Los Angeles, CA – On Friday, October 18, Centro Community Service Organization (CSO) members and community gathered at local bookstore ReArte in Boyle Heights for a film screening and discussion. The film was on the history of Haiti and was shown in light of recent racist remarks by Donald Trump in Ohio. Haitian American and CSO member Chris Bernadel and the CSO immigration rapid response team chair Jordan Peña co-facilitated the event.

Bernadel and Peña opened the event expressing solidarity with Haitian immigrants and condemning the racist remarks made by Trump. They introduced the film Bitter Cane, an award-winning documentary that was filmed clandestinely in 1983, during the U.S. imposed-dictatorship of Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier.

The film captures the shifts in the modes of production that Haiti experienced and the impacts they had on the majority of the people. Haiti’s economy was characterized as semi-feudal, in which landless peasants worked in coffee fields for large landowners in order to earn a small living. Haiti’s economy transitioned to a capitalist one in which U.S.-owned businesses opened many clothing and electronic factories in Haiti, due to its very cheap labor supply. Peasants migrated into cities in search of wage labor opportunities.

Chris Bernadel said, “The Haitian people in the city slums have tried to rise up against the dictatorships but the U.S. has squashed rebellion with heavy repression.” Bernadel shared that Haiti has only had one democratically-elected president elected by the people, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. In 2004 a U.S.-backed coup d'etat removed him from power.

A discussion continued among participants after the film. In the discussion, Jordan Peña made a connection between the root cause of refugees fleeing Haiti to the immigration crisis that we see today, stating, “People south of the U.S. border are coming to the U.S. but you never hear people question why they are fleeing their home country in the first place. It is because the U.S. has invested in destabilizing these countries.”

After discussion, participants enjoyed Haitian food cooked by a local family owned-restaurant named Island Flavors Caribbean Cuisine. Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) member Sol Marquez closed the event expressing solidarity with immigrants and inviting members to join the Legalization for All Network.

An upcoming event for the CSO immigration rapid response team is a know your rights training, which will take place on the 9th of November and will be in Boyle Heights. That event is being coordinated by CSO members Amanda Diaz and Peña. Please message CSO at (323) 484-8630 or on social media to attend and help.

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