ORIGINAL ARTICLE Invasion from the South: Social Construction of the Haitian “Other” in

Charmane M. Perry University of Wisconsin1 ABSTRACT Since 1957, the Bahamian government has been trying to control the migration of undocumented Haitians to and their movement through The Bahamas. Due to the continued and incessant migration and the question of citizenship for Haitians, Bahamians have come to perceive Haitians as a threat to the national and cultural sovereignty of The Bahamas. The media, government policies, and everyday constructions of Bahamian identity have played a significant role in socially constructing the image and status of Haitians residing in The Bahamas. The perception and internalization of these images and ideas have resulted in the denial of human rights for Haitians and people of Haitian descent residing in The Bahamas.

INTRODUCTION racialized and inferior other (a status This article will explore how the media, previously occupied by Afro-Bahamians) government policies, and identity construction which is directly related to the exploitation of have played a critical role in the ascribed their labor in The Bahamas. Lastly, I will racialized images and attitudes towards explore how Bahamians perceive and Haitians in The Bahamas. First, I will show construct their identity in binary opposition to that the media have played a substantial role the cultural and historical representations of in increasing anti-Haitian sentiment primarily Haiti and Haitians which is also racist. All of through three factors: consistent emphasis on these factors are interrelated and, most the proximity of Haiti to The Bahamas, importantly, intrinsic to each one is the inaccurate reports on the size of the Haitian concept of coloniality, providing a racial lens population residing in The Bahamas, and one- in which Haitians are considered to be dimensional visual representation of Haitians. culturally inferior, different, and primitive Second, I will also explore how legislation which becomes a seemingly natural passed during the era of independence justification for the exploitation of their labor constructed an image in the imagination of and for the denial of their human rights. Bahamians regarding who could and who Before proceeding, let’s define coloniality and could not be a Bahamian. After the election why it is being used as a lens to understand of the first successful Afro-Bahamian political the treatment of Haitians in The Bahamas. In party (the Progressive Liberal Party) and the “On the Coloniality of Being” Maldonado- change in leadership, Haitians became the

1 Charmane M. Perry, Doctoral Student, Department of Africology, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. E-mail: [email protected] APA reference: Perry. C. M. (2014). Invasion from the South: Social construction of the Haitian ‘Other’ in The Bahamas. The International Journal of Bahamian Studies, 20(1), 1-12. Retrieved from http://journals.sfu.ca/cob/index.php/files/article/view/197/263

 C.M. Perry, 2014. Journal compilation The International Journal of Bahamian Studies, 2014 C. Perry. Invasion from the South: Social construction of the Haitian “Other” in The Bahamas. 2

Torres (2007) states that “coloniality … refers that functioned around the idea of race as a to long-standing patterns of power that biological entity. Race signified one’s degree emerged as a result of colonialism, but that of humanity and race functioned to situate define culture, labor, intersubjective relations, people, according to their new ascribed racial and knowledge production well beyond the identity, in the new international division of strict limits of colonial administration” (p. labor. And so, we have two things being 243). This means that colonialism and structurally linked race / labor and modernity / coloniality are antonyms. Whereas coloniality. colonialism is the political and economic In this article, I argue that coloniality is domination of a people by another, coloniality critical to understanding the treatment of is the product of colonialism and thus outlasts Haitians in The Bahamas because it was not colonialism, manifesting itself in the everyday until after the success of the Progressive life of people across the globe. However, Liberal Party (PLP) that the party’s platform coloniality is not a product of any form of increasingly focused on immigration. The colonialism but is particular to the discovery PLP went from anti-racist rhetoric against the and conquest of the Americas. It is at this United Bahamian Party (UBP) to anti-Haitian socio-historical moment that capitalism and sentiments after their election to the House of domination became intertwined which Assembly. According to Saunders (2003): resulted in world capitalism. Quijano (2000) asserts that: Before majority rule, race relations within The Bahamas typified colonial social Two historical processes associated in the organization in which a white minority production of that space/time converged maintained political and economic power and established the two fundamental axes through racial segregation. Racial of the new model of power. One was the discriminatory practices barring black codification of the differences between Bahamians from full political conquerors and conquered in the idea of participation and opportunities for race, a supposedly different biological economic gain fuelled the campaign for structure that placed some in a natural majority rule. The founding of the PLP situation of inferiority to the others. The in 1953 challenged the social status quo conquistadors assumed this idea as the and the leadership of the Bay Street Boys, constitutive, founding element of the the white oligarchy named after the relations of domination that the conquest prominent commercial street in Nassau imposed. On this basis, the population of that later formed the UBP. The PLP’s America, and later the world, was platform showed a concern for redressing classified within the new model of power. past discriminatory barriers to the social The other process was the constitution of advancement of black Bahamians (p. 39). a control of labor and its resources and products. This new structure was an In their fight against the United Bahamian articulation of all historically known Party, the PLP accused the party of trying to previous structures of control of labor, alter Bahamian identity by encouraging the slavery, serfdom, small independent immigration of whites (from Europe and the commodity production and reciprocity, ) and excluding people of together around and upon the basis of African descent (Haitians, Jamaicans, and capital and the world market (p. 534). African-Americans) through immigration policies. However, after the success of the These two axes produced new social identities

