Trump or not, how can Haitian Americans shift from political pawn to power bloc? | Analysis

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Overview: The 2024 election aftermath highlights both setbacks and new paths for Haitian Americans aiming to turn political rhetoric into real influence. As anti-immigrant sentiments surge, Haitian Americans must confront divisions, build a community agenda, and support leaders who can secure their place as a lasting political force, regardless of who’s in office.

NEW YORK — On the morning of Nov. 6, a little Haitian boy in a certain midwestern swing state woke up in tears, weeping inconsolably. Asked what was the matter, the child, a recent arrival under the Biden humanitarian parole program, answered with a question of his own.

“When is the new president going to send us back to Haiti?

“I don’t want to go back there,” the child kept repeating.

His concern mirrors a feeling that has consumed the Haitian community, though the vast majority of us are in America legally, including the child. However, no one has rallied to emphatically reassure people like the boy and his family about where they stand. Nor have there been highly visible personalities offering collective comfort along with concrete plans to combat the incoming administration’s policies. Laws borne of bigoted campaign promises such as the mass deportation the boy fears.

Therein lies the ongoing major issue for Haitians in America. Despite seeing the signs of an influx of Haitians coming, and the resulting backlash, the community’s leadership was once again caught off guard, unprepared to fully participate in the electoral process before, during and, as the past week has proven, in the aftermath of the election.

However, for all its exhausting, surprising and shocking turns, the election cycle overall brought forward the major challenges and opportunities for Haitian Americans to form its overdue agenda. One based on the premise that “Americans” may not want Haitians here, but we are here to stay – no matter who is president.

Haitians are here. Period. Up until the Sept. 10 debate, the broader American public apparently had not realized how many Haitians live and work in America, paying taxes and being part of all aspects of American life. With the same brush Trump’s lie paints the community of 1.5 million nationwide in a negative light, it brings a new level of visibility to Haitian Americans, whose numbers have been growing over six decades.

Per analyses of population and economic surveys, Haitians are embedded in big cities and small towns alike. Places in Arizona, Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee, Kentucky and Alabama need immigrants, just as suburbs and exurbs outside Chicago, New York, Miami and Boston also do.

Economically, per Department of Labor and other studies, immigrants overall as mass deportation promises emerged, economists explained that the country needs immigrants – no matter their origins and skills – to keep the economy afloat.

What became clear to everyone in America is that Haitians are most definitely here. And they’re here to stay, whether as children of Haitians, as naturalized citizens or as green card or TPS card holders.

Besides fueling the opportunity to work, turmoil in Haiti also drove Haitians to participate politically – or not. Some pledged not to vote as a way to protest the United States’ hands in Haitian affairs. Others, like Florida House Representative Marie G. Woodson, sought to make Haiti’s failures a selling point for democratic governance under Kamala Harris.

After living under a totalitarian regime filled with corruption, no accountability, where the systems fall apart in Haiti, Woodson explained back in August, Haitians have a lot hanging on democracy in America succeeding. While attending the Democratic National Convention (DNC) as a delegate, she insisted that the community come out for Harris and stop Trump.

“If the U.S. falls to totalitarianism, under their [Republicans’] Project 2025 plans and everything we’re seeing, we don’t have Haiti to go back to,” she said at the time.

Clash over Haitians in America long coming Yet, the clash has been a long time coming. “It” being the conflagration of three factors: Haiti’s ongoing decline, America’s own class and racial divisions, and technology’s role in both spreading hate online and isolation in real life. All three have led to the vicious backlash against Haitians in America.

Perhaps unlike other periods, Haitians across all classes – whether a “Ti Biden,” a “just-come” or “Frenchie” with modest means or well-to-do exilé who overstayed a visa, a relative-sponsored who came “the right way,” or someone in between all these waves – seemed to feel the sting of being thrust at the center of this election. And for good reason.

The rhetoric brought home the fact that more than any other immigrant group, us Haitians – with our Blackness, our language, our culture and our history of resistance – are the poster child for the villainous, invasive version of immigration spread by xenophobes. From being scapegoated during the AIDS crisis of the 1980s to the wet foot-dry foot policy all the way through the pre-Election Day fake video of ‘Haitians’ that Russian trolls created to cast doubt early on voting results in Georgia.

“It’s the politics of bigotry, 2024 style,” said Dr. Sharon Austin Wright, a political science professor at the University of Florida who teaches African American history.

