Earthquake hits home for Haitian Americans
The Haiti earthquake crisis from the viewpoint of a
Gerard LeConte III
Issue date: 2/2/10 Section: Opinion
On Wednesday, January 12, I found out that a catastrophic earthquake had struck the island of Haiti. I read that the country's capitol was in ruins, and the death toll was expected to fly past record highs. The only thing that was really different about my reaction, compared to that of the average American, is that I am Haitian. My Dad was in Port au Prince during the earthquake, and several members of my family lived throughout other parts of the country.
I cannot say that my initial reaction was panic, but it definitely contained a certain degree of concern. I tried to contact my father with no luck. Cell phone lines in Haiti were down, and I was not able to get through to anyone. So, I had to go about my day trying to pretend that I wasn't completely absorbed by the uncertain fate of my father. That is when things started to get interesting.
I started noticing the peculiar way in which people discussed or reported on the earthquake. I do not really see any need in making it known to the people around me that I am Haitian, so many people in my day-to-day life are completely unaware. This gave me an opportunity to experience a relatively unbiased version of people's reactions to the disaster.
I don't mean to make it sound like anyone spoke badly, negatively, or even indifferently concerning the earthquake; because that is far from the case. In general, the conversations I experienced were very sympathetic to the people of Haiti. What interested me was the tone, rhetoric, and diction being used. It almost seemed like, when talking about Haiti, people were discussing aliens, or some group of people very different from them. Conversations like these led me to draw the conclusion that, in general, the people around me were unaware of the density of the Haitian population in America.
It was interesting to me that virtually none of the people I heard speaking about the topic considered that the black guy in direct proximity of them, me, was Haitian. None of them considered that even though Haiti is a severely impoverished nation that we rarely hear anything about, there are Haitian Americans all around us.
I cannot say that my initial reaction was panic, but it definitely contained a certain degree of concern. I tried to contact my father with no luck. Cell phone lines in Haiti were down, and I was not able to get through to anyone. So, I had to go about my day trying to pretend that I wasn't completely absorbed by the uncertain fate of my father. That is when things started to get interesting.
I started noticing the peculiar way in which people discussed or reported on the earthquake. I do not really see any need in making it known to the people around me that I am Haitian, so many people in my day-to-day life are completely unaware. This gave me an opportunity to experience a relatively unbiased version of people's reactions to the disaster.
I don't mean to make it sound like anyone spoke badly, negatively, or even indifferently concerning the earthquake; because that is far from the case. In general, the conversations I experienced were very sympathetic to the people of Haiti. What interested me was the tone, rhetoric, and diction being used. It almost seemed like, when talking about Haiti, people were discussing aliens, or some group of people very different from them. Conversations like these led me to draw the conclusion that, in general, the people around me were unaware of the density of the Haitian population in America.
It was interesting to me that virtually none of the people I heard speaking about the topic considered that the black guy in direct proximity of them, me, was Haitian. None of them considered that even though Haiti is a severely impoverished nation that we rarely hear anything about, there are Haitian Americans all around us.
Viewing Comments 1 - 5 of 6
TashaCloverg
TashaCloverg
posted 2/10/10 @ 8:09 AM PST
It's terrible, but unfortunatelly for many people such as situations like an interesting theme for conversation.
But when it happens with them they are changing. (Continued…)
noname
posted 2/11/10 @ 7:58 AM PST
It's terrible to understand that people who surround you are so indifferent to such disasters, though they seem to be quite sympathetic. One doesn't pay much attention to things which do not concern him directly. (Continued…)
tim
posted 2/13/10 @ 9:59 AM PST
no offence man, but i believe the earthquake's the best thing that could happen to haiti,- your nation's churchmouse poor and all the wars and rebellions aren's makin it any better. (Continued…)
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posted 3/08/10 @ 12:41 PM PST
Great article. I to have noticed that we seem to live in a society where finding reasons not to do something, new or different, is the rule.
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posted 3/09/10 @ 10:51 AM PST
Terrible...So many days have passed, and I'm still can't calm down...
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