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Reagan and the Haitian
Boat People
By Gerald C. Home, Esquire
President Reagan's decision to ship Haitian (and some Cuban) refugees to
Fort Drum, New York has been roundly denounced by the civil rights com
munity as further evidence of his insensitivity toward blacks.
"It's the closest thing we have in the United States to Siberia," averred Ira
Kurzban, an attorney for the Haitian Refugee Center, Inc., of Miami and the
National Emergency Civil Liberties Committee.
Fort Drum is a huge 107,265 acre Army base with World War II barracks,
thirty miles south of the Canadian border and eight miles northeast of Water
town, New York. Winter temperatures plunge to a frigid thirty degrees below
zero and annual snowfalls reach a hefty twelve feet.
. Originally, the Administration planned to ship these homeless blacks to an
equally inhospitable former Air Force base near Glasgow, Montana.
Worsei President Reagan has issued an order for the Coast Guard to inter
dict and stop boats bringing Haitians fleeing from the cruel island and, fun
damentally, send them back from whence they came.
Yet, the decision to ship Haitians to "Siberia," New York exceeds all levels
of inhumanity. In the New York Times, Steven Forester, another attorney for
the Haitian Refugee Center stated that the 290 Haitians he represented would
be "without any legal representation whatsoever," if they were moved.
This is the intention, i,e., to deprive Haitians of attorneys so they can be
more easily deported. Dr. Bill Perry, president of the Miami branch of the Na
tional Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), has
called thfs policy "absolutely inhumane and borders on being criminal."
What has upset many is the unalloyed, crass racism that Reagan's policy
reveals: Mayor Maurice Ferre, recently re-elected in Miami as a result of a
massive black vote, has said that the policy implies "we welcome whites and -don't
want blacks. . . Jf.you look at the number of Haitians in comparison
with the numbof Mexicans itjs infinitesimal. If we took the same measures
against the Msnswjl be; a major scandal and, there would be an inter
national incident. It's obviously a racist approach.'1 ' ' S - '
Reverend Gerard Jean-Juste, executive director of the Haitian Refugee.
Center, agrees: "While Mr. Reagan is getting rid of and trying to destroy the
boat people population, the United States is still welcoming close to 500 In-!
dochinese every day, and will probably take 10,000 Poles before the end of the -year.
The matter is not that there is no room for refugees, but they don't want
these boat people here." - ' v :
Reverend Jean-Juste continues, "Mr. Reagan is talking about budget cuts,
but he's wasting $37 a day on each Haitian he's keeping in concentration camp
life? Mr. Reagan could save a lot of taxpayers' money by releasing the Haitians
to their relatives, to their friends, to their sponsors." , ; " -
What causes Haitian blacks to risk life and limb, to go floating for miles on
a desolate sea in flimsy boats, knowing full well they may wind up in freezing "
concentration camps in the U.S.?
Reverend Jean-Juste has also spoken to this question: "In Haiti, life is a
problem.' We could solve the problem by improving the situation at home.
Right now fifty per cent of all children die before reaching four years of age.
Ninety per cent of all people do not receive a regular supply of piped water.
The illiteracy rate is 85 per cent; Forty per cent of the people have no lodging
at all. There are 35 prisons for each high school in Haiti. For each teacher,
there are 189 soldiers. We have a hellish situation in Haiti. How come Mr.
Reagan wants: to back up this government that has been there for 24 years and
keeps getting worse?
The right reverend here puts his finger on a crucial factor too often
overlooked. For.the fact is that like it or not but fdr the U.S. government
and U.S. trans-national corporations, the brutal dictatorship of "Baby Doc"
Duvalier in Haiti would have been gone a long time ago.
One of the biggest businesses in this unhappy land is the selling of blood.
Because of the despicable, atrocious conditions, the blood of surviving Hai
tians is among the richest in the world in antibodies. Hence the Ministry of the
Interior in Haiti in collaboration with three U.S. pharmaceutical laboratories
- Armour Pharmaceutical, Cutter Laboratories and Dow Chemical has
organized a booming business involving the selling of blood.
There is a permanent reserve of 6,000 donors who give blood every week for
a monthly salary Of SI 2. Each month, five tons of blood are shipped to the
U.S. '
More macabre, another burgeoning enterprise in Haiti is the selling of corp
ses to U.S. universities and research institutes.
