The Island is split

I suggest we take a break at this moment. I am currently on a road that divides Haiti and the Dominican Republic, right at the border that distinguishes these two very dissimilar nations. If you were born in Haiti, statistics show that you are more than two times likely to die as an infant compared to those born in the Dominican Republic. You can also anticipate being nearly ten times poorer and having a much shorter life span. I am here to discover how these two countries, sharing the same island, can differ so vastly, with a tumultuous and impoverished Haiti on one side and a stable and relatively wealthy Dominican Republic on the other. How did this division create two completely distinct worlds?

My exploration commences in this coastal village in southern Haiti, where female Haitian traders are preparing to journey by boat at night to a Dominican market. Their goal is to purchase and sell goods before returning to their villages. It is an informal type of international trade since the nearby mountain range makes land travel nearly impossible. These decrepit wooden boats have been making this exact voyage twice a week for decades, yet the procedure remains chaotic and unstructured, as if it were happening for the first time. All this effort and time, just to transport a few goods that would typically be shipped in bulk in most countries.

We travel for seven hours to arrive at the border town around 4 a.m. We walk to the border market at sunrise. This marketplace was created right on the border as a joint venture between the two countries to provide a level playing field for traders on both sides. As we approach the border, I quickly realize that this is not what is happening here. I can see Dominicans setting up their stalls in the market, and this is one of the primary complaints of the Haitians. They are stuck on this side, waiting to cross the border, and the guards are delaying it, while the Dominicans can set up and secure the best spots.

The Haitian traders travel from miles away through a grueling boat trip, and when they reach the border, the guards stop them without reason, refusing to tell them how long it will take. The tension escalates until finally, hours after the Dominicans have been allowed to enter, the guards open the bridge. They buy and sell for the day before returning to the boats to travel home.

The arduous boat journey and the unjust discrimination experienced on this island highlight the inequality that exists. Witnessing these events prompts the question of how it came to be this way. To understand the root cause, one must examine the island's history when it was owned by European powers, France and Spain. Christopher Columbus established a colony on this island during his first voyage in 1490. The island was rich in resources like sugar and coffee, which France wanted. They fought a war with Spain and ended up splitting the island into two colonies: Santo Domingo for the Spanish and Saint-Domingue for the French.

The French exploited the land by bringing in a large number of slaves to make Saint-Domingue an economic producer, which eventually led to a rebellion. The Spanish, on the other hand, didn't exploit the island as much, and integrated with the indigenous population by recognizing their leader's authority and intermarrying with the locals. The result was a smaller, more racially mixed population with a sustainable economy and a political system, which was absent from the French colony. When Haiti declared independence in the early 1800s, they fought off the French and became the first black, former slave republic in the world, with little framework for society and government.

The land was exploited, the world isolated them, and a debt was imposed on them, which they paid over 30 years, crippling their development. This history does not excuse the corrupt politicians and dictators that have plagued Haiti's development, but it helps explain them. The racism that has affected Haiti's history is still present today. In the Dominican Republic, there has always been anti-Haitian sentiment, resulting in racist violence. However, since 2010, this sentiment has seeped into legislation, with a policy of targeting anyone of Haitian descent, even citizens, rounding them up and deporting them. The DR rewrote its constitution in 2010 to only give citizenship to those born on DR soil, and in 2013, the high court ruled that this new definition would be applied retroactively, revoking the citizenship of more than 200,000 Dominican citizens, rendering them stateless. This act is illegal, immoral, and racist.

The Dominican government has enforced a law that requires stateless individuals to register themselves in a foreigner registry or face deportation. Since the June 2015 deadline, over 55,000 people have been deported, and an estimated 128,000 have fled to Haiti. Many have lived in limbo for years in border camps. The crackdown is visible at the numerous security checkpoints where security personnel board buses and check papers, especially those of black passengers. The racist policy extends to Haitians in the DR who experience overt racism enshrined in law. The border road shows the contrast between the lush jungle on the right and bare, eroding hillsides on the left. The story highlights how centuries of racist policies can hold a nation back from progressing, and Haiti has been subjected to some of the most predatory and racist policies from outside forces.

The market built with EU and UN development program funding aimed to provide a space for communities from both sides to buy and sell on equal footing. However, Dominicans set up first and Haitians had to bribe border guards to get in early. The Haitians' experience is a story of their present, shaped by centuries of racist policies. The story thanks lululemon for sponsoring Borders and providing ABC pants, versatile and flexible pants that the author has been using for hiking, activewear, and lounging around the house. The author encourages readers to try out lululemon ABC pants.