Research Seminar Series: On Haiti, Black Leadership and U.S. Refugee Policy

Abstract: Under the Carter administration, the United States government devised "special procedures" to manage a burgeoning Haitian refugee crisis. Decried by the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), particularly Rep. Shirley Chisholm, as discriminatory, these procedures remained in effect over successive administrations. The ebbs and flows of Haitian exclusion tended to follow the advocacy efforts by groups like the CBC and Haitian Centers Council. This talk examines the multidimensional nature of U.S. policy toward Haitian refugees, but also the activism of its detractors who challenged its existence and application. I argue the domain of immigration is a cipher for understanding how Black Americans understand their limited inclusion in the American body politic. As such, opinions about immigration are largely about the ways white supremacy conditions Black life prospects. In sum, this project aims to understand how (anti)blackness structures American foreign policy.