Bahamian Attitudes Towards the Haitian Migration

by Larry Smith

In the weeks since the catastrophic earthquake that killed an estimated 230,000 men women and children in Haiti, there has been an endless stream of consciousness from Bahamians on both sides of the migration issue.

First we had what I considered to be some extraordinary reactions to the prime minister's remarks immediately after the January 12 event. In a series of Facebook exchanges, several intellectual critics condemned Ingraham for being insensitive and justifying anti-Haitian sentiments by discouraging Bahamians from helping in the wake of the disaster. These were the remarks in question (as reported by the Guardian):

"The government has established a common account at all the country's commercial banks, into which donations to the relief effort in Haiti can be made. We will cause that money to be sent either to the Haitian government and/or to international organizations that are able to provide assistance to Haiti at this time and the government will make a significant financial contribution. It is not appropriate for us to be collecting goods to send to Haiti because there is no means by which we can get there.”

Then there was an equally hostile reaction to the perfectly sensible policy announced at the same time that the government would release Haitians from the Detention Centre and suspend apprehension and repatriation efforts, while seeking to prevent new illegal immigration. This generated howls of vitriolic protest and confused comments from Bahamians upset about the supposed creolisation of the country. In response, the PM had this to say:

"The Haitian homeland has been devastated by the worst catastrophe in 200 years, with governmental agencies rendered impotent. Burdening a collapsed country with destitute deportees would be a true crime. I can’t imagine hypocrites going to church on Sunday morning and then saying on the radio and on the newspapers and in their hearts, that we ought to detain and keep these people and send them back to Haiti."

Up next was a call by College of the Bahamas lecturer Nicolette Bethel for a more informed policy on Haitian migrants: "What about an organized agricultural project," she asked, "where those who enter illegally must reside and work under supervision--Government housing (not illegal and unsafe shanty towns) and some payment should be part of the deal--in exchange for labour. Couldn't there be a win-win situation?"

Although variations on this theme have been proposed over the years, it  nevertheless produced the standard outraged Bahamian responses: "We have THOUSANDS of ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS in The Bahamas already who are looking for a fresh start in life," argued Dennis Dames in a letter to the editor, "and it's a huge burden on our social services. How many MILLIONS of NEW ILLEGALS do you think that we could accommodate?"

Frankly, the level of ignorance, fear and hate-mongering surrounding the Haitian migration to the Bahamas is astounding - especially when one considers the fact that Africans living in Haiti achieved the first successful slave revolt in history against one of the world's most advanced nations. I would have thought that this should mean something to most Bahamians, but it doesn't. So much for all the talk about the African diaspora.

This antagonistic Bahamian attitude towards Haitians is largely due to our religious, political and educational leaders (at least those who know better) - who have consistently recoiled from discussing the social issues or promoting integration in order to avoid stirring the political pot.

If we are to develop an informed policy we need information - which is extraordinarily difficult to come by in the Bahamas. In fact, there has been scant research on this subject over the past 30 years - only two major studies, a couple of substantial analyses, and a handful of limited government surveys. But during the Christie administration an attempt was made to address this deficiency.

In 2004 the International Office of Migration was asked to undertake an assessment of the Haitian community in the Bahamas, in conjunction with researchers at the College of the Bahamas. The resulting 98-page report collated all the available data, and creole-speaking interviewers surveyed 500 Haitians on four islands, with the support of the Haitian Embassy. But the findings were never officially published (although the report is available online), and the information in the report is never discussed.

What this research shows is that the Haitian problem is not quite as insurmountable as many of us believe. For example, published estimates of the size of the Haitian population range from 80,000 up to 400,000 (more than the entire Bahamian population of about 340,000). Such wild estimates have been made at various times by politicians, journalists and pundits - among others - all with a view to proving that we are being overwhelmed by foreigners.

Counting illegal residents is a notoriously unreliable exercise, but the IOM report used a number of methods to arrive at an estimate of 30 to 60,000, of which many are just passing through to a third country (like the US) or returning home to Haiti. And many more are here legally in one form or another. And it is often overlooked that there are an estimated 70,000 undocumented Bahamians living in the United States, in addition to some 12,000 living there legally.

The claim that Haitians are hogging up free public services also bears a closer look. Official data indicate that about 8.8 per cent of all school children are Haitian. Haitians constituted just over 11 per cent of hospital admissions in 2001 (although they made almost 20 per cent of all outpatient visits to public clinics) and less than 12 per cent of live births were to Haitian nationals in 2003.

On the other side of the coin, over 12,000 registered Haitians contributed more than $3.5 million to National Insurance in 2004, but they received only 1.8 per cent of total benefits - far less than might be expected from the estimated size of the population. And like the rest of us, Haitians (whether legal or not) pay taxes on whatever they buy in our stores.

