John - It is hard to look at the horrific images from the southern border.

The sight of armed men on horseback — agents of the United States government — attacking Haitian migrants, camped in a small Texas border town, immediately brings to mind the horrors of chattel slavery. And for those of us of the Black Diaspora, it is a horrifying vision that reaches into our past and tells a damning truth about our present.

And even though we’re now being told that the last of the makeshift camps have cleared and the migrants are headed for Customs and Border Protections Centers, what we saw this week was yet another reminder that the humanity of Black people is always, at best, conditional.

As we demand justice for Haitian migrants, we must also reckon with the knowledge that Haiti has borne the brunt of imperialist anti-Blackness for centuries and that this is yet another in a long line of pointed cruelty that has long been leveled at Haitian immigrants.

Anti-Blackness within our country’s long history of white supremacy often excludes the voices and experiences of Black immigrants from mainstream conversations about immigration and immigrant rights.

And the horrifying scenes from the border have been anti-Blackness in action.

At NDWA, we see this anti-Blackness every day: the systematic devaluation of domestic work is so deeply rooted in race and gender discrimination against Black women from across the Diaspora that has survived through laws, attitudes, and culture since slavery.

This is why We Dream in Black (WeDiB), NDWA and our Black Caucus, comprised of Black staffers, stand in solidarity with Haiti and Haitian refugees in every way possible and will continue our work to dismantle the centuries of institutionalized anti-Black racism that led to this most recent horror.

NDWA and our Families Belong Together (FBT) campaign will remain vocal in calling out the Biden administration for exacerbating this crisis with cruel Trump-era immigration policies, and we will continue to do all we can to center Black needs, voices, and leadership in our work.

If you’re looking for ways to assist those working on the ground during this unspeakable crisis, we’ve pulled together ways you can offer support.

• Add your name to the FBT action expressing your outrage at the situation and demand that migrants be treated with dignity and respect and that all deportations to Haiti are halted immediately.
• Share the Haitian Bridge Alliance’s donation link and/or donate if you are able.
• Post on social media about your outrage regarding the treatment of Haitians. Here is a digital toolkit with graphics and suggested posts.
• Sign up to volunteer with Houston Haitians United.

In solidarity,

We Dream in Black
The Black Caucus of the National Domestic Workers Alliance