The International Journal of Bahamian Studies Vol. 20, No. 1 (2014) C. Perry. Invasion from the South: Social construction of the Haitian “Other” in The Bahamas. 3

PLP, their attack on immigration increased exploitation. and affected not only whites but also blacks, Media in particular Haitians. In addition, after 1967, The media have played a significant role in the changes in social services and education the expansion and institutionalization of catalyzed the upward mobility of many Afro- xenophobia, negative attitudes, hatred, and Bahamians. As a result: ignorance due to their representation of Haitians performed an essential economic Haitians in The Bahamas. According to Hall function in taking jobs that Bahamians no (1997), “… representation is a complex longer wanted.... Very many Bahamians business and, especially when dealing with came to depend on Haitians for ‘difference’, it engages feelings, attitudes and performing agricultural and gardening emotions and it mobilizes fears and anxieties labour.… Scarcely a Bahamian of any in the viewer, at deeper levels than we can substance but had their ‘own’ Haitian, on explain in a simple, common sense way” (p. whom they were to a degree dependent, 229). Bahamians fear the presence of the but who in turn depended on them for Haitian community in The Bahamas and protection, in the form of help with the believe they are a threat to the cultural and authorities or documentations, as well as national sovereignty of The Bahamas. Yet, for wages (Craton, 1995, pp. 274-275). these fears are rooted in ideas emanating from Coloniality plays a significant role in the the state and are exacerbated by ignorance and treatment and representation of Haitians in the way that Haitians have been portrayed in The Bahamas. They are the racialized, the media. In addition, the perception of inferior, and non-human other. Afro- Haitians as a cultural and national threat is a Bahamians, once considered inferior by the product of racial constructions of identity white minority, became superior and more rooted in colonialism. Thus, their human in the post-independence period and in representation and difference must also take turn dominated and controlled Haitians. Let into consideration the ways in which me be clear; this does not negate the role of coloniality complicates the perception of class. Haitians have reported feeling more Haitians in The Bahamas. discrimination and prejudice from working In newspapers, Haitians are described as a class Afro-Bahamians than from other burden, a drain on society, living tax-free, a Bahamians (Robertson, 2001, p. 77). problem, a threat to Bahamian development, a Working class Afro-Bahamians perceive national pain, a daily assault on Bahamian Haitians as an economic threat because they sovereignty, and the single greatest threat to will work for lower wages. Furthermore, the The Bahamas (Johnson et al., 2005). The undocumented Haitians who enter The media also give the impression that Haitians Bahamas come from an impoverished and are taking over the country by the use of terms marginalized status in Haiti. This explains such as “Haitian hordes”, “Haitian invasion”, their method of entry. Instead, I am arguing and describing Bahamian society as “under that because race and the division of labor are assault” (pp. 10-11). Moreover, mainstream structurally related, Haitians (who have Bahamian newspapers, specifically The already been historically racialized and Nassau Guardian and The Tribune, support demonized as inferior) are considered non- these descriptions and increase fear by human, performing the most menial jobs reporting inaccurate estimates of the Haitian which, in the lens of coloniality, is a natural community citing anywhere from 50,000 to justification for their domination and 400,000 in various articles when in fact there

