SDSU Comunidad,
While the issues and politics surrounding migration may be complex, a fundamental truth is that one does not abandon their home hastily. Haitian families are fleeing Haiti in search of safety, due to the political instability and violence that have erupted following the assassination of President Jovenel Moise, a devastating 7.2 magnitude earthquake, and the ongoing COVID19 pandemic. Confusion, misinformation, and outright desperation led to the gathering of Haitian asylum seekers at the southern border, and in other contexts, may have elicited a humanitarian response. Yet in our present, nativistic, and divisive climate, our Haitian siblings have instead been met with dehumanizing and degrading violence. We wish we could note that we, as a nation, should be better than such barbaric action, but unfortunately, the brutal way in which Haitian refugees are being treated is not an isolated act.
This latest, despicable action is a continuation of the recent pattern of human rights violations towards migrants and refugees who have sought asylum in the U.S. Migrants and refugees, driven by complex and terrifying political, economic, and social conditions (that were in many cases the result of U.S. foreign policy) arrived at the U.S.- Mexico border seeking refuge. Yet instead of being welcomed, they have been detained in inhumane conditions, assaulted and humiliated, and now, whipped and driven off from horseback.
We at the LRC encourage you to continue learning, asking questions, and thinking critically about what is happening. We hope you will reflect, and consider what the broader consequences and implications of institutional power being exercised in the way it has been meant not just for Haitian and Central American migrants and refugees, but for all of us. We further hope that the issues of race and anti-Blackness that are necessarily embedded in this particular assault on the bodies of Haitian asylum seekers will not be lost on you. The image of a white body using a horse and whip to assail a black body carries with it a terrifying, historic, symbolic meaning and violence that cannot be escaped, ignored, or explained away.
As a border city, this most recent crisis should strike us close to home, even as it occurs elsewhere; it is critical that we engage in these conversations, and consciously take action to address the injustices taking place today. To this end, we will be sharing continued information on the Latinx Resource Center’s social media platforms on Instagram and Facebook and also encourage you to expand your own critical knowledge and take action. We invite you to check out @HaitianBridge on Instagram to learn directly from those on the frontlines what is happening, and to check out this Toolkit with information on various actions you can take.
While in this month of Latinx Heritage Celebration, it is imperative that we not just celebrate our progress and successes, but reckon with the injustices and violations of human rights that are impacting Latinx communities here in the diaspora and throughout Latin America in contemporary terms. It is especially critical to recognize and confront how often our Black and Indigenous Latin American siblings are erased and invisibilized from the discourse of Latinx heritage, and their struggles dismissed. Our humanity is bound up together; the struggle is not over until we are all liberated.
The Latinx Resource Center was founded with social justice and racial equity as our core values, because they are essential to our mission of serving and uplifting Latinx students at SDSU. We cannot support our diverse, multi-racial Latinx student community unless we live our commitments fiercely. Today, and every day there is injustice, we will remain anchored to our values, vocal in support of justice, and committed to supporting our students as they learn and grow to become transformative leaders who can look to the world as it is, and work towards a more humanizing, empathetic world as it should be.
En solidaridad,
Latinx Resource Center Team
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