Many of the factories that have been shut down in the U.S. have moved on
to the low-wage havens of Haiti where the minimum annual wage amounts to
less than half of what a poorly paid U.S. worker would earn in a week. Much
of the equipment used in that proto-typical "All-American" game baseball
is manufactured in Haiti. Not surprisingly, the U.S. military has been talk
. ing lately of stepping up collaboration with their Haitian counterparts and
the U.S. business community, which profits handsomely from this sad state of
affairs, concurs.
A number of U.S. businesses involved in the sugar industry are engaged in
the unsavory matter of Haiti "lending" 14,000 workers to the Dominican
Republic for the sugar-cane harvest. The agreement is that ten dollars for each
worker is transferred to Haiti, together with five per cent of the workers'
wages, which amount to only from twenty to fifty dollars for the entire season. '
This is no more than a thinly disguised form a slavery.
But one does not have to travel to the Dominican Republic to discover gross
exploitation oG Haitian sugarcane workers. Look no further than 359,000
acres of farmland, northwest of Miami.
For the last 37 years, thousands Qf Haitian and other black West Indian
workers are brought in specifically to harvest Florida's million ton plus crop of
raw sugar. In towns like Belle Glade, these blacks live six to seven in hot,
, cramped, filthy rooms, sharing a bathroom when there is one with scores
of others. . ' ,
This "reserve army of labor" has been brought in for years, despite the
state's high unemployment rate. But recently, in the first work stoppage in
twenty years, 38 Haitians whp said they were" represented by the Farmworkers
Rights Organization walked off their jobs at the United States Sugar Corpora- :
tion in Clewiston. They say they are striking for better wages and working con
. ditions, contending that Afro-Americans, Mexicans and Haitians are being
discriminated against in favor of hiring off-shore workers "who are captives
and badly exploited."
. . Indeed, President Reagan's recent attack on Haitians is seen by many as a
response to the bidding of the sugar barons who would like to see increasingly
militant Haitians shipped out of town as soon as possible.
Thus, the tragedy of Haiti the land Of Roumain, Toussaint and other
patriots - continues. Blacks in this country should not sit idly by as Haitians
are washed up on shore like dead fish. President Reagan should be told direct- -ly
to free all interned Haitians and end all support for the brutal Duvalier die-'
tatorship that is turata? a proud nation into "boat people." -"
To Be Equal
Civil Rights Endangered
' By Vernon E. Jordan, ft
3
The. network of civil rights laws and
regulations that have helped bring most
blacks out of the wilderness of segrega
I tion are now endangered by the . Ad
ministration neglect and, in some in
stances, hostility. . s
The most obvious case in point of
course, is the lukewarm endorsement
given extension of the Voting Rights Act
of 1965 an endorsement that suggests
acceptance of extension at the price of im
pairing its protection of minority voting .
rights.
. Another clear signal that the Ad
ministration considers civil rights unim
portant is its nomination of an un
qualified and unqualifiable person to
head Equal Employment Opportunities
Commission.
The nominee, William Bell, has no
credentials for this key post, except that
he is black , and has suffered from
discrimination credentials shared by
over twenty million other black people.
His lack of administrative experience is
so pronounced that even his chief backer
in the Senate, Senator Orrin Hatch, sug
gests that if he gets the job he should have
a strong deputy.
But since when are major appointments
made on the basis of token figureheads
holding the title while more qualified peo
ple back them up in staff jobs? Was that a
criteria for the Cabinet? And isn't it an in
sult to black people to put unqualified
blacks in visible jobs? .
Surely and Administration that ' pro
claims its opposition to affirmative action
seems to be trying to distort the meaning
of affirmative action by this appointment.
' Affirmative action never meant appoin
ting unqualified people to jobs. It means
widening the pool of candidates to include
qualified or qualifiable blacks and other
minorities. It means granting temporary
preference to qualified blacks in order to
redress the effects of discrimination that
left entire job categories dominated by
white males whose credentials are ar
bitrarily set. It emphatically does not
mean putting a black person into a job he
or she cannot handle.
The Administration practiced the right
kind of affirmative action when it named
Judge Sandra O'Connor to the Supreme
Court. There were hundreds of people
qualified to sit on the Court. But for a
variety- of reasons the Administration
decided it was time for this historically all
male Court to include women, so it found
and appointed a woman who was
qualified for the job.