The International Journal of Bahamian Studies Vol. 20, No. 1 (2014) C. Perry. Invasion from the South: Social construction of the Haitian “Other” in The Bahamas. 4 has been slight population growth in the last pp. 214-215). Even the usage of the word 15-20 years (pp. 11-13). Statistics suggests creole as the name of the language insinuates that from 1963 to 2000, the resident Haitian the undervaluing of Haitian Creole (Pierre, community has grown from 4,170 to 21,426 2006, p. 269). Furthermore, some Bahamians (Fielding, Ballance, Scriven, McDonald, & also view Haitian Creole with negativity Johnson, 2008, p. 45). If the newspapers are arguing that instead of learning Haitian correct, this would suggest that the Creole, Spanish or French should be taught undocumented population could be as high as (Turnquest, 2005, p. 5). hundreds of thousands when in fact the total Just as critically, in the public discourse, no Bahamian population is slightly over 300,000 distinction is made between the categories of (Fielding et al., 2008). Haitian migration was, Haitians and their legal status in The and continues to be, categorized as the Bahamas. Haitian-Bahamians, naturalized “invasion from the south”, “invasive” and the citizens, Haitian nationals with work permits, “Haitian stampede” (Craton, 1995). These and undocumented Haitians are claims are printed in the newspapers without indiscriminately lumped into one category. In any empirical evidence to substantiate them. The Haitian Problem, Marshall explains the Such descriptions carry racial undertones, difference between being an expatriate and a suggesting that Haitians are foreign and that migrant in the Caribbean, which is an their invasive presence will result in the expression of coloniality. She states that the cultural and societal degradation of The term “migrant” developed negative Bahamas. connotations, became associated with The Nassau Guardian and The Tribune also inferiority, and was used as a derogatory term add to the fear of the inevitable loss of whereas “expatriate” described Europeans Bahamian cultural and national sovereignty who occupied positions of higher status who with article headlines such as “Creole ‘will be originated from developed countries. In the dominant language within ten years’” contrast to their receiving country, migrants (Creole, 2005, p. 9) and “Bahamians of typically come from areas with lower Haitian descent ‘will make up swing vote in standards of living, have limited education 10-15 years’” (Herig, 2005, p. 1). Both and thus limited employment opportunities. articles add to the anti-Haitian phobia and the Typically, migrants were black, poor, had idea that The Bahamas is under attack. The limited formal education, and sought latter article addresses the political impact that employment in menial and unskilled positions Haitian-Bahamians will inevitably have in which the economy demanded but which The Bahamas which in many ways further Bahamians of African descent were reproduces an image of Haitians as invaders increasingly unwilling to perform. Although who will take over the country. Further, the Turks and Caicos Islanders and Jamaicans perception of Haitian Creole as an imposed were also among the unskilled black workers, foreign language is also extremely racialized Haitians outnumbered them (Craton & and located in coloniality. Within Haiti, Saunders, 1998). Haitian Creole has historically been linked to Furthermore, Marshall asserts that “when the the black peasantry, a sign of African cultural ‘migrant’ has entered a country illegally, or retention and thus, primitive. As a result, the obtained a job without official permission, his elites upheld French as the national language status is even lower, like the Haitian he until 1983 when both became the official becomes an ‘illegal migrant’” (Marshall, languages of Haiti (Bellegarde-Smith, 2004, 1979, p. 93). When journalists discuss

