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Migration, as defined by the Webster dictionary, is the action of moving to another country or region to settle. Migratory rates in the Caribbean have been ascending in past years. Many people have left their native countries looking for a better way of life without considering the hardships that they might face when found in a different culture. Racism, as defined by the Webster Dictionary, is the practice of racial discrimination, persecution, segregation etc, based on a claim of racial superiority. Migratory groups are the subject of racism due to the economic and social implications of migration. When women belong to these marginalized groups they suffer an additional disadvantage due to gender prejudice. The effects of Migration and racism in the Caribbean are clearly observed in the islands of Haiti, Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico.
Since early in the nineteenth century great masses of Haitian immigrants have been crossing the borders between the Dominican Republic and Haiti in the island of the Hispaniola. Haitians migrate to the Dominican Republic with hopes of finding jobs and a better way of life for themselves and their families. Haiti has been the main source of cane cutters for the Dominican Republic?s cane growers since the 1930?s. "Haitian labor is attractive to the Dominican Republic?s cane growers not just for its low cost and plentiful supply. The Dominicans security forces and sugar company labor supervisors can also control the work schedules and mobility of Haitian seasonal migrants in ways that would be considered unacceptable if applied to Dominican Nationals"(Martinez, 2). Haitian cane cutters are forced to work obligatory extra hours of labor, they are denied of a weakly day of rest, and a compulsory relocation to the sugar estates from non-sugar-producing areas of the Dominican Republic is also enforced. In the 1992 population census a total of 500,000 Haitians were documented as living in the Dominican Republic. A great majority of this total is composed of Haitian women that have "crossed the border" along with their male counterparts. Nevertheless, the economic situation of Haitian women is quite different than that of the Haitian men. "It is widely thought in the Dominican Republic that women on the sugar estates are an economic burden on their men. The provision of sexual services for pay to Haitian and Dominican men and the sale of cooked food to cane workers in the fields are virtually monopolies of Haitian women" (Martinez, 120). Haitian women also earn money as domestic servants in wealthy Dominican houses. "Even so, women on the sugar estates do not often earn enough either to gain effective economic independence from men or to make a lasting improvement in their standard of living"(Martinez, 120).
History of Dominican intolerance towards Haitian immigrants goes back to the 1930?s when Rafael Leonidas Trujillo, dictator in power in the Dominican Republic from 1930-1962, killed over 250,000 Haitian immigrants. As payment for his Haitian massacre, Trujillo was forced to pay an indemnity of twenty-five Dominican cents for each Haitian he killed. Haitian immigrants face social discrimination when they are forced to live in the bateyes segregated from other Dominican nationals. Dominicans blame Haitians for the present economic crisis in the Republic due to the lack of jobs for Dominican nationals. Haitians are also blamed for the contamination of the Republic with excessive amounts of trash and for the moral devaluation of the Dominican way of life (Haitian women constitute the majority of prostitutes in the Republic).
To solve the massive influx of Haitian immigrants the Dominican government has conducted a series of massive deportations that have lasted long periods of time. Many Haitians as well as Dominicans of Haitian descent were brutally deported in 1997. Edwin Parison, the Haitian consul in the Dominican Republic, stated that "the Dominican government has not changed the arbitrary way it rounds "Haitian-looking" individuals on the streets or in private homes, often separating family members. Parison also stated that Haitian officials had confirmed that many individuals deported by the Dominican government arrived in Haiti with valid Dominican passports or visas"(NCHR, web page).
Although Dominican nationals discriminate against the Haitian migrants fleeing their native country in search for a better way of life, migrating Dominicans also experience the same fate when escaping the acute economic crisis the country is facing since the 1980?s. Dominican migrants "often risk their lives by journeying across the perilous, shark infested Mona channel by boat (yola) to establish themselves in Puerto Rico"(Angueira, 96). Only forty percent will survive the trip due to harsh trip conditions. Many die due to extreme weather conditions and lack of food and water during the trip. To aggravate the situation, many Dominican "business men" make profit from these illegal trips and overfill the small yolas (boats) to the point where they can?t sustain the great loads and sink before making it to shore, killing all of its passengers. Out of the forty percent that makes it to shore only twenty percent get past the Puerto Rican authorities. The other twenty- percent is put in jail and sent back to the Dominican Republic. The twenty- percent that makes it past the Puerto Rican authorities is left to reside illegally in Puerto Rican suburbs. The majority of yoleros are women. "Dominican women?s migratory experiences entail a continuous struggle to advance and to protect their families. They view Puerto Rico as a place offering job opportunities. After settling, all too often they find that the reality fails to fulfill their expectation. Racial prejudice and stereotypes abound; the women are frequently perceived as strange, untrustworthy, dirty, ignorant, and disorderly"(Angueira, 98). Dominican women are discriminated against because of their darker color and "black characteristics". Sixty three percent of migrant Dominican women work in domestic services. Another small percent work as prostitutes and selling cooked food. As their Haitian counterparts, Dominicans in Puerto Rican are accused of steeling Puerto Rican jobs, increasing the crime rate and declining the "Puerto Rican way of life". "Prejudices against Dominican women is also manifested in the accusation that they are prostitutes, have too many children, and steel husbands from other women"(Angueira, 100). A clear example of this is a press release circulated in San Juan, Puerto Rico titled "The Dominican Plague." It stated: "Now the Dominican population is increasing on the island of Puerto Rico, and no one is talking about Puerto Rico?s overpopulation. Dominican women are giving birth like "guimas" in public hospitals. Prostitution is a Dominican bomb. Thousands of Puerto Ricans have already been trampled down by Dominicans. Dominicans insult them, intimidate them, and have forced thousands of Puerto Ricans to move. They are now taking over San Juan, Santurce, and Rio Piedras!" (Angueira, 101).