Over 30 years ago, Bahamian social scientist Dawn Marshall undertook the first study of the Haitian migration to the Bahamas. She noted at the time that: "It cannot be in the best interest of either the Bahamian government or the Bahamian nation to allow a large proportion of its population to live and develop in isolation.

And in its 2005 report, the IOM said much the same thing: "Unless the Haitian community becomes more fully integrated into Bahamian society, an important minority of the Bahamian-born population will grow up as foreigners within the only society they know."

Dawn Marshall says the official policy of both parties boils down to "apprehend and deport with no consideration of the needs of the economy. Small island developing states like the Bahamas usually have to import labour if they want to grow. We need a policy on how we are going to manage that importation."

And that is essentially the crux of the matter. Plainly we need the labour. That's why the Haitians are here - because there is a market for them, and they can earn more than they can at home. In fact, there would be no Bahamian agriculture at all if it were not for Haitians. We are willing to employ them illegally and pay them low wages because they are outside the protection of the law. It follows, therefore, that in order to control the migration we have to control both supply and demand, which means regulating employers as well as deporting illegals. But we don't do that.

Meanwhile, the government's unstated policy on this issue seems to boil down to co-existence rather than integration. And we have to ask whether the government (PLP or FNM) has made a conscious, informed decision on this. Well, good luck in getting that answer from anyone in a position to know.

Should we invite hundreds of thousands of Haitians in to set up peasant plantations and denude our scattered islands? Or should we round up every man, woman and child of Haitian descent and put them in concentration camps until we can deport them?

These are apparently the choices we face if we take our leaders at face value. There may be better solutions, but we will never arrive at them without a rational public debate based on accurate information. in the meantime, we will continue to repeat rubbish and hurl racial epithets.

Comments

[kaiwehli]

Excellent. The ignorance and resulting hatred is astounding and so very sad. Should mail this article to every bahamian in town.

[Rick Lowe]

Good stuff Larry.
One other point that needs to be raised is what we do about the Haitian slums.
These happen as a result of not having property rights, and so many of them have been here for so long, they're Bahamian's but without status, so they cannot buy property. Hence the slums etc.

[larry smith]

They can't even open a bank account.

[Nicolette Bethel]

Ditto to the kudos. One thing though - the proposal you attribute to me actually came from Victoria Allen, another professor at COB - I was reposting it. But be that as it may - good article as usual.

NB

[Rick Lowe]

We (the Country) should discuss the property rights of Bahamians that are being eroded by the slums as well.

[Pieter Hale]

I have to throw in my 2 cents again Larry.

When there’s competition for resources, we form alliances and divisions.
Alliances are developed on commonalities, and divisions on differences.
In good times, vive la difference, and al’s&div’s aren’t an issue.
In a recession, al’s&div’s are the issue.

Hence, the current grumbling should raise no eyebrows.
Although I don’t get around much myself, I do have saturation coverage from a source in the trenches.
The picture emerges of a huge illegal infiltration.
Precisely because we are unable to count this moving target is the reason for our ‘level of ignorance, fear and hate-mongering’.
The upcoming statistical exercise will not count the illegals. The only way to count illegals is to count slippers abandoned and garbage cans overturned by panicked immigration raid evaders. And nobody’s counting those.
My source reports:
. at the clinics, the first numbers are reserved by HB nurses for H’s – B’s are rudely directed by the HB nurses to the back of the line
. at the passport office, non-English speaking H's outnumber B's waiting to be seen
. at PMH, most births are now to H’s
. H’s speaking not a lick of English are producing huge numbers of children
. H’s speaking not a lick of English are claiming hundreds of dollars every month from NIB
. at schools, free lunch and books are only provided to H children – low income B families are denied
. if you turn your car around in an H compound, you are threatened for trespassing on private property
. H’s are running the drugs now, the B’s having all been locked up
. zoe rules the streets (Carmichael and the Grove)

Personally, rather than live in that part of town, I’m taking my source’s word for all this.
Remember the differences:
. a foreign language is a menace at home (charming in H)
. a foreign culture (voodoo etc.) is a menace at home (charming in H)
. a harder working and more capable foreigner is even more menacing!
Perhaps most menacing:
. illegals must bribe to survive, thus perpetuating a corrupt administration

Vive la difference is fine in small doses, but my feeling is if H’s don’t already outnumber B’s, trends make it inevitable in our lifetime.
We oldtimers are already challenged by the antics of our own kind – just imagine how much harder it’ll be under an alien H culture.

Say, as a by the way, responses to your column should be printed with your next column, like Marquis used to do, and I thought you used to do. I think a diversity of opinions makes for a much more engaging newspaper.
No disrespect intended, a web page tends to be overlooked by most.

