World

Dominican Republic’s ‘Ethnic Cleansing’

Published

11 years ago

June 30, 2015

By Freddie Allen
NNPA Senior Washington Correspondent

WASHINGTON (NNPA) – A Dominican Republic court order threatens to force more than 200,000 Dominican-born Haitians from their homes in an effort that many human rights watchers have called modern-day ethnic cleansing.

Just days after the Rachel Dolezal episode captivated America and a few days before the mass murder of nine church members studying the Bible in Charleston, S.C., the June 17, 2015 deadline expired for Dominican-born Haitians to request residency papers proving their citizenship in the Dominican Republic leaving hundreds of thousands of people stateless.

Media outlets have reported that the government has announced plans to start deportation efforts deploying the military and transport vehicles in neighborhoods where Dominican-born Haitians live. The Dominican government officials also said that they would allow undocumented foreigners to begin the path to become naturalized citizens in the future.

Ron Daniels, the president of the Institute of the Black World 21st Century, a group that advocates for social, economic and political equality for marginalized people in the United States and around world said that the treatment of Dominican-born Haitians, especially those working on the sugar plantations, is a festering cancer on the island of Hispaniola.

“It’s really a schizophrenic relationship between the government of the Dominican Republic and the government of Haiti to ensure that Haitian migrants work in the sugar fields,” said Daniels.

Bill Fletcher, a global justice activist, writer and the host of “The Global African” on Telesur-English, said that the tension between the two countries that share the island of Hispaniola dates back to the 18th century when French and Spanish colonists imported African slaves to the island to harvest sugar cane.

After the successful slave rebellion on French-ruled western part of the island, Haiti declared its independence from France in 1804. Then in 1822, the Haitians invaded the Spanish-ruled east, in their minds, to unify the island and to end slavery, said Fletcher.

Haitian military forces occupied what is now the Dominican Republic for more than twenty years. After their own war for independence, the Dominicans won their freedom from Haitian rule and declared their sovereignty in 1844.

“There was a tension that existed and a deep suspicion that existed on the island of Hispaniola,” said Fletcher. “That tension ratcheted up with the regime of Rafael Trujillo.”

Fletcher called Trujillo “a perfect example of self-hating mulatto” and some historians claim that he even wore makeup and hair dyes in effort to appear more European.

Trujillo ruled from 1930-1961 and “He focused on the Haitians in much the same way that Hitler focused the Jews,” Fletcher said.

Trujillo solution to the Haitian problem in the Dominican Republic culminated in the Parsley Massacre of 1937. Historians estimate that 10,000 to 25,000 Haitians, many of them Dominican-born and living on the border between the neighboring countries, were executed under orders from Trujillo’s government.

Trujillo served as president until 1952 and continued to rule the country after he left the office wielding power through his military ties under a succession of paper presidents. In 1961, Trujillo was assassinated while traveling near Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic, ending his long and brutal reign.

Fast-forward to 2010 Dominican lawmakers approved a constitutional amendment that denied citizenship to Dominican-born children whose parents, were considered “in transit,” often a result of their temporary and seasonal work status, even though many of them had long ago taken up residency in the Dominican Republic.

International outrage over the amendment gave the Dominican government pause and lawmakers appeared to back down from their plans for full-scale deportation. That reprieve would be short-lived.

Then, in 2013 a court stripped Dominican Haitians and their children of their citizenship unless they could prove their legal status prior to 1929. Others can request residency permits as foreigners or apply to become naturalized citizens, but for now more than 200,000 Dominican Haitians are effectively stateless, because most have lived in the Dominican Republic for generations and have no familial ties to Haiti or even speak French or Creole.

Daniels said that the ugly backdrop to the self-hatred and racism, behind the constitutional amendment is the fact that many Dominicans share an African heritage.

“This was a conscious decision to identify themselves as Hispanic,” said Daniels, noting there was a time in the Dominican Republic’s brief history that government officials prioritized importing European Hispanics to the island in an effort to “whiten” up the population. “It really was a part of their self-hatred, if you really want to get down to it.”

Many Dominicans who have shunned their African roots claim “Taíno” heritage for the indigenous people of Hispaniola that were all but wiped out when European settlers began to colonize the island. Anthropologists have used DNA evidence to prove that more than 80 percent of Dominicans have some African ancestry.

Daniels continued: “Even some Black Dominicans don’t consider themselves Black, because of this psychology. They don’t want to be associated with Haiti, they don’t want to be identified as Black.”

