"Afro-Latinos and African Americans"

Making the Connections

Connection: What do you see as the significance of race in U.S. policy toward Haiti?

Professor Nimtz: The race question has always been a part of Wahington’s view toward Haiti, from the very founding of the country. The slaveowners in the United States were very fearful of the Haitian revolution in 1804. Not until 1863, when slavery was being contested and overthrown here, did Washington finally recognize the Haitian government. Then, with the overthrow of reconstruction in this country and the institution of Jim Crow, Washington’s attitudes toward Haiti hardened once again.

What happens in this country around issues of race impacts what Washington is doing not only in Haiti but in Africa and elsewhere. U.S. interventions in Haiti, Nicaragua and elsewhere have to be seen in the context of the basic denial of rights to black people in this country. Only with the civil rights movement and the overthrow of Jim Crow, did Washington even begin to pretend to treat Haiti as a sovereign state.

Full Article : americas.org