistaken Identity: Antihaitianismo in Dominican Culture,” anti-Haitianism is the present manifestation of the long-term evolution of racial prejudice, the selective interpretation of historical facts, and the creation of a nationalist Dominican false consciousness.

It is important to note that the differences between Haitians and Dominicans can be based on colonial times from linguistic, cultural, and racial differences. For example, the Dominican Republic was governed by the Spanish and thus acquired part of its culture from the Spanish, mixed with Africans and Native Americans. On the other hand, Haiti was controlled by the French, and its culture is a mixture of French, African, and Native American. Anti-Haitianism can be traced back to a policy of racial segregation instituted by the Spaniards in Santo Domingo (modern-day Dominican Republic).

Present-day hostilities between the countries that occupy the island of Hispaniola are deeply rooted in racism and imperialism. Before the arrival of Europeans, the island was split into territories, three of which were Santo Domingo and two of Saint Domingue (modern-day Haiti). Christopher Columbus reached the island in 1492, and within a few decades, the Spanish controlled most of the island. During the 17th century, however, the French also began conspiring for control, and in 1697, the Treaty of Ryswick formalized French rule over the western third of Hispaniola. During the 1790s and early 19th century, the French and Spanish battled back and forth across the island, and by 1797, Spain ceded the entire island to France.

While under the rule of France, Haiti supplied two-thirds of France’s overseas trade and was a significant individual market for the European slave trade. It was a more substantial source of income for its owners than Great Britain’s thirteen North American colonies combined. Half-a-million enslaved people propped up in the da- zzling luxuriousness of the French commercial bourgeoisie rebelled in August 1791– two years after the French Revolution and its ripple effects in Saint Domingue. Collective British, Spanish, and French efforts to suppress the rebellion set off a war that lasted 13 years and concluded with the defeat of imperial powers. Napoleon Bonaparte and William Pitt the Younger lost about 50,000 troops in the campaign to restore slavery and the intricate structures of exploitation. The defeat of Bonaparte’s expedition in 1803 resulted in the establishment of the state of Haiti on January 1, 1804. Frightened by Haiti’s establishment of a black republic as opposed to the crudity of European civilization, Dominican elites developed a national identity that defined Dominicans as white, Catholic, and culturally Hispanic, in contrast to Haitians, whom they characterized as Black, animist, and culturally African. “Antihaitianismo,” or anti-Haitianism, became more robust with Haiti’s occupation of the Dominican Republic, which lasted from 1822 to 1844.

Of course, you cannot talk about anti-Haitianism without mentioning Rafael Leonidas Trujillo. Trujillo was appointed commander-in-chief of the National Army by the United States to lead the Dominican National Guard. After staging a coup against the then-President of the Dominican Republic, Horacio Vasquez, Truji- llo ruled a dictatorship from 1930 to 1961. Trujillo aimed to whiten the Dominican Republic by expelling Haitians during this time. Trujillo, known to lighten his skin with makeup, ordered the deaths of those who refused his order to leave. These Haitians were recognized for their inability to pronounce “Perejil,” which is Spanish for “parsley.” Most Haitians could not make the Spanish “r” sound because Haiti’s national language is heavily based on the French language. This massacre, known as the Parsley Massacre, killed about 30,000 people and was followed by anti-Haitian propaganda.

In the late 1970s, the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD) came to office, bringing the first democratic government of the post-dictational era. It represented the country’s main official opposition. With the growing impact of neoliberal globalization, the progressive legacy of the struggle against Trujillo was abandoned in favor of a shift towards anti-Haitian Hispanophilic identities. In 2010, a birthright-citizenship clause was enacted to exclude the children of anyone “residing illegally in Dominican territory.” This was aimed at Haitians and served as a blueprint for the Constitutional Court’s ruling on September 23, 2013. It declared that nearly 500,000 Haitians living in the Dominican Republic were illegal and thus subject to deportation. The verdict even extended to the descendants of Haitian immigrants who came to the Dominican Republic as early as 1929.

Systematic stigmatization has enabled the Dominican bourgeoisie to deport thousands of Haitians without a court hearing, to force Haitians into conditions of semi-slavery on sugar plantations, and to deny citizenship and access to public services to Dominican-born children of Haitian parents. During the mass removal of Haitians, some dark-skinned Dominican citizens were identified as Haitian and deported to Haiti without being given a chance to prove their citizenship. Since this apprehension was based on racial notions, on the idea that Haitians contributed to the darkening or the Africanization of the country, it is vital to recognize and acknowledge anti-Haitianism and to do our part as a community to help fix this prejudice.