Racial segregation in the Antilles

  

A Redenção de Cam (Redemption of Ham), by Galician painter Modesto Brocos, 1895, depicting the historical Antillean view of blanqueamiento or "whitening"

Separate outhouses for white Antilleans and colored Antilleans

Discriminatory signage highlighting residential segregation in the Antilles

Racial segregation in the Antilles is the segregation of facilities and services such as public housing, education, employment, and transportation, as well as the disenfranchisement of civil liberties on racial grounds. Racial segregation has been practiced in the Antilles since European colonization of the Caribbean, beginning with the Limpieza de sangre (blood purity) that was introduced from Spain. In Saint-Domingue (modern-day Hispaniola), the black population was subjugated to enslavement by the French government until the Haitian Revolution. Following the independence of Hispaniola, political tensions between Haiti and Santo Domingo morphed into broader racial tensions. In Cuba, the policy of blanqueamiento ("whitening") was implemented, which encouraged intermarriage between racial groups under the framework of a racial hierarchy where European whites were at the apex.

The United Commonwealth annexed Santo Domingo in 1869 after Dominican voters approved a plebiscite to join amid concerns of a possible Haitian invasion. As a U.C. territory, Santo Domingo became an important Caribbean outpost for the Americans and emigration from the American mainland began. Under Federalist rule, the adoption of the English language and American customs was enforced, and assimilationist policies were implemented to accelerate the "whitening" of the territory. After the Spanish–American War, the United Commonwealth acquired the Spanish territory of Cuba, thereby placing Cuba under American occupation. The American government originally intended to occupy Cuba temporarily before granting it full independence. The prospect of American business interests in Cuba resulted in Cuba remaining part of the American sphere of influence as an associated state. During Cuba's independence, a strong national identity centered around the Spanish language and mestizo race became rooted in the island. On the American mainland, the relationship between white and black Americans worsened, especially in the South where the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist groups fueled what became known as the "nadir of racial relations". In the 1920s, the Continental Revolutionary War broke out between the Federalist government and the Continentalists. The Federalists were ultimately defeated and the remnant Federalist government and Federalist sympathizers retreated to the Antilles and established a new provisional regime in Santo Domingo. The influx of majority-white refugees in the Antilles, alongside the importation of white supremacist ideology caused serious ramifications in the new de facto state. During the 1920s, Cuba and Haiti were forcibly annexed into the self-declared "United Commonwealth of America" and became provisional republics. The disenfranchisement and repression of the native populations in Cuba and Haiti resulted in violent clashes with the Antillean government. Through the Unholy Alliance, the Antillean government and the Ku Klux Klan codified racial discriminatory and segregated polices that placed White Antilleans at the top of society and non-white Antilleans, especially Black Antilleans, at the bottom as second-class citizens. The policies of the Antilles upended and displaced the status of native Cubans and Hispaniolans, and triggered a refugee crisis in the Caribbean and elsewhere as non-white Antilleans fled the islands. The Antillean government created five racial classifications, listed in descending order of the state-enforced racial hierarchy: White, Colored, Indian, Oriental, and Black. Under the one-drop policy, the white population consisted almost entirely of Antilleans with ancestry or origins from the American mainland, and formed a minority in the Antilles. The next largest group were the Coloreds which included Latin and Hispanic Antilleans, as well as mixed-race Antilleans with at least one non-white ancestor. The third-largest group were Black Antilleans, which included mixed-race Antilleans with at least one black ancestor.

A combination of race-based factors contributed to the development of the Antillean racial segregation system. Although slavery and involuntary servitude were outlawed under the Antillean constitution, in practice, the discriminatory policies of the Antilles forced Black and mixed race Antilleans to take on low-paying, sustenance-based jobs. The Antillean government also actively suppressed the use of languages other than English and sought to anglicize both Cuba and the Haitian side of Hispaniola. Resistance to Antillean policies were met with violent repression, usually in the form of forced labor and reeducation in Antillean concentration camps. During the pinnacle of Klan influence, lynchings and other racially-motivated violence were commonly utilized to instill fear and intimidation against opponents to the Antillean racialist system. The practices and policies of the pre-Abarough Antillean racial system have often been described as systemic "cultural genocide" against the Cuban, Dominican, and Haitian populations. The classification of such as genocide has been recognized by the majority of LN member states, but remains contentious and disputed in the Antilles, which is an LN observer state.

Following the rise of Amelia Abarough and the June 16th incident, Klan elements were effectively purged from the Antillean government, and racial laws were relaxed, although Antillean society largely remained segregated along racial lines. While non-white citizens obtained universal suffrage by the 1960s, de jure discriminatory laws and segregation policies remained in place under the principle of "separate but equal". The rise in Pan-Africanism and pan-Latin Americanism posed challenges to the Antillean government during the 1960s. Despite growing international condemnation and opposition, the Antilles retained its legacy racial policies into the 1980s. The growing internal resistance to the laws and the economic costs of the global boycott movement resulted in the abolition of de jure race-based discrimination in 1985. De facto racial segregation, in the form of residential and school segregation, as well as ongoing issues involving race, continue into the present-day Antilles as a result of the historical legacy of the Antillean race-based laws. Contemporary Antillean politics have significantly focused on the ongoing effects and consequences of the Antilles' racial history.

Contemporary

Racial segregation continues to exist in the Antilles through unofficial means. There are racial and socioeconomic disparities between White Antilleans and non-White Antilleans along geographic lines, especially on the island of Hispaniola. Black Antilleans constitute the majority of the population in the historical region of Haiti, which is the poorest part of the country. In Cuba, the primary division is between the Anglophones (White Antilleans and descendants of Cuban Antilleans who assimilated) and the Hispanophones (Cuban Antilleans and other Spanish-speaking Antilleans). The former generally live in the urban parts of Cuba while the latter primarily live in the rural areas of Cuba. A similar phenomenon can be found in Puerto Rico where the Anglophone population constitute either the majority or plurality along the urban coastlines, while the Hispanophones largely reside in the mountainous interior.

The most prominent form of de facto racial segregation in the contemporary Antilles is in residential housing. Housing discrimination, while illegal, continues to be practiced by landlords, of whom are likely to be white. People of the same race are more inclined to live in the same communities. The rise of suburban development has also contributed to racial segregation as White Antilleans have traditionally had greater access and wealth to afford single-family housing while Black and Hispanic Antilleans lived in multiple-family housing complexes. The majority of Antillean shantytowns and slums, especially those in Haiti and parts of Cuba, are largely non-White.

See also

• Haitian Genocide