Hispaniola: History, Borders, and Immigration

1. Haiti & Dominican Republic By: Camille-Ashley Chavez

2. Inspiration: Malcolm x • “ I said that the American black man needed to recognize that he had a strong, air tight case to take the United States before the United Nation on a formal accusation of ‘denial of human rights’ – and that if Angola and South Africa were precedent cases, then there would no easy way that the U.S. could escape being censured, right on its own ground.” • -Malcolm X, Press Conference on Return From Africa

3. Brief History of Hispaniola • 1492 Spain establishes its first colony in present day Santo Domingo • 1697 French claim western part of Island • Importation of 800,000 slaves from Africa • Establish a plantation economy • 1791 Slaves revolt and create independent nation (Haiti) • 1821 Dominicans gain independence from Spain • 1822 Haiti takes over entire island • 1844 D.R. gain independence from Haiti • 1900s D.R. thrives, Haitians work in the fields • 1930 Trujillo Rule of terror over D.R. http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/12/world/dominican-republic-haiti-immigration/index.html

4. Trujillo Dictatorship & Parsley Massacre • “For some months, I have traveled and traversed the border in every sense of the word. I have seen, investigated and inquired about the needs of the population. To the Dominicans who were complaining of the depredations by Haitians living among them, thefts of cattle…were thus prevented from enjoying in peace… I have responded, ‘I will fix this.’” • -Rafael Trujillo, 1937 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwzIjRkeiLo

5. Law 169.14 (Naturalization Law) • 2012 census of migrants found that about 460,000 Haitian immigrants live in the D.R. • “Court ruling retroactively denied Dominican nationality to anyone born after 1929 who does not have at least one parent of Dominican blood, citing a constitutional clause declaring all others to be in the country illegal or ‘in transit’.”

6. D.R. Artists Speak Out "Estructuracompleta" (David Pérez Karmadavis) Americas Quartery Interview ft. Junot Diaz & Edwidge Danticat, 2014

7. Establishment of Borders & Immigration • -List of Border Conflicts • Trump & Mexican Wall • Q: What role do borders play? Why are borders necessary? • Q: Does immigration both unify and divide the world? • “What’s going on in the D.R. is a nightmare in its own right, but has to be understood as part of a larger global movement to demonize and marginalize immigrants—and as part of the U.S.’s post-9/11 push to “strengthen borders”—which is really to militarize them.” • -Junot Diaz, 2014 Interview with Americas Quarterly