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Haitians as a single homogenous group, all “problem”) Bahamians have been bombarded Haitians become viewed as illegal and a with and have internalized negative and problem to the country. Haitians as a people racialized images, words, and ideas are seen as inferior and non-human because concerning Haitians in The Bahamas. they are “illegal migrants” with little or no It becomes imperative here to understand that formal education which means they work in Haitian migration to The Bahamas predates the most menial jobs. Furthermore, the fact 1957 as well as the fact that migration has that they are illegal heightens this reality functioned as a way and means of life for because they become extremely vulnerable to Caribbean people (including Bahamians who exploitation. emigrated to and Key West in the late Lastly, but extremely critical, is the eerie 19th and early 20th century). As a result of similarity of the stories reported by the lack of wages and opportunities in their journalists. In the daily news, journalists homeland (which are the manifestations of report the same stories of Haitians attempting slavery and colonialism), Caribbean migrants to enter the country, arrests, deportations, and have travelled to other Caribbean islands, the political and public opinion (most of which Americas, and Great Britain since the late are negative). According to the International 19th and early 20th centuries (Richardson, Organization for Migration study on Haitian 1983). As such, by 1948, there was already a migration, the most consistent topics covered small Haitian community in The Bahamas. can be broken down into three groups: social During this period there had been little issues (education, housing), political issues socioeconomic difference between Haiti and (law and order, citizenship) and economic The Bahamas resulting in trading between issues (labor). Although the articles seem to merchants from the island of Tortuga cover a myriad of topics, the news reports (northernmost point in Haiti) and Inagua lack depth on the issues associated with the (southernmost point in The Bahamas). migration and why Haitians are migrating as Tortuga, Port-de-Paix, and Cap Haïtien were well as failing to place migration into a global particularly important trade (as well as and/or Caribbean context (Johnson et al., hospital) destinations because they were more 2005). accessible to people of the southern Bahamas In the summer of 2010, I conducted research than Nassau. There is also evidence to in Nassau, New Providence. I had the suggest that the Haitian presence in the opportunity to read newspaper clippings from southern Bahamas in the late 19th and early the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s in the collection 20th centuries was numerically similar to the at the Hilda Bowen Library at the College of Bahamian presence in northern Haitian port The Bahamas as well as do archival research cities (Tinker, 2011). Merchants from at The National Archives of The Bahamas Mathew Town Inagua who had mercantile where I viewed newspapers from the 1950s, connections in Cap Haitien and Port-de-Paix 1960s, and 1970s. While doing my research, I began sending their daughters to be educated began to notice that there was little qualitative in Port-au-Prince. Bahamian men who difference between the content of articles conducted business in northern Haiti also concerning Haitians in The Bahamas from the fathered children with Haitian women 1960s and those from the latter 20th- and (Craton, 1995, p. 268). This indicates that early 21st centuries. This observation during this period, Haitians were seen as their suggests that over the last 50 years (which is equal. Both groups were experiencing similar essentially the length of the Haitian vicissitudes and helped each other because