Black opposition to Mr. Bell's appoint
ment cannot be appeased on the grounds
that he, too, is black. We were against
President Nixon's Carswell nomination
because he lacked qualifications for the
job; we're against the Bell appointment
on the same grounds.
Downgrading the EEOC is just the
preliminary to an attempt at folding that
agency and the Office of Federal Contract
Compliance into the Justice Departments
That would put all pf the government
civil rights enforcement operations inne
, basket, and a basket of demonstrable in,
difference to civil rights. I ' v
The Justice Department has backtrack
ed badly on civil rights. It endorsed a state
anti-busing law. I) made a too-hasty com
promise settlement with states whose
higher education systems were , put pf
compliance with desegregation laws. And
irhas been in the forefront of opposition
to affirmative action, despite its role in
the O'Conner appointment.
The attack on affirmative action is very
serious. The Justice Department's partner
in the drive is the Office of Management
and Budget, which recently told the
Federal Communications Commission to
drop a questionnaire that measures
broadcasters' cbmpliannce with equal
employment hiring mandates. . ; !
Why OMB is involved in such a step j
puzzling. Until now its activities have
been confined to cutting the budget of
programs that help provide opportunities
for minorities. Now it appears to be ex
tending its negative influence bpyond
budgetary considerations.
Taken together, the .Administration's
civil rights actions betray a clear intent to
weaken enforcement and to dismantle the
tools that have enabled the , federal
government to play a positive role in br
inging minorities into the mainsircam of
American life.
J
1
Questioning The Administration's
Economic Plan
By Congressman Augustus F. Hawkins
In a shattering blow to the already
shaky credibility of the Reagan Ad
ministration's budget and taxjpolicies, the
Atlantic Monthly magazine article on Of
fice of Management and Budget director
David Stockman reveals that though he
appeared to be the bellweather of Presi
dent Reagan's economic policies, he
privately harboured deep reservations
that those economic policies were flawed.
In Stockman's own words, "There was a
certain dimension of tur theory that was
unrealistic. .'. ."
It is truly mystifying that someone of
such obvious stature within the upper
echelons of the Reagan Administration
would make such an admission in an arti
cle which would receive national distribu
tion. The clue to the mystery lies in a sub
theme of the article which was the over
whelming desire on the part of the White
House to win all battles at any cost. Such
a mercenary attitude no doubt plays a
large part in the Stockman scandal. Ac
cording to Stockman, "They don't care
over in the White House. They want to
win." Operating in such an environment
and with said goal in mind calls for enor
mous resourcefulness. . Indeed, a
resourcefulness of such magnitude that it
would enable the Administration to admit
mistakes without taking the heat for such '
admissions. In this- context, David
Stockman has been chosen as the
sacrificial lamb who would deliver the bad
news in a Machiavellian "news leak" thus
inking the pressure off a President who
already had one very large bitter pill to
swallow in admitting that he would not be
able to have a balanced budget by 1984.
In politics, winning is important. But
winning at the expense of and as a result
of misleading the American people is un
conscionable. ' The article is a chronicle of obfuscation
and deception at the highest levels of
American government. Computer models
were adulterated at OMB in an effort to
get numbers and statistics which would
please the President. Stockman admits
that deals were struck with Congressmen
in order to get the President's economic
package through Congress upon which
Stockman knew he would have to renege
during later negotiations. Many conces
sions were made to powerful interest ; .Si
groups in order ca get the tax- packagT
which were so obviously irrational and
conflict-strewn as President Reagan's
campaign promises to raise defense spen
ding and cut income taxes, while
simultaneously balancing the federal
budget could ever have been accorded the
slightest expectation of viability.