Fletcher said that they are right-wing elements within the Dominican Republic that are racist and xenophobic and focused on Haitians and the Haitian descendants as the source of the economic problems in the country.

“I don’t know if the majority of the Dominican population agrees with that or that right-wingers and the ultra nationalists are so loud-mouthed that they’re silencing reasonable voices,” said Estela Vazquez, an executive vice president of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, a labor rights group.

Vazquez said that Dominicans living in the United States should be raising their voices and declaring that the Dominicans of Haitian-descent should stay in the Dominican Republic.

“Not only should we reach out to the Dominican government and say that, ‘This is wrong and the whole world is watching,’ we should also call on the Obama administration and the State Department to intervene. We should call on our ministers, our rabbis, our priests and our imams to write letters to the Dominican government and direct their congregations in a day of prayer,” for the Dominican-born Haitians suffering in the Dominican Republic.

Vazquez compared the actions taken by the Dominican government, forcing thousands of Dominican Haitians to flee their homes to Nazis rounding up German Jews and herding them into concentrations camps in the 1930s. Other human rights activists also fear that the crisis could devolve into armed conflict between the neighboring countries and even genocide of the Dominicans of Haitian-descent.

“There’s an anti-Haitian posture and attitude that permeates much of Dominican society that needs to change,” said Daniels, adding, “And if it can’t change through moral appeal, than it needs to change through our ability to exact pain,” through economic sanctions in the tourism industry.

Daniels said that the life-blood of the Dominican Republic is tourism and that’s where economic boycotts should start.

Daniels noted the success of the threat of economic boycotts in Indiana after the state promoted a “Freedom of Religion” act that many people feared would allow businesses to discriminate against gays and lesbians.

“People and companies decided to exercise a tourism boycott of that state and [Indiana state lawmakers] changed their tunes immediately,” said Daniels. “The Dominican Republic would change its tune immediately, if there were any effective challenge to its tourism or sanctions on its tourism. That message would change everything. We need to shut it down and they will change their tune.”

Fletcher said that the growing humanitarian crisis in the Dominican Republic is not a situation where people should just close their eyes or turn to the sports page.

“It’s important for steps to be taken to weaken the regime of the Dominican Republic to the point where they will never, ever consider such a horror again,” said Fletcher. “The next time an African American is thinking about taking a trip to the Dominican Republic, they should think twice. The next time that someone is considering a real estate investment in the Dominican Republic, they should think twice.”

Fletcher added: “Sitting back and simply shaking your head is unacceptable and it’s not an option.”

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African Union Group to Award Rev. Dr. Amos Brown for Bringing Civil Rights Movement to Global Stage

Dr. Macaulay Kalu, secretary general of AU6RG, will present Dr. Brown with the Global Peace Builder Award. Other presenters include Rev. Dr. Freddie Haynes, senior pastor of Friendship West Baptist Church in Dallas; Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee, long-time advocate for appropriations to Africa as a congressmember; Rick Callendar, California-Hawaii president of the NAACP; Dr. Ike Neliaku, president and chairman of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations; Pastor Ituah Ighodalo, head of the African Leadership Group and Ambassador Thompson and John William Templeton, founder of the Journal of Black Innovation National Black Business Month®.

Published

4 months ago

August 25, 2025

Oakland Post

Dr. Amos C. Brown, pastor emeritus of Third Baptist Church with Ambassador Ladi Peter Thompson of the African Unity 6th Region Global and with John William Templeton, founder of the 22d Journal of Black Innovation National Black Business Month®. Courtesy photo.

By Carla Thomas and John William Templeton

On Aug. 31, the Third Baptist Church of San Francisco will mark its 173rd anniversary with an event steeped in history and global significance. This year’s commemoration, themed “Achieving Dr. King’s Promised Land Together,” will honor the lifelong achievements of Dr. Amos C. Brown, Sr.— a towering figure in the Civil Rights Movement — on a day that also observes the International Day for People of African Descent.

Brown will be recognized by the African Union’s organ for Africans abroad for ‘planetizing’ the civil rights movement gains at San Francisco’s Third Baptist Church, 1399 McAllister St., at 3 p.m.

The African Union, made up of 54 countries on the African continent, consists of five regions. It created a sixth region, the African Union Sixth Region Global (AU6RG), for the 400 million Africans living abroad. On Sept. 7, the second AU-Caribbean Community Summit occurs in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Held during the 173rd anniversary of the church, the event called “Africa-America: Achieving Dr. King’s Promised Land Together” is a Diaspora-wide discussion led by Dr. Brown on what Martin Luther King, Jr. would say today.