The International Journal of Bahamian Studies Vol. 20, No. 1 (2014) C. Perry. Invasion from the South: Social construction of the Haitian “Other” in The Bahamas. 6 they needed each other. immigration. The attempt to control So why is this important? First, this is critical immigration became more critical during this because the original nature of Haitian period than in prior periods (Craton & migration to The Bahamas was circular, not Saunders, 1998). The movement against permanent. Haitians migrated to The immigration in the age of independence was a Bahamas to earn money and then returned to reflection of the PLP’s national objective of Haiti. The reality of circular migration was protecting The Bahamas for Bahamians, expressed by a common Haitian Creole particularly black Bahamians. Therefore, the proverb among the migrants: “Nou vin question of immigration was critical. The Nassau, nou pa vin rete se g-in-n dola nou vin Bahamas was experiencing high levels of chache” meaning “We come to Nassau, we immigration which meant the contention don’t come to stay, we come to look for against immigration was not simply to open dollars only” (Marshall, 1979, p. 51). Second, opportunities to and protect them for black it is critical because when there was a mutual Bahamians but also to prevent foreigners from (as well as similar) socioeconomic accessing those same opportunities. relationship between The Bahamas and Haiti, In an effort to control unskilled labor (i.e. the Haitian problem rhetoric did not exist. black labor), the United Bahamian Party Interestingly, Craton states that “…the developed the Immigration Act of 1964 which fortunate few non-white Bahamians who prohibited the employment of foreigners visited Haiti as tourists came back enthused without the authorization of the Bahamian by the vitality and authenticity of Haitian government. Work was also restricted to the popular culture, and with an admiration employment specified on the work permit bordering on envy for the Parisian elegance (Marshall, 1979). In a further attempt to and political power of the Haitian brown control immigration, allegedly for security elite” (Craton, 1995, p. 268). In consequence, reasons, and to protect job opportunities for there is a relationship between the rise of the Bahamians, the Bahamianization policy was tourist industry, the Duvalier dictatorship and implemented by the PLP in 1967. the beginning of the Haitian problem. This is “Essentially, Bahamianization was attempted important because it was not until after Haiti by the government to control the recruitment began to regress politically and economically of non-Bahamian labor. Specifically targeted and The Bahamas (specifically New under this program were white foreigners Providence, Grand Bahama, Eleuthera, and recruited by the Grand Bahama Port Abaco) flourished because of tourism that a Authority, Haitians, and Jamaicans” (Tinker, sharp divide between Bahamians and Haitians 2011, p. 8). The Bahamianization policy was arose and Haitians began to be treated meant to provide Bahamians with the negatively and they and their country opportunity to gain better employment and perceived as inferior. business opportunities by limiting the Government Policies availability and accessibility of work permits, In terms of government policies, the problem permanent residency, and citizenship. of immigration has been one of the most Bahamianization also required that employers pressing concerns for the Bahamian hire Bahamians over non-Bahamians. Only if government since the 1960s. The increasing a qualified Bahamian could not be found were prosperity of the Bahamian economy due to employers allowed to hire foreign labor. tourism (itself a reincarnation of colonialism) Moreover, attempts to find qualified resulted in an increase in opportunities and Bahamians were not to cease despite the

The International Journal of Bahamian Studies Vol. 20, No. 1 (2014) C. Perry. Invasion from the South: Social construction of the Haitian “Other” in The Bahamas. 7 position being filled (McCollin, 2002). Thus, problems associated with this system. First, Bahamianization must be viewed as a tactic of many Haitian-Bahamians were unaware of resisting and limiting foreign immigration. their rights to citizenship or the short window Lastly, and most critically, after independence of opportunity that they had to apply for in July 1973, The Bahamas transitioned from citizenship. Second, some Haitian-Bahamians jus soli to jus sanguinis in its citizenship and knew few applicants who applied for naturalization policies. The Independence citizenship and were interviewed within the Constitution of 1973 stated that those born in specified time period and were granted The Bahamas before July 10, 1973 were citizenship. Lastly, and this is a very critical eligible for Bahamian citizenship. However, point, the hierarchy in citizenship has created those born in The Bahamas after July 9, 1973 a two-tier system of social discrimination to non-Bahamian parents were not granted against Haitians which intersects with ideas of automatic citizenship. Instead, they would Bahamian identity (this will be explained have to apply for citizenship within a year of later). their 18th birthday. Citizenship, however, Citizenship is a critical issue for Haitian- was not guaranteed and applicants had to be Bahamians. Due to citizenship laws, many prepared to take an oath of allegiance, make a Haitian-Bahamians are not citizens in The declaration of intent on residence, renounce Bahamas or Haiti. In the article “Haitians foreign citizenship, and, moreover, had to be Living in Limbo” (2003), a young man, Marc cleared of anything perceived to be a threat to Sedione, discussed his frustrations and the interests of national security and public aspirations. Sedione was born in The policy (Craton & Saunders, 1998). Bahamas to Haitian parents but states that he The pursuit of the policy of The Bahamas for is neither Haitian nor Bahamian. “And Bahamians came at the expense of other though he has applied three times for groups. Legislation passed during the era of Bahamian citizenship and spent about $4,500 independence has been oppressive for the on paperwork and lawyers, he has nothing to Haitian community because it has made it show for his efforts” (para. 5). Since he has increasingly difficult to regularize their stay no legal status, and therefore no way to (Sears, 1994). As such, the state has been elevate himself in Bahamian society, Sedione able to use its power to control and planned to make an undocumented trip to marginalize this community through West Palm Beach to live with his family. His legislative sanctions. Citizenship, along with destination represents his desperation, his work permits and permanent residency, are ostracism in Bahamian society, and his tactics by which the Bahamian state can despair. control the Haitian community in The My point here is that through government Bahamas. It is within this framework that policies, specifically work permits, children of Haitian descent have been legally citizenship, and naturalization, the Bahamian excluded from the full rights of citizenship in government controls the legal status of the land of their birth. Haitians in The Bahamas. Quijano states Furthermore, the window of opportunity to “…a modern nation-state involves the modern apply for citizenship is limited to one year institutions of citizenship and political after one’s 18th birthday. However, democracy, but only in the way in which according to the Human Rights Delegation citizenship can function as legal, civil, and Report (Yale Law School, 1994), there were political equality for socially unequal people” (2003, p. 557). Furthermore, the modern

