The following is a statement from Nassau County Legislator Carrié Solages (D – Valley Stream), who in 2011 became the first Haitian American elected to the Nassau County Legislature:
The history of this country is undoubtably influenced by Creole culture, which originates from Haiti. All the buildings in New Orleans are exactly like the buildings in Northern Haiti. Plessy v. Ferguson (one of the most important legal cases in US history which ruled that separate is equal) was a legal case in which the state of Louisiana was trying to discriminate against light skinned Haitians riding the local trains. Or how about the battle of Savannah in which hundreds of Haitian soldiers helped the United States gain their freedom in the War of 1812.
Why is the current federal administration obsessed with discriminating against Haitian individuals or culture?
Once again, the Trump administration is using the politics of distraction and disparaging the Haitian diaspora in yet another desperate attempt to distract the public from the horrors of the Epstein files.
The Trump administration’s latest hateful attack on Haitians is hypocritical and makes no sense. How did our Haitian brothers and sisters earn the funds they are sending home, after all? They did so through hard work in an array of diversified fields, and their employment inherently generates essential economic activity across the United States. It is also laughable that a MAGA administration, which extols limited government and personal freedom, is now trying to tell hard-working immigrants to do with their money.
Under normal standards of decency, one could say it is unconscionable for the Trump administration would disparage anyone for using resources they gained through hard work in furtherance of the health, safety, and wellbeing of their loved ones. Unfortunately, based upon their pattern of behavior in dealing with the Haitian diaspora, it is hardly surprising, but no less disgusting.