PHILIPSBURG--The majority of the audience stormed out after the Spanish language dominated at a public panel discussion about the plight of Haitians and people of Haitian descent in the Dominican Republic (DR), hosted by radio programme Punto Latino International in Philipsburg Jubilee Library on Friday evening.
A number of St. Maarten residents, eager to learn more of the situation in the Dominican Republic after that country’s Constitutional Court stripped tens of thousands of Haitians and people of Haitian descent who had been born in the Dominican Republic of residence rights and citizenship going back to 1929, were confronted with the first presentation in Spanish.
The presenter, Spanish-language journalist Maximo Castro, did address the audience later in English. However, a sharp reaction from Henri Janvier, a journalist from the Haitian community, to the presentation and what he termed the injustice faced by his country-people living in the Dominican Republic was met with some agreement from the audience.
The essence of Janvier’s statements, made completely in English, was that the Dominican Republic was disguising racism as an immigration issue. He was not one of the panellists and attempts were made by some members of the organising group to take the microphone from him, but the audience wanted to hear him speak. “Tell your story,” they shouted.
After he relinquished the microphone, the next person to air his opinion was a long-time bus driver who proceeded to speak in Spanish. He responded to the call of the audience to speak in English by saying, in English, that he did not speak English. Some in the audience shouted out that he could indeed speak English due to his profession as a bus driver.
The bus driver, who is originally from the Dominican Republic, insisted on continuing in Spanish much to the chagrin of the audience, the majority of whom left their seats in the library’s foyer and headed outside.
There, they stayed and expressed anger and disappointment that the public had been invited to hear the justification for the displacement of tens of thousands of Haitians and people of Haitian descent in the Dominican Republic.
Among those abandoning the session were representatives of Independence for St. Martin Foundation. That foundation issued a call this week for a travel and trade boycott of the Dominican Republic for the violation of human rights.
“This is unbelievable,” said one woman. “How can they insist on speaking Spanish? Who are they really catering to?”
While those who left the session shared their outrage and discontent outside, there was an attempt inside to continue the discussion with the scant audience.
The next speaker, Association Corazon Unidos de St. Martin president Antero de Jesus Santos Paulino, spoke in English, giving somewhat of a history lesson about how the Dominican Republic had come to change its Constitution. The government is “correcting a huge mistake” of the past – meaning the granting of citizenship to people, especially those of Haitian descent.
De Jesus Santos Paulino, who is of Dominicano descent, is a Territorial Councillor for the Collectivité of St. Martin. He said he was not at the discussion in that capacity.
The discussion in the library’s foyer subsequently ended, but talk continued outside with journalists from the Haitian community living in St. Maarten and representatives of the Haitian community saying they had not been invited to the discussion and had learned of it only in the media from an interview given by organiser Reynaldo Urena, producer and host of Punto Latino International, a radio programme on PJD3 radio.
“How do they expect us to be a part and understand if they are speaking in Spanish? Why not English?” Dominique Vital, a representative of the Haitian community and a journalist for that community, told The Daily Herald. Members of the Haitian community in St. Maarten predominately speak Haitian Creole, French and/or English.
Via Facebook, Dominican Roots Foundation President and Portal Latino Editor Milagros de Windt “apologised for the manner in which the forum was presented and ended” although “we were not part of the organising team.”
Her message was addressed to “all the persons” who had taken the time to attend the discussion about “the Haitians’ situation in the Dominican Republic.”
“The intention was good, but unfortunately it was not properly organised. You can rest assured that we will meet with the organising team and will be bringing this forum in another level and in English,” she said.
The panel discussion was supported by the Dominican Republic Consulate in St. Maarten. However, the consul was not present for the session.
Interest in St. Maarten about the plight of Haitians in the Dominican Republic heightened after Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines Dr. Ralph Gonsalves spoke out about the need for the rest of the Caribbean to be the voice of the voiceless Haitian community. He was the keynote speaker at a lecture organised by Independence of St. Martin Foundation on June 27 on the occasion of Emancipation Day.
Dr. Gonsalves said at the lecture that the action of the Dominican Republic Government had “brought shame to the region,” because the government’s actions appeared to be discrimination purely based on “ethnicity.”
