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Emerging Voices: the West Indian, Dominican, and Haitian Diasporas in the United States

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Emerging Voices: the West Indian, Dominican, and Haitian Diasporas in the United States EMERGING VOICES THE WEST INDIAN, DOMINICAN, AND HAITIAN DIASPORAS IN THE UNITED STATES Douglas W. Payne October 22, 1998 Policy Papers on the Americas EMERGING VOICES The West Indian, Dominican, and Haitian Diasporas in the United States Douglas W. Payne Policy Papers on the Americas Volume IX Study 11 October 22, 1998 CSIS Americas Program The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), established in 1962, is a private, tax-exempt institution focusing on international public policy issues. Its research is nonpartisan and nonproprietary. CSIS is dedicated to policy analysis and impact. It seeks to inform and shape selected policy decisions in government and the private sector to meet the increasingly complex and difficult global challenges that leaders will confront in the next century. It achieves this mission in three ways: by generating strategic analysis that is anticipatory and interdisciplinary, by convening policymakers and other influential parties to assess key issues, and by building structures for policy action. CSIS does not take specific policy positions. Accordingly, all views, positions, and conclusions expressed in this publication should be understood to be solely those of the author. CSIS Americas Program Leadership Georges Fauriol, Director M. Delal Baer, Deputy Director and Director, Mexico Project Joyce Hoebing, Assistant Director Michael May, Director, MERCOSUR-South America Project Armand Peschard-Sverdrup, Assistant Director, Mexico Project Christopher Sands, Director, Canada Project Editor Joyce Hoebing © 1998 by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. This report was prepared under the aegis of the CSIS Policy Papers on the Americas series. Comments are welcome and should be directed to: Joyce Hoebing CSIS Americas Program 1800 K Street, NW Washington, D.C. 20006 Phone: (202) 775-3299 Fax: (202) 466-4739 E-mail: [email protected] Contents Preface The first CSIS initiative on the Caribbean, launched in 1965, provided an assessment of the U.S. intervention in the Dominican Republic. This was the cold war era. Over the following two decades, political and security concerns were at the heart of CSIS efforts. These were anchored by topics such as Cuba and revolution in the region, the influence of the Soviet Union, and U.S. intervention in Grenada. By the late 1980s into the 1990s, issues had progressed to a new set of concerns. For CSIS, these were dominated by the political transition in Haiti, regional trade integration, the effect of a globalizing economy on the small economies of the Caribbean, and the future of U.S.-Caribbean relations have been addressed. Key elections in the Caribbean have been covered in the CSIS Western Hemisphere Election Study series since the early 1980s. In 1996, CSIS launched the Caribbean Leadership Group, a network of emerging young leaders drawn from throughout the region. The members of the Group—drawn from the public and private sectors and nongovernmental and grassroots organizations—conduct research, participate in CSIS visiting fellowships, and attend annual plenaries to explore how best to meet the challenges and opportunities facing the region in the coming decades. As the Leadership Group evolved, another idea took shape: What role does the Caribbean diaspora play in U.S.-Caribbean relations? The concept that has ensued is a parallel leadership group, comprised of members of the U.S.-based Caribbean diaspora, which would work in tandem with the Caribbean Leadership Group to explore the future of the Caribbean and U.S.-Caribbean relations. Emerging Voices is the first step in the process. The interests of the Caribbean, as well as the future of the U.S.-Caribbean relationship, cannot be separated from the dynamic of the Caribbean diaspora in the United States. From remittances to the home country (which in the case of Haiti exceeds total public sector internal revenues) to narcotics trafficking and crime in the region, the U.S.-based diaspora plays a role. Likewise, the diaspora represents a salient consitutencly and is a latent political force in U.S. policymaking and in local politics. This large group of immigrants has in recent years begun to achieve U.S. citizenship. This is partly in response to new U.S. immigration law that threatens the social benefits to which legal immigrants were formerly entitled. In New York in 1996, four of the five top countries in terms of the number of people seeking citizenship were Caribbean (the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Guyana, and Haiti). If this group were to organize around specific issues—domestic or foreign in nature—they could potentially gain a louder voice. Douglas Payne was asked to review the diasporas from the English- speaking Caribbean, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic. His task was to assess the organization of these diasporas, their goals, and their roles in U.S. policymaking and in shaping U.S.