In the years ahead, many of us will be asking ourselves: Who is the most vulnerable to whatever comes next? It is, sadly, a rather long list. This has been a brutal year for people in many places across the globe. Sudan is in the grip of a merciless civil war. Bombs, disease and starvation stalk the people of Gaza. The people of Ukraine face another brutal winter in the maw of Russian aggression. These all deserve our attention, but I want to ask you, our readers, to think of someplace a little closer to home, a nation whose history and fate are so deeply intertwined with ours: Haiti.
For two decades, I have followed news from Haiti, and I struggle to remember a year as grim and hopeless as 2024. Armed groups control about 85 percent of the capital, Port-au-Prince, in the grip of horrific violence and a seemingly endless political crisis. More than 4,500 people have died in blood-soaked battles among gangs, with an overmatched police force barely capable of protecting its own members, much less civilians. Politically, it is in free fall. The country is on its fourth prime minister this year.
The United States has a long history of meddling and manipulating in Haiti and a long tradition of demonizing Haitians. But none of that history could prepare me for the ugly slander visited upon Haitian immigrants to the United States by JD Vance and Donald Trump. They spread baseless rumors that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were kidnapping and eating pets. Haitian residents of the city, many of whom went there to work in its manufacturing sector, are living in fear, and many have fled.
A vast majority of Haitians in the United States are here legally. Many recent arrivals are under temporary protected status granted by the federal government because of the acute violence in Haiti. Their presence in cities like Springfield, which was desperate for more workers to spur economic growth, is one of countless examples of Haitians helping to build the prosperity of the United States, despite being treated with contempt and derision. They join a proud tradition of Haitian Americans contributing at every level of American society, right up to the highest reaches of political, economic and cultural power.
Holiday Giving Guide 2024 Holiday Giving Guide 2024A running series from Times Opinion writers on where they thinkyour charitable giving can help most this year.
A running series from Times Opinion writers on where they think your charitable giving can help most this year.
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Lydia Polgreen In These Dark Times, Stand Up for Human Dignity Many of the organizations that have stepped up to try to help newly arrived Haitians in the United States are under tremendous strain. They need our help. Elsie Saint-Louis, the executive director of Haitian Americans United for Progress, told me that just as the demand for help has grown to unprecedented proportions, slowdowns in city and state reimbursements for its work have left the organization hanging by a thread.
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