Edwidge Danticat's Brother, I'm Dying

Danticat's Brother, I'm Dying, a book I first read in high school, is a powerful tale of the lives and deaths of Danticat's father and uncle. Raised in Haiti by Uncle Joseph until her mother and father returned to take Danticat and her brother to New York, Danticat's painful, depressing tale serves as a constant reminder of the problems in U.S. immigration and American foreign policy in regards to Haiti. Danticat's grandfather, Nozial, was a caco who fought against the U.S. occupation of Haiti, and Danticat's uncle and father inherited that opposition to the United States, which intervened in Haitian affairs to support dictators like Duvalier, to support the coup against Aristide in 1991 and 2004, and how the United Nations' MINUSTAH contributes to the destabilization of Haiti, supported by the U.S. as well. Thus, Danticat's family history/tribute to her 2 fathers serves as a constant reminder of the fact that immigrants don't want to leave their countries for the US. They are forced to do so under severe threats, poverty, political repression and violence. Indeed, for many Haitians, like Danticat's father's family, the US symbolizes an imperial, white power that aids in the oppression of Haitians, yet Haitians immigrate to the US to escape poverty and repression in their own homeland. As Uncle Joseph says, however, exile life is not for everyone, since someone has to stay behind to receive remittances, take care of relatives, and rebuild the nation.

Danticat's grandfather, Nozial, fought against American occupying forces that came from the Jim Crow South. In fact, Uncle Joseph told Edwidge that he once came upon American soldiers kicking the head of a dead Haitian man like a soccer ball to each other. Uncle Joseph was warned to never leave the small village near Leogane on main roads because American soldiers often conscripted Haitian peasants for forced-labor on public projects, such as roads, bridges, and dams. The use of violence by American troops, their racist treatment of peasants, and the new, US-trained Haitian military established on the US left Haiti in 1934 ensured a legacy of imperial, dehumanizing American policy toward Haiti. Danticat's family also focuses on the persistence of American imperialism and racism against Haitians in later periods, such as the chaotic fall of Baby Doc in 1986 and the American-backed military forces that ousted Aristide in 1991 and 2004. These two periods saw the notable decline in Uncle Joseph's Port-au-Prince neighborhood of Bel Air, which became a hotbed of gang activity and UN soldiers (MINUSTAH) shootouts that caught unarmed civilians in the crossfire. Indeed, MINUSTAH agents used Uncle Joseph's church in Bel Air to shoot 'gangs' but actually kill civilians as well. The Haitian police and MINUSTAH's inability to protect civilian life and property forces Uncle Joseph to leave Haiti in 2004, flying to Miami.

Once in Miami, Danticat criticizes immigration policy, especially in regards to Haitians, who are denied political asylum. Even though her uncle had legitimate reasons to fear for his life since gangsters in Bel Air promised to kill him, US immigration in Florida imprisoned Uncle Joseph and his son Maxo in Krome, where Uncle Joseph was deprived of some of his medication despite having a valid passport, visa and poor health. Her uncle dies as a result of deplorable and inhumane treatment at the Krome and hospital, where he didn't see a doctor until 24 hours after being sent to the emergency room. Like other Haitians placed in detention centers like Krome, her uncle is shackled like a slave, teeth are analyzed to determine age (like slave auctions) and her Uncle is unjustly imprisoned and treated like a lying criminal when he has a seizure. Immigration policy regarding Haitians undoubtedly follows a racist double standard of denying asylum to blacks, but Cubans and even Hondurans and Nicaraguans receive politcal asylum despite chaotic conditions in Haiti in 2004 and later years. Clearly, American policies regarding Haiti ultimately reinforce racist, dehumanization of Haitian people, such as Uncle Joseph, who had no intention of staying in the US permanently.

In the end, Danticat's novel is about the promise of  a better life that is illusory in the immigrant experience. Racism, low-wage jobs, deteriorating cities and schools, and the perpetuation of destructive American policies that further the destabilization of Haiti are the realities of immigrant experience. Though leaving Haiti, Haiti always remains in the hearts and minds of the immigrants, such as Danticat's father, Miracin. Haitians can love the United States with all their hearts, but the obvious role of the US in supporting the poverty and political chaos makes it highly ironic that the nation that represents 'liberty' and a safe haven continues to make their homelands unsafe, impoverished states. Danticat's father and uncle demonstrate this fact well, since her uncle is unable to leave Haiti permanently and her father's life is based on supporting his Haitian relatives trapped behind.