Dear Michael Slackman (Assistant Managing Editor, International Section, at the NY Times),
I hope you have been well since we last spoke. I’ve been following your tweets and really appreciate how you continue to urge people to wear masks and social distance. The more voices speaking up about this, the better. I know it’s a strange time for everyone. Despite everything going on, I have been doing some work with the Haitian community in Brooklyn and have come across a story that I believe would interest the Times.
Haiti and the Dominican Republic share an island, but their relationship has historically been anything but peaceful. The past these two nations share is one that is complicated, nuanced, and everchanging. From tribal feuds, to colonial land disputes, to modern-day discrimination, each country has been both the victim and the oppressor. Discriminatory rhetoric has been developed, and cooperation is rare. Immigrants from both countries face a myriad of similar problems when entering the United States, but once here, what they share usually doesn’t bring them together. Whether here or in their home country, prejudice trickles down from generation to generation.
However, younger Haitians and Dominicans are changing this. Whether it’s intentional or unintentional, these divides are disappearing. Elders in the Haitian community have witnessed younger, second-generation Haitians coming together with other Caribbean immigrants, specifically Dominicans, in ways that were previously unheard-of. With their tenuous pasts in mind, why and how are these ethnic groups now bridging the gap between them? The Trump administration’s restrictive immigration policies and recent social justice movements, such as Black Lives Matter, have shed a light on larger issues that affect both communities. These newly minted challenges have demonstrated how pointless these historical biases can be and pushed these cliques closer together than they ever were before.
The piece will become more fully formed once I speak with some people from the Dominican Republic, but the principle idea behind the piece is to get an idea of what the future holds for these two communities in New York City.
Sincerely,
Luke Stevens