Karen WarringtonAug 27, 2021 03:29 GMTWhere is the outcry to help Haiti?
I am sympathetic to the desperate plight of those American citizens and Afghans trying to get out of Taliban-controlled Afghanistan over 7,410 miles from the U.S. But it is hard to understand how the crisis in Haiti, less than 700 miles from Miami, is not receiving a near level of support and concern in the aftermath of the 7.2 magnitude earthquake that has left more than 2,000 people dead, 12,000 injured, and thousands homeless. Now our government tells us America has given Afghanistan a trillion dollars in its 20-year Afghanistan war. How would a portion of that have benefited our neighbor Haiti, which has been hit with one disaster after another, including an earthquake in 2010 that killed 200,000 and injured 300,000?
Remember that in the late 1990s Haitians trying to escape poverty and government repression were interdicted at sea and returned to Haiti by our government while Cubans fleeing the Castro regime were welcomed to America. Additionally, today there are thousands of Haitian immigrants at the U.S.-Mexico border who are seeking asylum and their stories are not being told. As a Black person, it is hard to reject the idea that Haitian tragedies are overlooked decade after decade because Haitians, in spite of their French names, are Black.
We must demand that America do better to support our Haitian Western Hemisphere neighbors suffering just miles from our shores.
Karen Warrington, Philadelphia
