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Opinion | The Haiti I Know Is No More. But There Is Still Hope.

●This article is six months old●

Photo at the link.
Youths dressed as independence heroes take part in a Haitian Flag Day celebration in Arcahaie, Haiti, on May 18, 2016. | Dieu Nalio Chery/AP

Opinion by Joel Dreyfuss

04/21/2024 07:00 AM EDT

Haiti has suffered political crises before, but never has its future seemed so bleak. But one of its native sons sees a solution to the chaos.Joel Dreyfuss is a founder of the National Association of Black Journalists and a former Global Opinions columnist for the Washington Post. He is writing a book about his family's 300-year involvement with Haiti.

I have a cousin in Haiti who’s an ophthalmologist. Each morning, she turns on the radio before leaving for her office. She’s not listening for the weather or traffic but for the safest route amid the gang violence that has gripped Haiti. What intersections are blocked? Where were the shootings overnight? Are the police still in control of major roads? Who was kidnapped yesterday? Even as the violence has soared, she still goes to work.

She’s one of 12 million Haitians living precariously in a country that has tumbled into lawlessness. I admire her courage and her dedication to her patients — she doesn’t benefit from an armored car, as do some of Haiti’s rich — but I am not surprised. Members of our family have a three-century tradition of service to Haiti, going back to the colonial era and the struggle for independence from France.

Our ancestors — French Catholics and Jews, Colombians with Spanish and Native American origins and enslaved West Africans — came to Haiti from three continents. We produced lots of doctors, educators, engineers, architects, artists and, yes, politicians. My father had briefly worked for a previous government in the early ‘50s and quit over corruption. He joined UNESCO and took us to Liberia, West Africa, when I was seven. When we were due to return to Haiti six years later, he opted to land in New York instead, where I spent my adolescence.

I spent 50 years as a journalist for American media companies. A few relatives flirted with politics. A paternal great-uncle was briefly mayor of Port-au-Prince in the 1920s; an uncle was ambassador to Washington during World War II and was present at the creation of the United Nations in San Francisco in 1945. My father kept his distance from the Duvalier regime, which ruled Haiti for 30 years, and discouraged us from visiting until after the death of “Papa Doc.” But an important part of my identity remains firmly rooted in Haiti, the place of my birth. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the responsibility of Haitians at home and abroad to help save our native land.
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https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/04/21/haiti-political-revolution-00153020