The International Journal of Bahamian Studies Vol. 20, No. 1 (2014) C. Perry. Invasion from the South: Social construction of the Haitian “Other” in The Bahamas. 8 nation-state is a power structure that identity in The Bahamas was unheard of, and dominates a group of people, in this case the prospect of independence developed an Haitians. If we understand the intricate urgent need for Bahamians to find their true relationship between the media and the state identity (Bethel, 2007). During this period, (the media functioning as a tool of the state), “the euphoria of independence was paralleled it is clear that both institutions play large roles by a growing desire for an articulated and in socially constructing racialized visible postcolonial identity—a desire representations of Haitians by continuing to stemming from a distinct lack of confidence represent them (in news stories and in Bahamian cultural expression” (Rommen, institutionally) as illegal, a problem, and 1999, p. 74). In a 1966 speech to the United inferior. Nations, Lynden Pindling stated: Bahamian Self and the Haitian “Other” “Bahamian” is not a legal term under the The issue of a Bahamian identity provides the constitution; yet no one can say with any most visible maintenance of coloniality. degree of truth that we are British. As a While doing research in The Bahamas in people we are without history, without 2010, I encountered a young Bahamian man culture, and without national identity. who told me that Bahamians did not have an We study British history, British identity. He followed this statement by civilization, and even British weather; but making a reference to Bahamians listening to about ourselves, we have no past—and reggae music and Bahamians not knowing under colonialism, no future. (Palmer, “thyself”. It was here that I first began to 1994, pp. 799-800) question what Bahamian culture is and also, Pindling’s statement reinforces the idea that what it meant to be Bahamian. If Haitians are there was a lack of a national identity. It also imagined to be a threat to the cultural and suggests that it was not easy to point out national sovereignty of The Bahamas, then it things that were distinctly Bahamian and not becomes important to define how Bahamian derived from British culture. Bahamians were identity has been constructed. According to never British because they were colonial Smith (1991), an individual’s national identity subjects which meant they were not human. is a complex mix of shared values, memories, Their racial identity was constructed during myths, and traditions that provide the colonialism and persisted through coloniality. individual with a unique cultural heritage. As The lack of a clear, cohesive identity adds to it pertains to The Bahamas, discourse on the perceived cultural threat that the Haitian Bahamian national identity is a contested community is believed to be imposing on The topic. The overall sentiment is that there is a Bahamas. According to Craton (1995), in lack of a clear and cohesive Bahamian terms of self-definition, no group of people national identity. According to Bethel (2007), has “served more effectively as a defining it is not uncommon for Bahamian intellectuals Other for the Bahamian Self than have the to state that The Bahamas has little or no Haitian migrants to and through The sense of national identity. She goes on to Bahamas” (1995, p. 266). Therefore, state that Bahamians are also skeptical of the Bahamians have constructed elements of their idea of a national identity. In response to this identity in opposition to the historical, question, some Bahamians may respond by political, social, economic, and cultural saying “National identity?”, “What is that?” perceptions of Haiti and the Haitian or “We don’t have a national identity” (p. 1). community. Prior to the 1960s, the question of a national

