CCCADI’S STATEMENT ON RECENT EVENTS IN HAITI
In unwavering solidarity with the Haitian people, the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute asserts its total support for the full autonomy, in all its senses, of the people of Haiti. CCCADI calls on all governmental and humanitarian services to extend their aid to the people of Haiti during this critical period and to actively support the restoration of a democratically elected government not influenced by outside intervention or neo-colonial paternalism.
How can the United States recognize so quickly the devastation and hurt suffered by an Eastern European country and not see that same level of devastation and hurt in literally its own backyard? According to UNICEF, “an estimated 5.2 million people, or close to half of the entire population, require humanitarian assistance, including almost three million children.” And, that was in 2023!
While the violence in Haiti has heightened and reached a critical point in the last month, we are clear that instability has been the constant in Haiti for much longer. As an organization with a 50-year history of utilizing art and culture to respond to the needs of African descendant communities, it is for that reason CCCADI made the decision a full year and a half ago that the neo-colonial violence stirring in Haiti required a counter-balancing presentation of the beauty and resilient struggle of the Haitian people. As of January 2024, CCCADI is the host of a year-long program called Lakay se Lakay (Home is Home), a tribute to that resiliency.
Building off of the awareness Lakay se Lakay has built around Haitian culture and community, CCCADI offers the following action plan for consideration by all people interested in restoring peace and stability to Haiti. CCCADI supports the following steps, some small and some large, to address the oppression faced by Haitians in Haiti and the vicarious suffering experienced by Haitians in the United States:
The City Council of the City of New York, on behalf of the over 700,000 Haitian-born people living in the United States, should adopt a resolution consistent with the above, urging an end to the violence, urging non-colonial and humanitarian intervention and pledging the support of the United States for the rebuilding of the infrastructure of the country;
Haitians coming into the United States from the southern border, whether legally or not, should be entitled to Temporary Protected Status and Deferred Enforced Departure upon demonstration of Haitian citizenship;
The U.S. administration should immediately halt all deportation flights to Haiti;
The U.S. administration should demand that the Dominican Republic do its part to support Haitians attempting to cross into their country;
The U.S. administration should lead an effort to provide Haiti and its people with meaningful reparations and restoration of resources stolen from the country via parasitic colonial and neo-colonial means;
Organizations dedicated to the preservation of culture should come together from throughout the United States to express solidarity with the Haitian people and call for an end to outside-orchestrated violence in the country;
Mental health and psychological support services must be provided on both a triage and nationwide basis including for Haitians in the United States fleeing from violence;
A Nuremberg-style tribunal should be convened in order to hold accountable those “gangsters” responsible for the irreparable harm to Haitian people and, at the same time, targeted Global Magnitsky Act sanctions should be imposed on Haitian elites and officials responsible for colluding with violent gangs and engaging in significant acts of corruption.
To learn more about our yearlong dedication to Haitian art and culture, visit the Lakay se Lakay homepage.
