The American Roots of Anti-Haitianism

Haiti and Haitians unwillingly being the center of news is, unfortunately, a reality we have faced for more than two centuries through systemic racism, negative stereotypes perpetuated by the media, and historical and ongoing discrimination in the United States and the world over. 

Recent headlines have been erupting out of Springfield, Ohio, where conservatives are waging attacks against Haitian émigrés is the most recent example of America’s long history of dehumanizing and vilifying anything remotely related to Haiti.  Haiti and Haitians unwillingly being the center of news is, unfortunately, a reality we have faced for more than two centuries through systemic racism, negative stereotypes perpetuated by the media, and historical and ongoing discrimination in the United States and the world over. 

Immediately following the success of the Haitian revolution in 1804, anti-Haitianism exploded in the United States, especially among Southern plantation owners and slave traffickers. And for good reason. Six years after Haiti declared itself free, the largest U.S. slave revolt, inspired by what happened in Saint Domingue, took place in Louisiana. 

The complete liberation of formerly trafficked Africans and their descendants in the region turned the world on its head. Following 13 years of battle, a corner of the world that had been drenched in the oppression of African and Indigenous peoples by European powers and the Church, all in the name of exploitation and greed, became a beacon of freedom for all oppressed peoples and directly influenced liberation movements in present-day Venezuela, Mexico, and Greece just to name a few. 

In response, the United States, France, and their allies used the entire nineteenth and twentieth centuries to wage an unholy public relations and political campaign othering Haiti and its people. The infamous debt from France was only part of the machinations put in place to weaken the new state. 

Thomas Jefferson’s Administration failed to recognize its new neighbor, and the U.S. would not do so until 1862 during the American Civil War. In 1915, U.S. marines invaded Haiti, beginning a 19-year occupation that would see the theft of the country’s financial reserves, the importation of the U.S. prison industrial complex, the torture and execution of freedom fighters like Charlemagne Péralte and other Cacos, and a reframing of Haiti’s constitution to grant “foreigners land-owning rights.” Meanwhile, famed and cherished Black American writer and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston described it as “the end of the revolution and the beginning of peace.” 

The occupation also put the condemnation and blatant misrepresentation of Vodou and other related African Traditional Religions into overdrive. Since Bwa Kayiman, where my foremothers and fathers called on lwas such as Ezili Danto, Ogou Feray, and Dambala to form lame endijèn (the indigenous army), Vodou has been seen as a “pact to the devil.” White minds then and now could not imagine gods stronger and more just than their angry Canaanite deity. Thanks to sensational reporting from white marines and journalists, Vodou found itself mocked and weaponized in American pop culture. As Professor Patrick Bellegarde-Smith put it, “Hollywood, as loyal Americans, comes to the rescue of the U.S. state, and justified further the brutish occupation by creating the ‘voodoo,’ we now know, and the zombie films that became a basic staple.” 

Then came the HIV/AIDS crisis. 

In 1982, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) publicly alleged that Haitians “were at increased risk for acquiring HIV.” This led to the reckless three Hs of cause for the illness: “Homosexuals, Hemophiliacs, Heroin Addicts, and Haitians.” The unprecedented international isolation of Haitians, resulting from this fabrication, only further cemented us as subhumans within the U.S. and the rest of the world.  

Therefore, these antics by Trump, Vance, and their base are nothing new. And make no mistake, their political opponents haven’t done any better. In fact, the Biden-Harris Administration, as recently as May 2024, is considering using Guantanamo Bay to “process Haitian migrants” as Western-induced and backed crises rock the country, practically disabling the capitol. The current administration hypocritically ignores calls for free and open elections in Haiti, all while defending electoral integrity at home. 

Now, to be fair, anti-Haitian sentiment hasn’t solely been practiced by white powers – Black and Brown countries have and continue to enjoy participating in the hazing rituals. In 19th century Brazil, white enslavers rattled by the Revolution coined the word “haitismo to talk about any slave rebellion.” Today, Brazil, which has the largest population of Black people outside the African continent, is a member of the Core Group, a committee of ambassadors from the U.S., Spain, France, Germany, Canada, the European Union, the United Nations, and the Organization of American States, who, wield undue influence over Haiti’s domestic affairs. Additionally, in a recent op-ed for Common Dreams Yves Engler writes, “During an explosion of xenophobia against Haitian migrants in Guyana in 2019, reports focused on HIV/AIDS and Voodoo.” And of course, Jamaica and Kenya are currently carrying their former colonizers’ water with recent troop deployments to the nation, all under the guise of peacekeeping and safety. 

This is why it is comical at best and concerning at worst that some view this moment as an opportunity to whip up Haitian and Haitian-American votes for the Harris-Walz campaign. Anti-Haitianism is a foundational cornerstone of anti-Blackness and American political ideology as we know it. No one who heads an empire built on the economic, environmental, and physical degradation of First Nation peoples and Africans will ever have Haiti’s best interest at heart. At most, Haiti must continue to serve as an example of the torture awaiting Black people who attempt to protect themselves and their communities and revere their ancestors – both those who survived chattel slavery and those whose final resting place is the Atlantic Ocean.  

A strong Haiti, like a re-established Palestinian state, threatens the status quo as we know it and reveals the depths of depravity of white supremacy, its architects, heirs, and its footmen. 

A strong Haiti clears any and all obstructions to global Black reparations. A strong Haiti weakens capitalism and forces us to contend with how much of the Western world’s wealth remains a direct product of the transatlantic slave trade. A strong Haiti demands that we ask ourselves hard questions about pan-Africanism and how nations like Jamaica, Guyana, the Bahamas, Kenya, and others who have directly benefited from our constant humiliation can properly be held accountable for their actions. 

A strong Haiti, like a re-established Palestinian state, threatens the status quo as we know it and reveals the depths of depravity of white supremacy, its architects, heirs, and its footmen. 

If there’s anything to be gained from this moment, it is that more people will understand how a small country practically the size of the state of Maryland has given much to the world with little thanks in return. If there’s anything to be learned from this time, it is that Haiti’s current reality is the rock upon which Western idealism and comfort rests. 

Anything else is a bonus and a miracle. 

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