Posts Tagged Haiti

By Juliana Britto Schwartz • 7 years ago

Daily Feminist Cheat Sheet

On Sunday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott passed one of the most punitive anti-immigrant laws in the country, which people are comparing to Arizona’s “Show Me Your Papers” law. Try not to throw things at your computer when you watch this livestream of the governor signing SB 4 and glossing over colonization in his claim that Texas was founded on legal immigration. 

On Sunday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott passed one of the most punitive anti-immigrant laws in the country, which people are comparing to Arizona’s “Show Me Your Papers” law. Try not to throw things at your computer ...
By Juliana Britto Schwartz • 10 years ago

Think American abortion politics are bad? Millions of people have it worse

Very few countries in the Americas share the United States’ relatively liberal abortion laws. Say what you will about the GOP infringing on our reproductive rights, but we have things pretty good in comparison to a lot of our American neighbors. Of the 34 countries in Latin America, 18 allow abortion in cases other than the strict “rape, incest, or threat to the woman’s life.” In 6 of the remaining countries, abortion is completely illegal, with no provisions for rape, or threat to the woman’s life. One of those countries is Haiti.

Very few countries in the Americas share the United States’ relatively liberal abortion laws. Say what you will about the GOP infringing on our reproductive rights, but we have things pretty good in comparison ...

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By Juliana Britto Schwartz • 11 years ago

Little Miss Hispanic Delaware pageant: all contestants must show us their papers to prove they’re Latina

Image Credit: Colorlines

Late last month, the news came out that the Nuestras Raices Little Miss Hispanic Delaware beauty pageant was dethroning its latest winner, Jakiyah McCoy, after she was unable to provide documentation of her “Hispanic heritage.” McCoy is black, and it appears that she was the only contestant required to prove her ethnicity, suggesting that Latin@s cannot look black.

Since then, the pageant has released a letter trying to clear up the mess.

Image Credit: Colorlines

Late last month, the news came out that the Nuestras Raices Little Miss Hispanic Delaware beauty pageant was dethroning its latest winner, Jakiyah McCoy, after ...
By Emily Villano • 11 years ago

Not Oprah’s Book Club: Claire of the Sea Light by Edwidge Danticat

Ed. note: This is a guest post from Emily Villano. Emily is a recent college graduate and a feminist, living and writing in Central Oregon.

Edwidge Danticat has stated that though her body is in the United States, her imagination lies in Haiti. She writes about Haiti in Brooklyn, NY, with her debut novel Breathe, Eyes, Memory; in the Dominican Republic, with The Farming of Bones, her hauntingly intimate portrayal of the Haitian Massacre; in the fraught memories of state-sponsored torture, with The Dew Breaker; in the U.S. immigrant detention center, with her memoir Brother, I’m Dying. Danticat’s books deftly thread personal and political histories, issues of gender, race, class, and nationality, and evoke a Haiti at once distinctive and ...

Ed. note: This is a guest post from Emily Villano. Emily is a recent college graduate and a feminist, living and writing in Central Oregon.

Edwidge Danticat has stated that though her body is in the United States, ...
By Maya Dusenbery • 13 years ago

Post-earthquake recovery efforts are failing Haitian women

According to a new report from Human Rights Watch, more than a year and half after the earthquake in Haiti, the recovery efforts have failed to protect the health and rights of women.

The LA Times reports:

Despite a mammoth humanitarian-care push in the wake of the Jan. 12, 2010, quake that killed as many as 300,000 people, serious gaps exist in the healthcare that women and girls are receiving, according to a report released Tuesday by the New York-based Human Rights Watch.

Pregnant women reported having to give birth in alleyways or on floors; being unable to afford transportation to hospitals, and not having access to prenatal care.

Human Rights Watch also documented widespread sexual violence and “transactional sex,” ...

According to a new report from Human Rights Watch, more than a year and half after the earthquake in Haiti, the recovery efforts have failed to protect the health and rights of women.

The ...
By Maya Dusenbery • 13 years ago

Fear of the single story: Backlash to Mac McClelland’s PTSD piece

Mac McClelland’s recent essay on her battle with PTSD and how violent sex helped her heal was one of the bravest pieces of writing I’ve read in a while. And I’ve gotta agree with Jill that much of the backlash of criticism she’s received “illustrates pretty well why too many women who experience trauma don’t speak out.”

At Jezebel, 36 women journalists who’ve worked in Haiti wrote an open letter to GOOD arguing that “the way she uses Haiti as a backdrop for this narrative is sensationalist and irresponsible.” At Slate, Marjorie Valbrun claimed McClelland made Haiti “all about her” in a piece she described as: “Offensive.” “Shockingly-narcissistic.” “Intellectually dishonest.”

Never mind that this piece was, in fact, ...

Mac McClelland’s recent essay on her battle with PTSD and how violent sex helped her heal was one of the bravest pieces of writing I’ve read in a while. And I’ve gotta agree with Jill ...
By Jos Truitt • 13 years ago

Haitians in the US being deported for minor offenses

Following the earthquake and cholera outbreak in Haiti last year Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said they would temporarily halt the already problematic practice of deporting Haitians living in the US who are convicted of misdemeanor and drug offenses. However, ICE resumed deportations in January despite still horrific conditions in Haiti. Those being deported include people who have grown up in the US and know it as their home. Many of the offenses are minor. And what they are being met with in Haiti is unconscionable, from being locked up in jails the ACLU calls “dungeon-like” to dying of cholera.

A powerful video from the New York Times tells the story some of the people who have been ...

Following the earthquake and cholera outbreak in Haiti last year Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said they would temporarily halt the already problematic practice of deporting Haitians living in the US who are convicted of misdemeanor and ...