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Hall (1997) states that people who are exploited were associated with perceived to be different and/or constructed as unpaid/nonwage labor because they were the “other” from the majority are often inferior. “The racial inferiority of the represented in binary opposition: “They seem colonized implied that they were not worthy to be represented through sharply opposed, of wages. They were naturally obliged to polarized, binary extremes — good / bad, work for the profit of their owners” (Quijano, civilized / primitive, ugly / excessively 2000, p. 539). Furthermore, the control of a attractive, repelling — because different / form of labor could also mean control over a compelling — because-strange-and-exotic” particular group of people. The arrogance of (1997, p. 229). More critically is how saying my Haitian essentially means that difference (the representation of difference) is Bahamians view themselves as superior, more linked with questions of power. The use of human than Haitians. Haitians are their the term other reflects the idea that Bahamians property. imagine themselves in binary extremes/forms What does this mark of racial difference look of representation against Haitians who have like? In a newspaper article discussing the also taken on racial identities. Consequently, threat Haitians posed to The Bahamas, a we can recognize what it means to be Bahamian stated “our identity is not Bahamian not only because of cultural and Junkanoo, it’s the way we live. We have national characteristics but because it has always been a very passive society, but been marked as different from Haitians. already we find ourselves accepting violence In the era of independence, the new Bahamian as a way of life” (Creole, 2005, p. 9). state (controlled by blacks) retained elements Haitians “… are perceived by Bahamians as of the colonial state (Alexander, 1994). The less creolized than themselves, more African, new black ruling party internalized and unmodernized, superstitious, fatalistic, reproduced Euro-centrism and viewed emotional and at least potentially violent” Haitians are naturally inferior (Craton, 1995). (Craton, 1995, p. 284). Additionally, “the In Brian Lee’s documentary film Lakay, Dr. Haitian Other is projected to the Bahamian Eugene Newry, historian and former Self as a natural inferior; primitive, backward, Bahamian Ambassador to Haiti, discusses this superstitious; naturally submissive but transfer of oppression and social stratification. capable of mindless violence; not accustomed The undocumented migration of Haitians to to democratic processes and therefore to be of The Bahamas allowed Afro-Bahamians to necessity subjected; worthy of abuse” (Craton, look down upon another group of people. p. 286). Haitians were being employed by people who A lot is being said within these statements. would have ordinarily done the work on their Quijano argues that racial classification own as well as performing those jobs. It is placed Africans at the bottom of society within this context that Bahamians began to which meant they were closer to nature (i.e. refer to Haitians they employed as “my culturally inferior, less evolved, less human, Haitian” which, according to Dr. Newry, is uncivilized, and irrational). This also meant derogatory and used in the same sense that that in the degrees of humanity, Africans were people would say my pet dog or cat. Quijano the furthest away from Europeans who were argues that through global capitalism, labor completely human and thus naturally superior (paid and unpaid) became structurally linked to all inferior groups. Because their bodies with a particular race. Europeans received were closer to nature, Europeans believed that wages because they were human, and the African bodies could be dominated, exploited,

