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Haiti
& Haitians
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Every fifty feet is new; Haiti is never the same. The same place later in the day is different. Sensations are heightened. But something in addition to the raw and elemental nature of this amazing place fuels vitality and awareness. Perhaps it is the elegance and refinement that Haitians possess that enables and brings out one’s best. These photographs are testimony to my own coming to life. I am in this country’s debt.
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Haitians arrived in mass on the heels of the Mariel boatlift
in 1980. The unfolding drama found these lost and alone
refugees at the INS Krome Resettlement Camp. Perhaps detention
strikes a common chord, the idea of a middle passage,
as if the camp were an Ellis Island. But Krome Camp was
more like a laboratory than a benign social service facility,
where officials refigured our foreign policy regarding
asylum in a pay-as-you-play fashion. Demonstrations, which
at times turned riotous, were occasionally staged; Haitians
demanded to be repatriated or set free after extended
detentions. They lingered there. |
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Miami's "Little Haiti" during the 1980s was
considered by many to be off limits. But it was safe
and laid-back with little to fear. People were trying
to establish themselves but failing to integrate into
the American mainstream. Dispersing
through Florida, Haitians found themselves isolated,
misunderstood and unwelcome. They haven't fully assimilated
into American society but it seems that the new, second,
generation of Haitian-Americans are integrating and
claiming their places in society consistent with the
"dream." |
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