POLICING IN THE HAITIAN COMMUNITY IN SOUTH FLORIDA

Policing in the Haitian Community in South Florida

Policing in the Haitian Community in South Florida

Introduction

Millions of Haitians live abroad, chiefly in North America: the Dominican Republic, United States, Cuba, Canada (primarily Montreal) and Bahamas. They live in other nations like France, French Antilles, the Turks and Caicos, Venezuela, Cote d'Ivoire, Senegal, and French Guiana. In the United States alone there are an estimated 800,000 Haitians, plus 100,000 in Canada and an estimated 1,000,000 in the Dominican Republic. The Haitian community in France numbers about 80,000, and up to 80,000 Haitians now live in the Bahamas. A UN envoy in October 2007 found racism against blacks in general, and Haitians in particular, to be rampant in every segment of Dominican society. The administratio of President Barack Obama administration has made Haiti a priority in the hemisphere, reviewing immigration policy. Jean Baptiste Pointe du Sable, a Haitian immigrant, founded the first nonindigenous settlement in what is now Chicago, Illinois, the third largest city in the United States. The State of Illinois and City of Chicago declared du Sable the Founder of Chicago on October 26, 1968.

In January 2010, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced that Canada will consider fast-tracking immigration to help Haitian earthquake refugees. US Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced that the estimated 100,000 to 200,000 Haitians "not legally in the United States" as of January 12, 2010, would be granted a form of asylum called temporary protected status (TPS). Thousands of Haiti earthquake survivors, including Haitian children left orphaned in the aftermath of earthquake, could be relocated to the US. Senegal is offering parcels of land - even an entire region if they come en masse - to people affected by the earthquake in Haiti.

There is a significant Haitian population in South Florida, specifically the Miami enclave of Little Haiti. New Orleans, Louisiana has many historic ties to Haiti that date back to the Haitian Revolution. New York City, especially in Flatbush, East Flatbush and Springfield Gardens, also has a thriving émigré community with the second largest population of Haitians of any state in the nation. There are also large and active Haitian communities in Boston, Spring Valley (New York), New Jersey, Washington D.C., Providence, Rhode Island, Georgia, Connecticut and Pennsylvania. There are also large Haitian communities in Montreal, Quebec, Paris, France, Havana, Cuba and Kingston, Jamaica. Anténor Firmin was a 19th century Haitian anthropologist, perhaps the first black anthropologist and an early writer of négritude, who influenced 20th century American anthropologist Melville J. Herskovits. Michaëlle Jean, the current Governor General of Canada, was a refugee from Haiti coming to Canada in 1968 at age 11. Haitian immigrants have constituted a very visible segment of American and Canadian society, dating back to before the independence of Haiti from France in 1804. Haiti's proximity to the United States, and its status as a free black republic in the years before the American Civil War, have contributed to this ...