Afrolatinos: The untaught story

Why is Haiti included in this documentary? Haiti is not a Spanish speaking country!  Do the people of Haiti consider themselves Latino?

The team realized immediately that they could not talk about the Dominican Republic without covering Haiti, where the majority of the population speaks Creole and French. Co-producer, Alicia Anabel shares her thoughts about visiting Haiti, “as a Dominican woman raised to not see the Haitian… to not see them as my equal… to not see them at all… to not see them as human and why is this?  Its because they are black - - because they’re not like us- - because of some historical event? Its important that I SEE Haiti! The Haitian story is very important and should be included.”

Haiti’s history is quite impressive. Haiti, the FIRST nation, where slaves revolted, fought and won their freedom. Haiti shares the island with the Dominican Republic once called Hispaniola, which was the FIRST stop where the enslaved African landed. These two countries share a history not only with the rest of Latin America with respect to the slave experience… but a painful history that has prevented the two countries from having a more unified relationship.

The production team first got a glimpse of Haitian everyday life when they visited DaJabon in 2008. Haiti on market day at the frontier was intense. There was an energy unlike anything they had ever seen - - it was fast paced, aggressive. Haitians and Dominicans selling to one another. 

The second trip to Haiti, in April 2009, they got a better understanding of the relationship between the two countries.  The border sets the tone for Dominico-Haitiano relations.  The two countries do not make it easy for one another to cross. 

The team wondered if the process at the border was intentional? Visitors are delayed on either side from crossing even with the appropriate visa, passports and documentation. Once you purchase your ticket—your passport is kept for the entire journey.  Which seemed like a strange procedure, but it was a part of the process. They were told that their passports would be returned to them once they were in Haiti. 

Once they arrived to the border of Haiti, they left the bus and entered the Dominican immigration office.  Once the passports are stamped – the officials retain the passport once again and visitors are told to return to the bus.  Outside of the building they are told to remove their luggage from the bus to be checked. 

They re-board the bus drive for a few minutes, cross the border and stop at the Haitian immigration office. Where they enter a building that has NO lines, no order, everyone from the bus is gathered around three windows each person being called one by one to retrieve their passports and return to the bus.  This process takes a little over two hours.  It was a full day of travel.  When the team arrives it is evening so they don’t get a chance to really see Haiti, but what they did notice was that at 10:00pm people are still very much working in Haiti. 

The crew stayed in a town called Carrefour, it was the first day of filming and at 7am the streets are swarmed with people… women selling fresh fruit, food, carrying buckets full of merchandise to be sold, clothing hung on all the buildings down every street, men also selling boxes full of beverages, men working in construction, and carrying cement.  Mostly you just see people walking – trying to sell… there is a sense as if they are walking with nowhere to go. Haitians work hard all day in weather that is excruciatingly hot.

Richard, the crews guide while driving said, “La gente nace en miseria” People are born into misery. He was talking about life in Haiti today and how the situation in Haiti hasn’t changed over the years even with the many changes in government. He also said, “estamos sobreviviendo para vivir,” we are barely surviving just to live, here he was talking about the activity seen on the streets; people desperately wanting to sells merchandise so that they will have money to put food on the table—money made to eat TODAY.

There are political issues at play; there are social issues being ignored; there are communities without food; assistance completely invisible.  We cant ignore what’s in-front of us… the team noticed an incredible amount of trash polluting the streets of Port Au Prince.  One of the issues that they noticed is that people are extremely hungry.  If you ask the majority of the people selling on the streets (adults and children) “What’s the one thing you need or would like?” they will say food.

The immigration issue is a major debate in the Dominican Republic where the Dominican government is attempting to change the constitution, to exclude the Haitian population currently living on that side of the island from being a citizen of the Dominican Republic--even if they were born there.  This affects Haitians who have lived away from their side of the island their entire lives who do not know Haiti.

These are people who leave Haiti only to work, but are not respected because they are Haitian… in a batey in the Dominican Republic, the team met and elderly man; his feet were infected, his testicals were swollen to the size of two coconuts, his thumb was cut off.  He worked for fifty years in the sugar fields - 50 years - and is entitled to no benefits, has no money for medicine, no money for food and all he knows is DR; but because his papers don’t say that he is Dominican he is considered an immigrant with no rights in DR.  Where is the justice?  Where are his human rights?  What laws are in place to protect him?

Here we have a community of people who have crossed the border for a better way of life, for opportunity, TO WORK, for better wages than perhaps they can get in Haiti… people who work hard… at the lowest wages possible to man.  Sounds very similar to the Mexican story in the U.S.  A community of people contributing an incredible amount to what is the Dominican Republic today. The Haitian builds roads, office buildings, and houses.  She is the housekeeper and works long days in agriculture—doing jobs that others don’t want.

Alicia was stopped by a gentleman driving in his car and was questioned about what she was doing in Haiti and what she would be doing with the film.  She told him about the project, that we wanted to tell the story about Afrolatinos, about who the Afrolatino is and how they live, about the importance of showing the beauty of all our countries throughout Latin America.  The gentleman got really upset and defensive yelling - - this isn’t beautiful… he was talking about the market near the port of Port-au-Prince, which is right next to the embassy of Venezuela, completely surrounded by garbage.

He yelled, “this isn’t beautiful!” and he is right… Alicia responded, “there is nothing beautiful about being surrounded by trash.  Our job as journalist isn’t to just paint a pretty picture, but to SHOW our travels and discoveries as they are presented to us—to show how people of African descent are living throughout Latin America.”

Visiting the museum in HAITI the team noticed that there was something very interesting to be learned in the history of Haiti; something was missing in the past governments.  The leaders in power, the lengths of time presidents were in office.  Is Haiti a stable government? What is the government doing to help the poor in Haiti? Are the people of Haiti waiting for change to happen?  Do Haitians believe change will ever come?  Director, Renzo Devia asks, “was Haiti ready for liberation?” he raises a great point.  Was Haiti ready to establish a strong government and sustain a healthy economy?

Is there a racial EMBARGO in Haiti?  The team learned that there was a time where countries stopped doing business with Haiti.  No one wanted to do business with a country full of free slaves who were BLACK.  Haiti stopped receiving assistance… no commerce… no import and export. No country wanted to deal with Haiti because blacks were governing.

The gentleman who approached the production team makes a good point - - "show the beautiful parts of Haiti…" and the team intends to bring the viewers this…while bringing the story of how the majority of Haitians live.  Not all Haitians are living in Jacmel or in the touristy parts of Haiti.  It is very different when you visit the places where history happens… it is different when you experience something and live it in person.  

We hope through our eyes you can see what we see.  The Afrolatinos team looks forward to returning Haiti soon.

Here we have an interview Renzo and his friend Beline did in Santo Domingo Dominican Republic. Un day they were in the car and at a stop light they saw a bunch of kids; they were Haitian children asking for Money. One of them, Daniel stood out. Renzo and Beline found out that Daniel walked from Port-au-Prince to Santo Domingo, which is 12 hours away by bus. Daniel is an example of Haitian looking for a better life.