The International Journal of Bahamian Studies Vol. 20, No. 1 (2014) C. Perry. Invasion from the South: Social construction of the Haitian “Other” in The Bahamas. 10 and were dispensable. All of the adjectives person may happen to [be] born in a stable, Bahamians use to describe Haitians articulates does not make that person an animal….So that they, Haitians, are considered non-human being born in The Bahamas does not make beings. They are closest to nature which is one a Bahamian. A child born in The expressed through their primitiveness, Bahamas of foreign parents must by irrationality, emotional behavior (which also international law take the nationality of his has a gendered element), superstition, and the parents. Nationality and citizenship are not list can keep going. These descriptions also synonymous. (The Patriot, 2005, p. 4) articulate that Bahamians view themselves as Although The Patriot does not speak for all having benefited from modernity. They are Bahamians, statements and attitudes like these democratic, modern, have Christian values, are prevalent in The Bahamas. To expound and are rational and scientific. They are more upon this point, for the International civilized (more creolized) and closer to Organization of Migration report, researchers human, if not completely human, than interviewed “…a senior government official Haitians. These expressions of the coloniality who consistently referred to a ‘Haitian’. On of power are critical to understanding the further questioning it was found that the treatment and representation of Haitians in ‘Haitian’ had a Bahamian passport which The Bahamas. meant he was a Bahamian. However, in the Moreover, although Haitian-Bahamians can mind of the official, this Bahamian citizen apply for citizenship, there is still an aura of was still a ‘Haitian’” (Johnson et al., 2005, p. stigmatization and the idea that they are not 69). This attitude is not uncommon and is a authentic Bahamians and thus do not deserve reflection of Bahamians’ unwillingness to the benefits of society. This is evidenced by accept and incorporate Haitians into their the distinctions between a “true true society. It is a reflection not only of everyday Bahamian” and a “paper Bahamian” which Bahamian attitudes but also ideas of the State. has created a socialized hierarchy in Bahamians have a distorted self-image which Bahamian citizenship. Naturalized citizens, is a product of coloniality. Because of this, whether they were born in The Bahamas or they view themselves as human, and thus not, are not really Bahamians but (as the term Haitians, who are not humans, cannot be implies) paper Bahamians. It should be made Bahamian. clear that this distinction is not a legal but In the land of their birth, in the only country social manifestation created in the Bahamian that they know as home, many Haitian- imagination (Caron, 2005, p. 4). Bahamians have reported feeling inferior, like However, within this social hierarchy, it is a foreigner, and segregated. Yet, they speak apparent that Haitians cannot be Bahamian with a Bahamian accent, dress like because they are not human. Although the Bahamians, have Bahamian values, and share terms true true Bahamian and paper Bahamian many of the same concerns as their peers. In were created in the Bahamian imagination, an effort to assimilate into Bahamian society they have tangible effects. In a letter to the and not stand out from their Bahamian peers, editor of The Tribune, a Bahamian citizen, some Haitian-Bahamians have attempted to calling himself The Patriot, answers the hide their Haitian heritage. Some Haitian- question of citizenship: Bahamians refuse to speak Creole in public Because a person is born in a garage, does because they do not want people to know they not make that person a car. Because a are of Haitian descent (Small, 2004). Haitian- Bahamians may anglicize their first name,

The International Journal of Bahamian Studies Vol. 20, No. 1 (2014) C. Perry. Invasion from the South: Social construction of the Haitian “Other” in The Bahamas. 11 surname, or both so that they do not stand out population through legislation passed during from their peers and thus are not recognizably the era of independence, everyday Haitian. This too is an expression of constructions of Bahamian identity, and anti- coloniality because it is also a distorted sense Haitian sentiment perpetuated by the media. of self. They believe these ideas about All of these institutions maintain and reflect Haitians and in an effort to prove their the coloniality of power. In effect, legislation humanity, show their peers and Bahamian and social constructions have sought to society that they are just as human as them control the Haitian community and prevent through their names, speech, and values. them from being fully recognized or These racialized images have played a integrated into the mainstream of society. significant role in promoting anti-Haitian They control Haitian bodies through the sentiment, xenophobia, marginalization exploitation of their labor as well as in the (legislative and cultural), and discrimination refusal to grant citizenship or regularize their towards Haitians in The Bahamas. As a stay which leaves them vulnerable to result, Bahamians have marginalized and domination and exploitation. socially constructed the images of the Haitian

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