LETTER President’s remarks were shameful
Twice now, while deciding official U.S. immigration policy toward our North American neighbors in Haiti, President Trump has vilified Haitians, first as being diseased and second as being filthy.
As someone who has visited our Caribbean neighbor many times in recent years to support a nonprofit that educates and helps children with developmental disabilities called Enabling Minds, I can tell you that despite Haiti being the most impoverished country in the Western Hemisphere, Haitian culture is exceptionally rich.
Haiti’s founders were freed slaves, and it was the first postcolonial nation to be led by black people. Despite years of enduring racist global isolation, natural disasters, high unemployment and harmful U.S. policies, Haitians remain the most optimistic and caring (and immaculate) people I have ever met.
Haiti has always deserved better, and on behalf of our great nation, I apologize for our president’s shameful, racist vitriol.
Tarik Khan
Philadelphia