Characterized during the early stages of
the 1980 campaign by now Vice President
George Bush as "voodoo economics",
Reagan's policies have, as yet, been
unable to shake this label and Stockman's
admissions have only served to cast some,
light on Mr. Reagan's caldron.
f;f Rgcehflv. President; Reaean,. admitted
rv nj :. u. rrri" t . r
(groups in viQciuy get tne tax pacKaajaCTji'i " ,swws'iii,wr
J through, to passage The result "of which 'tCTtdanvtp the recession, of course, is the
in., j)
O ni
. was not an equitable across-the-board tax
cut but an enormous boon for the rich
while the average working man receives a
paltry few dollars as his tax cut. Perhaps,
the most astonishing admission of decep
tion on the part of Stockman was his ad
mission that, "It's kind of hard to sell
'trickle down', so the supply-side formula
was the only way to get a tax policy that
was really 'trickle-down.' Supply-side is
'trickle-down theory." Again,
Stockman's "candor" takes the pressure
off the President to admit what op
ponents have been saying from the first
exposure to his economic plans. A
Hoover era theory, trickle-down
economics asserts that tax advantages
given to the wealthy will trickle-down to
the lowest strata of the society thus pro
viding a greater economic well-being for
all.- Obviously, President Reagan has
forgotten that Hoover was at the helm of
State at the onset of the Great Depression.
It is difficult to believe that policies.
continuing problem of high unemploy
ment rates. As of this writing, interest
rates remain stiflingly high while the
American auto industry is experiencing
one of its worst sales slumps in history,
home construction and real estate sales
are practically at a dead standstill, and
small businesses are experiencing a stag
gering rate of bankruptcy.
Whatever the outcome of the Stockman
affair, it is clear that the Administration
has embarked on a policy of less than
total honesty with the American people.
In addition, it is clear, from Mr.
Stockman's admissions that President
Reagan is unalterably in favor of taking
from the poor to give to the rich. As
Stockman says, "Power is contingent. .
.The problem is, unorganized groups
can't play this game." There is, hpwevcr,
still time for the affected groups to engage
in a vigorous program of voter registrar
tion and voter education thereby enabling
them to get into the game as full-fledge
players.
F
American Labor Mobilizes
JV.
Bayard Rustin x
A. Philip Randolph Institute
It had been billed as a centennial
celebration. The American labor move
tnent was to have gathered in New York's
Sheraton Centre to look back proudly
upon 100 years of organized trade
unionism. Yet the 1981 ALF-CIO Con
vention, which had been planned as a
celebration of labor's legacy, was '
transformed by the course of events into a
convocation -which is helping to set the
agenda for those national forces commit
ted to social justice.
There was little looking backward in
the speeches and discussions which flowed
from the speaker's rostrum. And while
the portraits of George Meany, Samuel
Gompers, Philip Murray, an4 Walter
Reuther, which looked down upon the
assembled delegates, were constant
reminders of the labor movement's shin
ing past, this Convention very much had
its mind on the future and present.
Much media attention has justly been
given to AFL-CIO President Lane
Kirkland's witty and sharp-edged dissec
tion of the Reagan Administration's
supply-side prescriptions. His attacks
against the administration's "economic
house of ill repute" and his biting sarcasm
which declared that the President has
"promised us a boom and brought us a
bust" were quintessential Kirkland..
However, what was most significant
about the Convention was that it signalled
the emergence of the outlines of a political
and econdmic program that can serve to
revitalize the forces in this country which
'are committed to social justice. Rejecting
the Administration's blind reliance on the
forces of the market-place, AFL-CIO
delegates issued a call for an "anti
recession package" of public works and
public jobs.
The AFL-CIO proposal calls for a
massive industrialization and remoder
nization effort centered around a
government-supported Reconstruction
Finance Corporation.. The Corporation
would target loans, loan guarantees, in-
. terest rate subsidies, and tax benefits to
stimulate economic growth. Such aid
would be primarily directed to high
unemploymet areas.
. The AFL-CIO has also called for na-.
tionwide extended unemployment
benefits for the long-term jobless, for,
temporary restrictions on imports which
result in the loss of American jobs, and
for the providing of funds for new low
income. and middle-income housing.
Needless to say, such programs would
cost money. Thus the AFL-CIO has join
ed in a call for funding these anti
recessionary programs by limiting the in
dividual tax cuts for 1982 to a maximum
of $700 per taxpayer, in this way preven-
ting the huge tax windfall that will benefit
thpse who earn in excess of $40,000 per
year. The AFL-CIO also has called for
trimming back the ten per cent investment
tax credit to its original seven per cent
level and has called upon Congress to
revoke "the windfall tax exemption newly
awarded to wealthy oil interest."
Labor, likewise, has renewed its com
mitment to a strong national defense but
; has asserted that defense increases should
(Continued on Page 16)
tSJSSBBBif
L.E. AUSTIN
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