Galvanized by the horrific 1955 slaying of Emmett Till, Dr. Brown’s journey in activism began in Jackson, Mississippi, where a neighbor, Medgar Evers, the NAACP’s first field secretary in that state, encouraged Brown to found the Mississippi NAACP Youth Council.

In 1956, Evers personally drove Brown to the NAACP convention in San Francisco, where Brown would first hear Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. speak. Brown became a prominent Freedom Rider, later attending Morehouse College and taking the only class Dr. King ever taught there. Thirteen years after Evers was assassinated in Jackson, Brown arrived at Third Baptist Church in 1976, serving with distinction for 49 years before his recent retirement. Under his stewardship, the church solidified its commitment to social justice and international unity.

His Excellency Rev. Ladi Peter Thompson, deputy secretary general for peace and security of AU6RG, said, “As a mentee of Medgar Evers, Freedom Rider and student of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Dr. Brown is the perfect authority for the young people of the Diaspora on achieving the prophetic goal that Dr. King foresaw in Memphis.”

Lady Dentaa Amoateng, founder of Grow, Unite, Build Africa (GUBA), will also announce that Dr. Brown is an honoree at the GUBA Award in Bridgetown, Barbados in November. The popular actress in Ghana and the United Kingdom will attend in person.

Dr. Lezli Baskerville, president/counsel of the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education, which includes 105 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and 90 predominantly Black institutions (PBIs), invites its students, faculty, and alumni to attend or join remotely.

“HBCUs produced both Dr. King and Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and are the fountainhead for Diaspora unity,” said Baskerville.

Templeton, author of “ReUNION: State of Black Business, 22d edition,” said “Our movement will advocate the continuance of tariff-free treatment for Africa and the Caribbean; respect for African-American and African elected officials and the 13th, 14^th, and 15^th Amendments and the strengthening of educational and research connections across the Diaspora.”

Templeton said Black institutions have been at the forefront of defining the image of 1.5 billion Black people globally, a mission that is even more important as African youth will be the majority of the world’s young people in the coming decades.

ABOUT THIRD BAPTIST CHURCH

Founded on West Indian Emancipation Day on Aug.1, 1852, Third Baptist said in its annual report in 1858 that its sole purpose was the elimination of American chattel slavery and took an active role among the California abolitionists who convinced President Abraham Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation. The current sanctuary is constructed with wood from the Goodall Mansion, where President U.S. Grant stayed after leaving the White House, and is the last place where Dr. W.E.B. DuBois spoke before leaving for Africa in 1958.

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Newsom, Pelosi Welcome Election of First American Pope; Call for Unity and Compassion

“In his first address, he reminded us that God loves each and every person,” said Newsom. “We trust that he will shepherd us through the best of the Church’s teachings: to respect human dignity, care for the poor, and wish for the common good of us all.” Newsom also expressed hope that the pontiff’s leadership would serve as a unifying force in a time of global instability.

Published

8 months ago

May 19, 2025

Oakland Post

Pope Leo XIV. Screenshot.

By Bo Tefu, California Black Media

Gov. Gavin Newsom and First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom on May 8 issued a statement congratulating Pope Leo XIV on his historic election as the first American to lead the Catholic Church.

The announcement has drawn widespread reaction from U.S. leaders, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who called the moment spiritually significant and aligned with the values of service and social justice.

In their statement, the Newsoms expressed hope that the newly elected pope would guide the Church with a focus on compassion, dignity, and care for the most vulnerable. Newsom said he and the First Partner joined others around the world in celebrating the milestone and were encouraged by the pope’s first message.

Newsom also expressed hope that the pontiff’s leadership would serve as a unifying force in a time of global instability.

“May he remind us that our better angels are not far away — they’re always within us, waiting to be heard,” he said.

Pelosi, a devout Catholic, also welcomed the pope’s election and noted his symbolic connection to earlier church leaders who championed workers’ rights and social equality.

“It is heartening that His Holiness continued the blessing that Pope Francis gave on Easter Sunday: ‘God loves everyone. Evil will not prevail,’” said Pelosi.

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Retired Bay Area Journalist Finds Success in Paris with Black History Tours

In the late 90s, Stevenson finally realized her dream of living in Paris, now with her daughter. She started exploring the history of Africans in the city and would go on to teach others the same. Her business, which she named Black Paris Tours (BPT), received a significant boost when a family friend gave her a stack of cash and encouraged her to expand on the knowledge that she had only started to share with people she knew.