“It [the video] just shows the problem America has had with Haitians,” Austin Wright said after the video surfaced. “It shows [how] Donald Trump has been able to use bigotry to mobilize his base. The question now is whether it’s enough for him to win.”

Everyone got the answer Tuesday night.

Divisions and disunity quantified Exploiting those divisions is where the Republican Party under Trump excels, political scientists say. Vile rhetoric either motivates some people to vote for Trump, stymies turnout among Haitians themselves, who tend to vote for Democrats – effectively, splintering the vote as a bloc.

Indeed, for years, many Haitians have lambasted Democrats for Haiti’s ills. On a pre-election webinar, Dr. Nathalie Frédéric Pierre, who teaches history at Howard University, recalled how Haitian resentment toward Hillary Clinton made many sit out the 2016 vote.

This election, a CHIP50/ Haitian Times survey — the first of its kind looking at how the public views Haitian Americans — supported the anecdotes that point to the damage done to Democrats in two ways. Of splits within Haitian families over the two parties.

One the one hand, researchers found, 34% of the U.S. public believed the lie that Haitians in Springfield stole and ate pets. Even after the lie was debunked, the belief persisted.

On the other hand, Haitians’ own cultural divisions came to light, with some saying Democrats take Haitians for granted and that Republicans represent their economic aspirations. Others even echoed the xenophobic views. One Haitian man in Springfield told The Haitian Times he was better off before fellow Haitians arrived in town.

In the survey, among Haitian Americans:

64% gave a favorable rating to Republicans overall, compared with 71% for Democrats

66% gave a favorable rating to Trump, compared with 67% to Biden and 74% to Harris

16% felt Biden-Harris policies had a negative effect on Haiti, compared to 44% who felt they had a positive impact.Going forward: Collaborations more than ever Renewed energy around issues affecting Haitians and some move toward collaborations in different formats may be worth pursuing as the community looks ahead under Trump.

Online, across content formats and platforms, a panoply of podcasts, TikToks and Substacks are giving voice to Haitians from diverse backgrounds to document their experiences in ways that humanize instead of demonize. Their content brings delight and the cheer of Haiti’s people and land to the world.

Offline, new groups are also entering the arena. In Florida, home to the largest group of Haitians, several are organizing with civic education in mind, not only election turnout. Avanse Ansanm, Faith in Action Florida and FANM are among those most active this fall. NHAEON, churches and many other groups, to a lesser extent, also contributed to voter mobilization efforts in their own, smaller ways.

In Springfield, the HCSC has been the recipient of advice from fellow Haitians groups in Miami, California and elsewhere to help it build out its foundation and services for local Haitians.

Frédéric Pierre invoked the ways that other communities with unique language needs, such as New York’s Desi and Chinese groups, have forged bonds for more effective advocacy. Their model points to one way Haitians might also pursue more effective advocacy and solutions.

Agenda and new leadership coming? Lastly, the need for a Haitian American agenda that came up earlier this year is still a necessity as groups everywhere examine how the next four years may look for them. Could a Haitian agenda help harness the nascent diasporic collaborations and efforts underway? Can it help pressure politicians in Haiti, who quickly moved to grab power as the American transition takes place, to actually complete one mandate? If Haitians can at least answer what we can use to actually negotiate with any U.S. administration may be a win.

Dr. François Pierre-Louis, a political science professor at Queens College, is among the many voices urging Haitians to put aside the divisions splintering their voice. Democrats will need people who can organize and address the community’s concerns regardless of who is president, Pierre-Louis explained. Moderate Republicans too may also start to look at immigrant communities as critical blocs and mount competitive races against Democrats.

Either scenario could mean more investment in political leadership at the community level, he said. To meet that potential moment, Pierre-Louis listed a few priorities Haitians can rally around in choosing their leaders:

Stopping the flow of illegal guns to Haiti

Supporting democratic government in Haiti

Resources for housing, education and TPS recipients in the U.S. One encouraging sign of maturity in the community is that different Haitians across class or origins are at least speaking to one another.

“Back in my day, they weren’t even talking to each other,” recalls Pierre-Louis, author of “Haitians in New York City.”

“They were just calling each other names,” he said. “Anyone who didn’t agree with them, you were a CIA agent.”

Looking at today’s community, he said, “We’re in need of new leadership. Young people who are born here, who understand the system better and who won’t take over or carry old grudges. [With them], it might be better.”

Perhaps, if America withstands the onslaught of bigotry many expect during the next administration, that petrified boy in a certain swing state could someday be among the new leaders this country and Haiti need. Only time and effort will tell.

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