-Caribbean relations. Emerging Voices is a unique study: much has been written describing the socioeconomic characteristics of various diasporas and the background to emigration to the United States. Much i less attention has been paid to how diasporas interact with domestic and foreign public policy issues. Two vibrant Caribbean diasporas are not addressed in this study, Cuban Americans and Puerto Ricans living on the mainland. The latter involves such a uniqaue and more integrated socio-politcal interaction within the U.S. political community that it did not easily fit the terms of reference of this study. As for Cuba, much has already been said and written about this diaspora group’s level of sophistication with regard to organization, funding, lobbying, and outreach. It also has a galvanizing focus—Fidel Castro—that is in effect a single-issue interest not readily found in other Caribbean diasporas. We did not want to divert attention away from the mostly overlooked diasporas from the rest of the Caribbean. More likely, a separate, full-length report will be necessary to adequately address the issues facing the Cuban-American community over the coming decades. Joyce Hoebing Assistant Director Amercas Program ii Introduction Based on recent estimates, up to 15 percent of the population of the English- speaking Caribbean lives in the United States, 12 percent of the population of the Dominican Republic, and 14 percent of the population of Haiti. West Indians—as those from the English-speaking Caribbean will be referred to in this report—have arrived in successive waves since the early part of this century, Dominicans and Haitians since the 1960s. While Haitians have fled political oppression, and Dominicans political uncertainty and corruption, the people of all three diasporas have come in search of better economic opportunities. The largest concentrations of West Indians and Dominicans are in the New York City metropolitan area, while Haitians have congregated there and in greater Miami. Over the years, secondary concentrations have developed in New England, the Mid-Atlantic states, and South Florida, while smaller outposts can be found in a number of states in between and further west. Each diaspora group has maintained strong ties with home countries— political, economic and cultural—stemming from the strong desire among many who departed to return some day. Transnational linkages have been facilitated by geographic proximity, advanced communication technology, and low-cost air travel. The widespread expectation among Dominicans and West Indians that their stay would be temporary has been evident in the low rates of naturalization compared to other immigrant groups in the United States. It has been somewhat different in the case of Haitians. In recent decades, no other immigrant group has suffered more prejudice and discrimination, and many have had to struggle to obtain any legal status whatsoever. Over the last 10 years, the transient mentality has begun to shift, in part because these immigrants have seen little improvement in the conditions which prompted them to leave their countries in the first place. In addition, new generations of U.S.-born children are growing up with a sense that the United States is home, despite the great difficulties many encounter. As a result, ever greater numbers of West Indians, Dominicans, and Haitians are coming to the realization that they are here to stay. But just as that idea began to take hold, the very permanence that people were growing to accept became imperiled by the anti-immigrant backlash in the United States and new federal legislation designed to limit legal immigration and bar legal immigrants from many forms of social assistance. The threat was a wake-up call for West Indians and Dominicans, and signaled Haitians that their security in the United States remained in jeopardy despite the legal residency many had finally achieved. Encouraged by community leaders and activists in all three diasporas, people have been applying for U.S. citizenship at an unprecedented rate. That, in turn, has stimulated efforts to gain political power through the ballot box and to build institutions with voices strong enough to be heard in the congested corridors of Washington. These developments have been supported by the Dominican as well as a number of West Indian governments. They are concerned about a 1 2 Emerging Voices reduction in the flow of remittances which have become a critical source of foreign exchange, and the possible closing off of an important safety valve for relieving population pressures. They also view diaspora communities as potential assets for influencing U.S. foreign policy, particularly on trade issues. The current government in Haiti, paralyzed since 1997 and with few resources, remains mostly out of the picture. This report, based on interviews with some of the key players involved and a cross section of media, academic, and government sources, provides an overview of the three diasporas, including their dimensions, who the people are, and when they came. It then examines levels of institutional development and considers the prospects for political empowerment and building influence in Washington.
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