“Give me your tired, your poor,
your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
the wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me.
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

These words are inscribed on the Statute of Liberty, just 2,000 feet from the New York harbor. Now, in all fairness, these are not words penned by the American government. The French, inspired by the America’s idea of liberty, tolerance and acceptance, erected this statue, and inscribed these words as a gift to the land of dreams. But America has stood by them for centuries. But not for all. Not for Haitians.

For years, Haitians have been fleeing their country in beat up boats with nothing but a sail and rudder in search of a better life. American policy toward illegal immigrants had been to release them on parole while examining their appeals for political asylum or legal status. But when Haitians were found, they were often detained in Florida, with most of them being deported as soon as possible. However, during the late President Ronald Reagan’s administration in 1981, the U. S. government began systematically sending them back without so much as the customary opportunity to seek political asylum. They keep coming anyway.

On Oct. 29, 2002, a boat carrying 219 refugees landed at Key Biscayne, Fla. Television cameras filmed the event, as they were rounded up at gunpoint and put into prisons. Boys were sent to Boys Town and mothers and children were detained in hotels.

Many of them remained locked up for eight months, 89 were sent back to Haiti and 52 received asylum, with Washington, D.C. appealing 49 of those decisions. Then U.S. Attorney John Ashcroft defied court orders demanding the release of the detainees, stating that terrorists were passing through Haiti on their way to America.

Among those detainees was Yolette Jean Baptiste, mother of two. Jean Baptiste says her family spent six months locked up in a hotel, separated from her husband, who lived in Miami. Her boys, ages 6 and 12, were not allowed to go outside the entire time. These were Ashcroft’s terrorists.

Despite America’s poor treatment of them, they continue to come.

In July, 2009, about 200 Haitians crowded into a small, rickety boat headed for America. They never made it. The boat crashed. At least 15 passengers died, 118 were rescued by the Coast Guard and the rest were never found.
This happens all the time. Haitians climb into shabby boats, traveling shark-filled waters, hoping their craft will be the one to endure the 700 miles to freedom. For most, this trip ends in tragedy, yet, they come.

They come because it is better to some of them to be locked up in America than to be free in Haiti. They come fleeing a violent government, hunger, thirst and poverty. They come for the same reason all refugees come, for a chance at life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

The nation of Haiti is one of the poorest in the Western Hemisphere. About 80 percent of the people live in abject poverty, two-thirds are unemployed. Around 70 percent depend on agriculture to survive.

But, unfortunately, the tiny nation, smaller than the state of Maryland, suffers from severe hurricanes from June to October, which may include flooding; earthquakes, droughts and soil erosion, often destroying crops. The life expectancy for the average male is less than 48 years, and for the average female, 51 years, according to a 2001 estimate. In 1999, approximately 210,000 of less than 7 million Haitians were living with HIV/AIDS. That’s roughly one out of every 33 Haitians. Infant deaths are extremely high.

It is no secret to the American government that the citizens of Haiti have historically been victims of tremendous political violence under military rule. Whole communities have been driven into the sea and massacred.

Some feel Haiti has never received the full support of the American government, viewing the relationship between Haiti and the U.S. as a love/hate relationship. Maybe this is because Haitians rebelled from their French masters in 1804, declaring their independence as an island nation.

The U.S. refused to acknowledge them as such until the Civil War in 1862. The idea of a “Negro republic” was dangerous to the slave-holding nation. American slaves might get ideas.

As time went on, America view- ed Haiti as an untapped resource for overseas territorial expansion and raw material and fought to retain control in Haiti in order to protect their interests, doing very little to help the people.

Maybe, while the world is watching, Haiti will finally get the help it needs from the United States government. Maybe, if the world keeps watching, this earthquake, that has devastated the entire nation, will force the country that has spent centuries exploiting it to embrace it and help it to rebuild, not as it was, but as it should be. Then, maybe this natural disaster could be considered the “act of God” religious pundits, such as CBN’s Pat Robertson, say it is. But considering New Orleans, I doubt it.