Published

11 months ago

February 18, 2025

Oakland Post

Ricki Stevenson, Blacks in Paris. Courtesy photo.

By Post Staff

There were two things Oakland-born, East Palo Alto-raised Ricki Stevenson always dreamed of:

Going to New York as a newscaster to tell the true story of Blacks in America.
Living and working in Paris one day.

Her dreams of life in Paris began when she was three years old and her mother, a former professional dancer, took her to see Josephine Baker perform. She was 11 when her parents took her to the Stanford University campus to meet James Baldwin, who was speaking about his book, “The Fire Next Time.” Ricki says that’s when she knew she’d one day live in Paris, “the city of light!”

But before that would ever happen, she had a tumultuous career as a newscaster across the country that was inspired by her family’s history.

Stevenson recalls marching with Cesar Chavez as he fought for labor rights for farm workers in California.

“Are we Mexican too?” she asked her parents. “No, but we will fight for everyone’s human rights,” they responded to her.

Ironically, Ricki’s paternal family roots went back to Greenwood, Oklahoma, infamous for the 1921 bombing of Black Wall Street. A time when Black people had oil wells, banks, and a thriving business community.

This background would propel her into a 25-year journalism career that gave her the opportunity to interview greats like President Jimmy Carter, PLO leader Yassir Arafat, James Baldwin, Rev. Jesse Jackson, UN Ambassador Andrew Young, Miriam Makeba, and the leaders of South African liberation movements.

A job offer from KCBS radio brought her back to the Bay Area in the 1980s. Then came the switch to TV when she was hired as a Silicon Valley business reporter with KSTS TV, working at the first Black-owned television station in northern CA (created and owned by John Douglas). Along the way, Stevenson worked as an entertainment reporter with BET; coproduced, with her disc jockey brother Isaac, a Bay Area show called “Magic Number Video;” lived in Saudi Arabia; worked as an international travel reporter with News Travel Network; and worked at KRON TV a news anchor and talk show host.

In 1997, Stevenson realized her dream of living in Paris with her young daughter, Dedie. She started exploring the history of Africans in the city and would go on to teach others the same. Her business, which she named Black Paris Tours (BPT), received a significant boost when a family friend, Admiral Robert Toney put a chunk of money in her hand. He said, “Ricki, my wife and I have been coming to Paris for 20 years, but in just two days with you and Dedie, we’ve learned and seen more than we ever did before.”

Years after BPT took off, Ricki met Nawo Carol Crawford and Miguel Overton Guerra, who she recruited as senior scholar guides for Black Paris Tours.

Guerra says he is proud of his work with Black Paris Tours in that it provides a wealth of information about the rich legacy of African and African American history and influence in Paris and Europe.

“I tend to have a feeling for history always being a means of a reference point backwards … you start to understand the history, that it isn’t just the United States, that it began with African people,” Guerra says.

He said that it’s been a pleasure to watch people learn something they didn’t know before and to take them through the city to key points in Black history, like hangout spots for writers like Baldwin and Richard Wright, restaurants in the busiest parts of Paris, the home of Josephine Baker and so much more.

Although the tours are open to all, Guerra hopes that those of African descent from all over the world can embrace that they don’t have to just stay where they are because movies and media have portrayed cities like Paris to be only white, it’s multicultural and accepting to all.

“We’ve been here, and we’ve been there, going way back when. And we shouldn’t be considered or consider ourselves to be strangers in any place that we go to,” he said.

Stevenson notes they’ve had 150,000 people take their tour over the years, with notables like former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, Smokey Robinson, Steve Harvey, Miriam Makeba, and more.

Friends and former media colleagues of Stevenson compliment the BPT crew on their knowledge of the city and their ability to always keep it interesting.

“He [Guerra] just had a deep, deep wealth of knowledge and he was constantly supplanting information with historical facts and the like. I love that it was demonstrating and showing how Black people have thrived in Paris or contributed to the culture in Paris,” Candice Francis said.

She toured in the summer of 2022 and stated that in the two weeks that they visited Paris, BPT was the highlight of her trip. She shared that she was proud of Stevenson and the life she’d managed to manifest and build for herself.

“Even if you’re visiting Paris for the tenth time, if you haven’t taken the tour, then by all means, take it,” Francis emphasized.

Magaly Muñoz, Gay Plair and Paul Cobb also contributed to this story. You can book your own adventure with Black Paris Tours at www.blackparistour.com.