[larry smith]

Your "source" repeats the unsubstantiated rubbish referred to in my article.

My main point is that we cannot address a problem without taking account of accurate information. And I don't agree that the attitudes towards Haitians have anything to do with the recession.

The latest and most comprehensive hard data on this issue in the public domain is contained in the IOM/COB report, which directly contradicts the assertions made by your unidentified confidant - who obviously has his or her own agenda.

This is not to deny that the migration poses significant problems that we have to address. Take a look at two relevant articles in the COB research journal (vols 14 and 15):

http://researchjournal.cob.edu.bs

Show me the numbers that "most" births are to Haitians etc. etc. And if Haitians have been paying into NIB for years (and most likely both sides of the contribution) then it is their right to collect NIB benefits - you can't collect if you haven't paid!

All these myths were exposed in the IOM study.

[Patricia Josey]

I would be interested in reading the 94 page report from International Office of Migration.

[larry smith]

You can read it here...

http://74.125.113.132/search?q=cache:lSFnDQmi5S0J:www.iom.int/jahia/webdav/site/myjahiasite/shared/shared/mainsite/published_docs/books/Haitian_Migrants_Report.pdf+haitian+migrants+in+the+bahamas&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a

[Piter Hale]

The % of Haitian nationals in the general population in 2000 already looks alarming to me: 7.2% for New Providence.

Following your IOM link, I found this:

During the period, 1963-2000, the percentage of Haitian community in the all Bahamas population increased from 3.2% to 7.1%, which indicates that the size of the resident Haitian community has increased above that of the overall increase in the population of The Bahamas(Figure 5.1). It is this disproportionate increase in the size of the Haitian community which could be the basis for some of the comments reported in Section 1.

This increase in the population should also be seen in the context of Haitian females being more productive than their Bahamian counterparts as well as the addition of new migrants.

True, I didn't attempt to soften my source's remarks, and true, they follow the usual pattern referred to in your article,
which brings me to the crux of the matter - the matter of perception.

I'd say that perception by this source, and most, would be the obnoxiousness of the experience.
So, regardless of the numbers, the influx limit of tolerance has long been exceeded.

In Saddam's Iraq, the minority Sunni lorded over the majority Shiite. The proportions in Abaco look just about the same to me.

[minor]

As yall debate this I note Abaco is mentioned.
The out islands vary widely with some having almost zero haitians and others like Abaco being overrun.

Also some are citizens of the bahamas after being born to haitians here. They live in the haitian slums, speak creole better than english, and call themselves "haitians". This further skews the view on the ground as opposed to the study.

[larry smith]

These are good points, which are mentioned in the report.

[Strong Youth]

writing this i have nothing against haitians personally, but to preserve this country called the Bahamas we need to know the foreigners who are over here are legal and if no dealt with.
i am a young man that grew up on the island of Abaco. Now i reside
in Nassau. going back for visits to the island which i was born. it is very disturbing to see that Abaco is being over run with haitian's.
The people of Abaco and the whole Bahamas look at illegal foreign migrant as the norm. we all talk about it but do nothing. we need to make a stand. no more talking the Bahamas needs action.
Yes i understand that Haiti is in great need of help right now. But first make sure Bahamians people are in a position to help.
In a time of sorrow it is easy to make guilt decision and we can all relate to that

[Trevor Brown]

Very informative article! Thank you very much!

[Lil Tangerine]

The answer to the counting problem is that we should provide them with an incentive to come out and be counted. We should be promoting citizenship. How many "Bahamians" would fail the tests required for a foreigner to gain citizenship?

The idea of being an educated, employed, law-abiding, prosperous "Citizen of The Bahamas" is something we should try promoting aggressively. To Haitian and Bahamian alike.

I've had a lot of ideas about what we could try but most of them probably sound crazy since I don't _really_ know what I'm talking about.

For instance we could promote integration by arranging it so a Bahamian (or foreigner who has earned their citizenship) can vouch for an illegal. Any non-immigration legal problems the Immigrant gets themselves into (crime) also become the problem of the vouching Citizen. The citizen (should) sees to it that the Immigrant finds suitable housing pays their national insurance and attends English classes. If they are wise the will even help the Immigrant with English and with whatever else they can help with. It would do much to help us identify the ones who are definitely not criminals and are truly interested in achieving "The Bahamian Dream".

Unfortunately with that idea you'd find a bunch of expats vouching for their babysitter, gardener or maid but it's a start.

Residents in Haitian slums should be encouraged (or threatened) to pool their money and start making down-payments to the owners of the land they're squatting on so they could someday sort-of-own it.

They don't have the money to build a "proper" house but there should be some sort of construction and sanitation guidelines that prevent these places from becoming filthy "slums".

Note: some ghetto all-Bahamian communities are also absolutely filthy.