ST. CROIX — Sunday’s eighth annual Dominican Republic Independence Day Parade that began at the Basin Triangle in Christiansted and culminated at the Canegata Ballpark, took place against a backdrop of continued violence and discrimination against people of Haitian descent living in D.R., many who are being violently dragged out of their homes — even if they were born on the Dominican Republic side of Hispaniola, which is shared by Haiti and D.R.<\/p>\n
But organizers of the independence day event, whose chairman roundly condemned the government’s actions on Sunday night during an interview with The Consortium, made it a point to include Haitians in yesterday’s parade as a show of support for those suffering the injustices.<\/p>\n
“We are against what our government is doing, definitely we are against that,” said Ovelto O\u2019Neal, chairman of the Dominican Action Committee. “We are against it because it’s not their fault, okay? It’s our political system’s fault.”<\/p>\n
According to historical accounts, Haitians began their migration to D.R. in the 20th Century<\/a><\/span>, and their integration became more pronounced during the rule of dictator\u00a0Rafael Trujillo — a former president of D.R. from\u00a01930 until his assassination in 1961 — who brought Hatians to D.R. during his 30-year rule<\/a><\/span> to cultivate sugarcane. During that time, some Haitians crossed the border back to their side of Hispaniola, while others integrated themselves and built families on the D.R. side.<\/p>\n