GUEST COLUMN: "Turning Away Haitians: America Proves Her Greed"

On Friday, January 31, the Supreme Court ruled six to three that the Haitian refugees being held at Gauntanamo Bay in Cuba and on Coast Guard ships in the Caribbean must be returned to Haiti unless they can prove they are political refugees. Those judges may as well have broadcast on the evening news that America is no longer accepting the poor. All the things that the Statue of Liberty represents have just been cancelled. As a European-American, I am ashamed when our country proves its greed, racism and ignorance so blatantly. · I was in Haiti on February 7 of last year when Jean-Bertrand Aristide was inaugurated. People in every city -- even the smallest villages -- were so happy, they created the most beautiful holiday Haitians had ever seen. This was the first time in Haiti's history that their leader had been elected democratically. Aristide was a priest who had spent most of his life working with the poor in the slums of Port-Au-Prince. On inauguration day, handmade decorations lined every street, and the poor people themselves were repairing the roads and fixing up storefronts. Now, if poor people stand together in a group they will be dispersed by soldiers with machine guns -- if they are not shot immediately. As Aristide started the country on a road to real democracy, those who previously had power -- the military and the monied -- were threatened. They once again seized power -- but, in a country where 85 percent of the people love Aristide, they have no hope of governing without complete repression. So while economic conditions in Haiti are miserable, any person who is not in the military or rich has reason to fear being shot or tortured. Consequently, thousands of Haitians crowd into rickety boats and brave the Caribbean, desperate for a chance to live in a democracy. Instead they have been picked up by Coast Guard cutters, have waited for weeks or months in Cuba and now are told, "Sorry, America is closed." · If my great-grandfather and the host of jobless Germans that came with him had tried to immigrate today, would they be turned away? Most likely -- and, if they were black, for sure. It does not seem to matter that the hundreds of thousands of Haitians that have already travelled to the United States have been some of the most industrious and prosperous immigrants this country has seen. A large percentage of New York City taxi drivers are Haitian, but they aren't the same Haitians that were driving five years ago. Many have gone on to get college educations and pay taxes along with everyone else. Yet Americans assume the thousands in Gauntanamo Bay will be a burden and on welfare, instead of an asset to our country. It does not seem to matter that these people, in order to get out of Haiti, have risked their lives as no European immigrant ever did. How can one question the severity of the persecution and torture they are suffering in Haiti? Obviously, if death is more certain in Haiti than on a rickety, overcrowded boat on the ocean, these people are leaving for more than some sterile "economic" reasons. And still, I hear this insane argument that if we provide even temporary asylum for Haitian refugees, a large number of them may die on the seas. America has just decided that we would prefer that all of them die in Haiti. So often we as Americans say, "well, we can't be responsible for the whole world." I agree. But the whole world is not asking for asylum. Some ten thousand Haitians are. As Americans, I just wish we would prove that we are a country of freedom where people at least get a chance. That's what my great-grandfather got: not a free lunch, not a hand out . . . just a chance to do it himself. I think he and his descendants have made positive contributions to this country. I hope all people who feel that way about their contributions to this country will not withhold such a chance from the Haitians, thinking that they'll get something that's yours. We must remember that they may also give us something we have long hoped for: the ability to rejoice that we live in a free country.