Haitian immigrants and the Greater Caribbean community of New York City: challenges and opportunities

Abstract

Haitians are one of the largest post 1965 immigrant groups in New York City. In 2009, there were some 118,769 Haitian immigrants in the city, and this figure does not include the undocumented and the many thousands of children born in the United States to foreign-born Haitian parents. Unlike the English speaking Caribbean immigrants that are recognized as a model minority in America, Haitian immigrants had a different treatment. They were not viewed as a model minority despite the fact that they also came from the Caribbean and shared similar narrative. This paper addresses the two most important periods of Haitian migration to New York City and the mechanisms and structures that they developed in the past several decades to gain acceptance in the US and forge political alliances with the English-speaking Caribbean immigrants to empower their community.