"For the Dominican men, migration tends to be less traumatic"(Angueira, 101). Dominican men get higher paying jobs compared to Dominican women as Operators, drivers, repair workers, etc.. Nevertheless, Dominican men show little gender inequality because both men and women confront "intense discrimination base on their scarce economic resources and their national origin"(Angueira, 109). On the other hand, those groups with higher resources tend to have a grater degree of gender inequality. In Puerto Rico, due to the much greater amount of women that migrate from the Dominican Republic, "Female headed households are associated with the feminism of poverty. Nearly seventy percent of female-headed households were below the poverty line" (Angueira, 106).
For those Dominicans that don?t find what they are looking for in Puerto Rico, and have the sufficient economic resources, migration to the United States is commonly an option. Once in Puerto Rico, the migration to cities like New York consists only of a plane trip. Once in the United States, the Dominican immigrant is faced with greater threats due to a more shocking change in culture. A different language and a different way of life prevent these Dominican immigrants from intermingling with the "American dream". Many face harsher discrimination and poverty. "Dominicans are the fastest growing major ethnic group in New York City during the 1980?s and are facing major economic difficulties, according to a study released by Teachers College and the Dominican Studies Institute at City College"(Columbia, WebPage). The Dominican Population is the poorest of all the major ethnic groups in New York. "The low and declining earnings of unskilled workers in New York constitute a formidable barrier for the Dominican population. And the decline of manufacturing as a sector of employment has had a devastating impact on Dominican workers, especially women"(Columbia, WebPages). An average annual salary of 11,347 dollars was reported for Dominican women in 1997, this is compared to 20,489 dollars for the overall female workforce. Dominicans are also underrepresented in the New York City public sector. "Indeed researchers reported that the absence of Dominican workers in government employment should be a matter of immediate attention for policymakers in the city"(Columbia, WebPage).
"During the 1980s the Dominican population in New York City grew from 125,000 to 332,713. They now constitute the second largest Hispanic group in the city; only Puerto Ricans outnumber them"(Columbia, WebPage). Puerto Ricans are the number one minority group in many of the United States (especially in New York) and are growing in numbers. Since the 1900 an annual average of 25,300 Puerto Ricans have migrated to the United States in search of a better way of life and with hopes that they too can achieve the "American Dream". "Today, about two million Puerto Ricans live in the U.S., compared with fewer than sixty thousand in 1935. Puerto Ricans living in the U.S. represent more than one-third of all Puerto Rican people and are the third largest oppressed national grouping in the U.S. after Blacks and Chicanos"(Garza, 28). Puerto Ricans migrate to the "mainland" due to a series of factors that include the island?s recent population increase, economic pressures and the lack of legal or political restrictions on migration. Another major factor influencing migration from Puerto Rico to the United States is the contract farm-working program. In this program Puerto Ricans were introduced to the United States to work in the farm. "The major difficulty surrounding the farm labor program has been the problems Puerto Ricans face when they seek to establish themselves permanently in small towns in farm areas. Complaints regularly arise from permanent residents that small rural towns are not prepared to provide recreational or ordinary community services to a population of different language and ethnic background; color has also complicated the problem, since many Puerto Ricans are defined on the mainland as colored, and meet with concomitant prejudice"(Fitzpatrick, 19). Discrimination is also evident in the big urban towns. Discrimination in employment is very common against Puerto Ricans living in the U.S. "Even when a job does not require complete proficiency in English, a Puerto Rican applicant with a heavy accent will often be turned away. And most civil services examinations are not given in Spanish, making it difficult for many Puerto Ricans to get Government jobs"(Garza, 30). Puerto Rican immigrant usually live in the worst slum areas due to their lower economic position, this in turn segregates Puerto Ricans into schools that receive less funding and are inferior to "white schools". "Racial judges and scandalous inadequate number of Spanish-speaking interpreters weight the scales against Puerto Ricans in the courts. The proportion of Puerto Ricans in jail is higher than their proportion as a whole. Language discrimination not only makes it difficult to get jobs or descent education, it pervades every aspect of social and political life"(Garza, 32).
"Puerto Rican women suffer the added burden of sexual discrimination and abuse characteristic of capitalist society. The are especially the victims of prejudices and traditions of machismo and the Catholic Church"(Garza, 33). One fifth of Puerto Rican women in the U.S. are the principal economic head of their families. Nevertheless, discrimination makes it more difficult for women to obtain and keep their jobs compared to their male and white counterparts. In addition, Puerto Rican women are forced (by subterfuge and blackmail) by racist hospital administrators and doctors who want to prevent the growth of the "Puerto Rican Plague" to consider procedures like sterilization and hysterectomies. "Oppressed as part of the working class, as a national minority, and as women, Puerto Rican women today have a special stake in fighting for the Equal Rights Amendment"(Garza, 34).
In conclusion, migrant groups in the Caribbean are the subject of racism due to the economic and social implications of migration. When women belong to these marginalized groups they suffer an additional disadvantage due to gender prejudice. The social and economic implications of migration for Haitian, Dominican and Puerto Rican immigrants are very similar. These groups? migration patterns present a threat to the inhabitants of the nations they migrate to, putting in jeopardy the country?s jobs and well being.
