Overview:
Haitian Americans react to a lengthy election that forcefully brought the community’s presence in the U.S. into the national consciousness.
NEW YORK — After a closely-watched election, Haitian Americans across the United States are processing the implications of a second Donald J. Trump administration. The Associated Press called the race for Trump just before dawn Wednesday morning. As expected in a heated presidential race that countless polls predicted would be neck-and-neck, Trump ultimately defeated Vice President Kamala Harris with 277 electoral votes, compared to Harris’s 224.
“We’re going to fix our borders. We’re going to fix everything in this country,” Trump said during his victory speech to a crowd of supporters chanting “USA.” He delivered his speech in the early Wednesday hours from Palm Beach, Fla.
“I will not rest until I deliver a safe and prosperous America that our children deserve.”
Across the country, Haitian Americans who had voted for Harris reacted with a mixture of disbelief, uncertainty and determination. Those who supported Trump hoped he would make life more affordable and enact stronger foreign policy toward gangs in Haiti.
“I’m speechless,” said Mary Estimé-Irvin, chair of the National Haitian American Elected Officials Network (NHAEON). “As an elected official, it’s a hard pill to swallow, but this is the pill that I have and that we have to work with.
“I want to take him at his word and turn the page to move forward,” said Estimé-Irvin, vice-mayor of North Miami.
Sadrac Germain, a radio host in Fort Lauderdale, said he was disappointed.
“I can’t believe we will live another four years under Donald Trump,” Germain, 40, said. “We must accept the fact and continue to organize our community with an open eye on what matters most to us.”
Anti-Haitian rhetoric and lies worrisome
A cornerstone of Trump’s campaign this election season centered on strict immigration policies and securing the country’s borders. In September, roughly two months before the election, Haitians were thrust into the national immigration debate when Trump and his running mate JD Vance repeated debunked rumors regarding Haitians in Springfield, OH.
“I just feel like with the state of this country right now we do not need somebody that’s racist, especially toward my own people,” said Widnie Fadael, a Haitian American nursing student attending Rutgers University. Fadael, a first-time voter from Irvington, NJ was excited to cast her ballot for Harris. “Talking about ‘we eat some cats and dogs,’ – it’s too much. This country needs somebody that could help us.”
The lies – perpetrated by the Republican ticket – galvanized many Haitians for Harris, triggering more voter mobilization efforts in Haitian communities aimed at defeating Trump. Some community members believed that between Trump’s criminal cases, rollback of civil rights gains, mishandling of the pandemic, Project 2025 and litany of insults to immigrants would make rejecting him a no-brainer.
Wednesday morning, voters like Lynda Saint-Firmin Derilus, who had chosen Harris, hoped Trump would not be “malicious” in carrying out his plans.
“It is going to be a lot of difficulties, not just for the migrants but for Haïtian Americans,” Saint-Firmin Derilus said. “I am worried about where they will stand now regarding progress in this country. I think there will be a lot of family separation.
“I hope that he can be a different type of person, [that] he will not judge the Haitian community and we can progress as other communities,” she added.
With the campaign is over, Haitian Americans have but one option to continue advocating for the country. Estimé-Irvin, for one, said her network would seek to meet with the new president to advocate for Haiti and Haitian communities here. Specifically, they will seek to make Trump’s team understand Haiti’s contributions to the U.S. and that the Haitians vilified during the case are here legally.
“The thing is we were at the height of the campaign. Now that it is over, we can come back and reason,” Estimé-Irvin said. “I’m hoping to have a conversation to lower the rhetoric because these are people’s lives. There were bomb threats.”
Fear of emboldening bigots rises
Richard Fortunat, a Haitian American millennial educator living in Maplewood, NJ expressed concern leaving the polling site Tuesday night about what a second Trump term would symbolize for racists and bigots, and especially, what it would mean for the countless of new Haitian immigrants who’ve found refuge in the U.S.
“We’ve gone away from common decency, everything seems to be with politics, candidates that are trying to get the gotcha moments, focusing less on policy and instead besmirch their opponents,” Fortunat, who voted for Harris-Walz, said.
“I remember when Haitians were targeted because of AIDS, and now this,” he said. “I’m concerned how a Trump win will embolden hate.”
Immigration turned into a double-edged sword for the Democratic ticket. In efforts to mobilize the community, some activists and leaders listed Biden-Harris administration policies that had been favorable to Haitians, such as the humanitarian parole program and TPS immigration policies. By the same token, many Haitian conservatives saw those policies as proof Biden had “opened” the border.
The critiques mirrored messages from the Republican camp and, in the end, Democrats failed to put Harris over the top.
“My stomach is hurting,” Gallion Waltère Bien-Aimé, a retired teacher in Coconut Creek, Fla., said.
Trying to make sense of Trump’s win, Bien-Aimé said the race must not have been about policies. Saying that Trump “cultivates hatred and vitriol,” is guilty of 34 felony counts, was twice impeached and faces multiple criminal cases over a highly-qualified and experienced woman.
“It’s harsh,” Bien-Aimé, 70, said. “But we must have the courage to say that sexism played a major role in Trump being elected president twice in the country.”
Frank Henri, a nurse living in Brooklyn, felt similarly.
“I am disappointed that the USA is still not ready for a Black woman to be president,” Henri said. “Black American men voted against freedom and justice.”
Hope economic woes and Haiti turmoil will ease
However, they often met the twin roadblocks of Haitian Trump supporters who said the economy and ongoing wars were the top issues and voters resentful of U.S. foreign policy toward Haiti.
In battleground Pennsylvania, Willy Pétion, a truck driver and mechanic, said he’s looking forward to seeing lower prices or more income in a new Trump term. His promises to move forward with drilling, fracking and other projects may lower gas prices and provide jobs, Petition explained.
“Me, I vote with my pocket,” Pétion said. “That’s why a lot of Black people voted for trump.”
Rodman Jeffries Hallmark, 31, a Trump merchandise vendor in Kissimmee, was among many campaign foot soldiers deployed across Florida to encourage voters to support all Republicans.
“I told you we would win,” said Hallmark, who is white. “The American people are tired of excuses from Democrats about dumping illegal migrants in our cities and the terrible economy run by the Biden-Harris administration.”
One woman who described herself as a lifelong Democrat reluctantly agreed with the economic point.
“Our messaging was wrong,” said the Haitian woman, who asked that her name not be used to protect her relationships with Democrats. “We focused on abortion, abortion, abortion. But when we went to the grocery store, the prices were high.”
Some Haitian Trump supporters also hope his strongman leanings might have a positive effect on Haiti. For months, Haitians of all affiliations have said they were frustrated with the Biden-Harris team for not doing enough to tamp down gangs in Haiti or protect Americans abroad. Many critiqued what they saw as a haphazard Kenya-led mission cobbled together by the U.S.
“They [gangs] killed two Americans in Haiti,” Pétion said. “Trump needled Biden for it and he did nothing. If that happened under Trump, he wouldn’t have let it go like that. He would’ve done something.”
As of this writing, the Harris-Walz campaign has yet to concede the race.
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Publish date : 2024-11-06 09:17:00
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