The Frontlines Round-Up: On Haiti and Palestine
Stories and news I read in September and October.
Bronx Frontlines is an extremely local project, written from one of the many Caribbean perspectives across our city. The people around me and how they live, exist, love, and survive in New York City—as violent gentrification, collapse, and fires continue—inform the stories I write.
I am also working very hard to understand life outside of New York City, the United States.
The Frontlines Monthly Round-Up will feature stories and news from around New York City and the world I am reading to better understand how our struggles and liberation are all connected.
Haiti
In just 17 days, the Dominican Republic has deported 23,000 Haitians.
Along with deportation, the Haitian community is being assaulted, deprived of food and water, and disconnected from their families and communities.
During an Instagram live panel on Wednesday night, October 23, panelists Saudi, Scarly, and Nüma discussed the violence Haitians are facing right now, what organizers on the ground are doing, and what those of us in the worldwide diaspora can do to reject anti-Haitianism in our families and communities. They are part of In Cultured Company, Sisters in Struggle (S.I.S.), and the NY/NJ chapter of Black Alliance for Peace, respectively.
You can watch the full panel here.
The panelists described what is happening in Haiti alongside the rise of fascism we are seeing worldwide. They described how anti-Haitianism has escalated in the Dominican Republic in recent years and connected the violence of the current administration with Trujillo and the Parsey Massacre of 1937.
“We as Dominicans get to step up with responsibility and integrity,” Saudi said.
There will be a Haitian solidarity rally and speak-out in the Bronx today, at 5:30 PM.
From “Anti-Haitianism: A Hemispheric Rejection of Revolutionary Blackness” by Bertin M. Louis, Jr., in North American Congress on Latin America:
Anti-Haitianism, of course, is not limited to the United States. It is a regional and hemispheric phenomenon. Within scholarly and informed circles, the best known example of this form of political domination, marginalization, racism, and anti-Blackness is in the Dominican Republic. In his study of race and politics, Ernesto Sagás analyzes how Dominican political elites use race and antihaitianismo to “construct national myths and then use these myths to stymie challenges to their hegemony.”
He adds:
After Haiti’s occupation of Santo Domingo from 1822 to 1844—which liberated enslaved people, guaranteed Haitian freedom and independence, and culminated in Dominican independence—the Dominican Republic solidified its distance from Blackness and Haitian identity. Antihaitianismo then developed as an ideology based on anti-Black prejudices, stereotypes, and myths about Haitians and people of Haitian descent.
From “Mezire anvan w koupe,” the Sept. 28 - Oct. 9, 2024 issue of Woy Magazine:
The Biden Administration will not be renewing the Human Parole Program for any of the participating countries involved in this iteration of the initiative, including Haiti.
Around 214,000 Haitians were approved for parole, as well as 117,000 Venezuelans, 111,000 Cubans, and 96,000 Nicaraguans. The end of the program means no extension will be provided for beneficiaries beyond the two years they are allowed to live in the US. This means those who are unable to obtain legal status following the end of their parole will have to return to their respective countries.
Palestine
Israel continues its violence against Palestinians. Over 40,000 Palestinians are dead. Over 90,000 are wounded. Over one million are displaced.
A fellow Bronx comrade and writer, Shaira Chaer of Un Comunicado, has been part of a direct aid effort for Khalil Zeyara and his family in Gaza.
A bit more about him from his GoFundMe campaign: He studied accounting, was on the Palestinian national karate team, and owned a food company with his family. Comrades have been raising funds for him since the summer.
I was able to begin connecting with Khalil on social media. Khalil was recently injured and displaced from his family. His friend, Aboud, was martyred.
So far, $9,468 out of $42,000 has been raised.
Please consider donating any small amount you can.
Please share this direct aid effort with your organizing groups, community, and religious spaces.
From Mondoweiss:
Israel continues to besiege northern Gaza and Jabalia refugee camp for the 16th consecutive day, cutting off the entry of humanitarian aid for some 200,000 people amid continuous airstrikes and artillery shelling.
On Saturday, Israeli forces bombed a residential block in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza, killing at least 80 Palestinians and wounding over 100, marking the largest massacre in northern Gaza in months. Also on Saturday, Israeli forces bombed the Tel al-Zaatar neighborhood in Jabalia, killing 33 Palestinians, including 21 women, and wounding over 85.
In The Electronic Intifada, Amjad Hamdouna writes about his life in Sheikh Radwan, a northern Gaza City before and after October 7:
My factory ran for four years. With great effort, we made sales all over Gaza and increased our capacities.
I saved money to get married and to furnish my apartment in my parents’ home. I got married and by February 2023 my wife had given birth to a beautiful baby girl, Alma.
But Israel’s genocidal war launched in October 2023 had other ideas about what my life should be like.
Four days into the war, Israel bombed my factory, inventory and equipment in Sheikh Radwan. The building was entirely destroyed. One worker was killed.
My family and I were forcibly displaced from our home to southern Gaza, where we remain to this day. I thought that we would be returning home in a short while so I took only a little money with me and left the rest behind.
From “Meta’s Censorship of Palestine Content Exposed” via African Stream:
Tech giant Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, Threads and WhatsApp, has come under fire for ‘systemic and global’ censorship of Palestine-related content. Former employees have expressed frustration about what they term Meta’s campaign to silence voices speaking up about the plight of Palestinians enduring Israel’s Western-backed 76-year occupation. They raised their concern to Meta’s management to no avail. While Israel k*lls their relatives in Gaza, Meta has already fired two employees who spoke to Al Jazeera Network’s AJ+, which recently released an exposé of Meta’s reported bias against pro-Palestine users in an investigation titled, ‘Inside Meta’s Palestine Censorship.’
What’s happening in New York?
The trial for the killer of Jordan Neely began on October 21. Protests against the killer began on Monday and will continue for every day of the trial. Jordan was murdered on May 1, 2023.
From the Onondaga Nation:
On Friday, September 27th, representatives of the Onondaga Nation signed legal documents with Honeywell International for the return of 1,000 acres of land at the headwaters of Onondaga Creek which sits within the original treaty footprint set aside for the Onondaga under the 1974 Treaty of Canandaigua.
That agreement transferring control of the land was facilitated by the U.S. Department of Interior and the State of New York under provisions of the U.S. superfund program. This is the first acreage returned to the stewardship of the Onondaga since New York State and the U.S government repeatedly broke the terms of the treaty which originally set aside 2.5 million acres for the Onondaga.
From “Pro-Palestinian protesters roar through New York City in giant Labour Day march” via Middle East Eye:
Both the Republicans and the Democrats are bipartisan when it comes to genocide, and we won't vote for people who have blood on their hands," Nerdeen Kiswani, chair of Within Our Lifetime (WOL), told Middle East Eye.
"We're boycotting the Democratic Party. We are calling for people to understand that Killer Kamala and Genocide Joe are just one and the same."