Reflection 18

When reading a tale of Two Islands, I began to understand much more of what I had already known about this issue. Being from Cuban Origin, I Love the place where my family has thrived from. Many different instances have put the U.S.A. and Cuba in very odd circumstances. The relationship between both countries has often been denied, but I know that Cubans might just have it a little easier than Haitians. Both Haiti and Cuba are near Florida in the Caribbean. During 1980, in the Carter Administration, Haitians and Cubans came to Florida on the Mariel. Unlike Cubans, The Haitians were not allowed to apply to be permanent residents. To me, that just seems unfair. What really are the differences and the reasons that justified that law? Just likes Cubans, Haitians were trying to escape a form of persecution and unsatisfied freedoms. I see no difference between the two. If you are going to grant a certain amount of Cubans entrance to the states, the same should be done to the island of Haiti. One reason to justify the passed laws was that Cubans were political refugees trying to escape communism. Communism as we know was one of the United States biggest fears. To have an island so close to our boarder that is based on communism terrified us greatly. Haitians were just trying to escape economic depressions. Just because the country is poor, it does not give the U.S reason to accept them. I think people stereotyped the Haitians just because they were “black”. Being a colored immigrant showed the image that you were low class and uneducated. I don’t think that was the reason the U.S did not let them pass the boarder or let them stay as permanent residence. It’s always easy to play the race card and state injustices that way. This is a totally different situation. I think the problem is much deeper than skin based. Some Cubans are dark skinned or very tanned. If that was the case, those dark Cubans would not have been accepted to stay either. Tanned people are also looked down on. Because their skin is so brown, some assume they work in manual labor because they are uneducated. I think this problem needs to be analyzed more deeply. The problem here is not race. The problem here is merely a political loss and gain system.