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In recent weeks we have heard a lot in the news about the growing tensions between the two peoples of the island of Hispaniola, the Haitians and Dominicans. Much of the American and world press cry out about imminent mass deportation and even possible genocide, invoking the horrors of the Parsley Massacre anew. Democracy Now! points to the ethnic purging of the republic that is supposedly occurring now and Pacifica Radio, through its affiliate Uprisingradio.org, discuss the impending mass deportation and its dire implications for Haitians across the island. Fox News, ABC, NBC, MSNBC, CBS, The Nation, USAToday, and all the other major news outlets are decrying the same thing.
There's only one problem with this mass hysteria generated by all this gloom and doom that is crashing down on the Haitians as I write this. Little of it is actually happening! This is, for the most part, made up fantasy by the American press to generate a story out of thin air. Though this is not of whole cloth, there is some truth to what is written, the cries of impending doom, mass genocide and ethnic cleansing not only aren't occurring, they can't! For anyone who sits down to logically think about the situation that is actually taking place on the island of Hispaniola, none of these atrocities could actually occur, especially now under the watchful eye of millions of Facebook followers and social media trenders on the island and elsewhere.
Let's look at the supposed atrocities one by one to explain the absurdity of each, shall we?
Genocide! Really?? First coined by Polish-born U.S. jurist Raphael Lemkin in 1944 to discuss the Nazi extermination of certain people in Europe, it means "the deliberate and systematic extermination of a national, racial, political, or cultural group." There are over 10 million people living in Haiti and 2 million people in the Dominican Republic of Haitian descent or recent transplants. Even eliminating only those in the diaspora would take 2,000 days, or 6 years of killing an average of 1,000 per day, every day, including weekends and holidays. For 6 years. Nonstop. Everyday. Clearly there are no rivers of blood freeflowing anywhere on the island. The numbers killed by either side over the past few years don't appear to be above normal levels for any time frame.
Ethnic cleansing. Seriously? Both cultures have lived side by side for over three centuries and have intermingled blood and families since time immemorial. The original, "pure" race of the island, the Caribs, died out within 50 years of Columbus setting foot there. Everyone else is a descendant of a transplant from either Europe, Africa or both. There is a definite distinction between the more African influenced Haitian culture and the more European influenced Dominican culture, but it would be impossible for either one to even attempt to remove the other from the island. Neither ethnicity is going anywhere anytime soon. There are absolutely no reports anywhere of any ethnic cleansing, yet the international press refuses to give up this canard.
US Envoy to the island, US ambassador James W. Brewster, recently stated Sunday, July 5, "The international media have published reports that have been unfair to the country, regarding the government's program to legalize undocumented aliens. I know there are reports that have not been fair, but we have to continue working with those who tell the truth. You cannot give up when you are trying to do the right thing no matter what people say." Yet, reports in the US to print this truth is being actively suppressed everywhere.
Mass deportation? And just how is THAT supposed to work? If you go four hours in any direction from anywhere on the island, you'll be swimming in shark-infested waters up to your eyeballs. Just where are these people supposed to be "mass deported" to? There are no electrically-charged wire fences; giant, imposing steel walls with barbed wire toppings; nor any other barrier along the border between the two countries to keep the Haitians out. Anyone who is sent from the Dominican Republic to Haiti can return to their place of departure within 6 hours.
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