On January 11, 2018, President questioned why the United States would allow more people from Haiti and Africa to enter the country, he described those countries by using expletives and he suggested that we should be encouraging more people from Norway. According to many people from the meeting, Trump said why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here as they discussed providing protections for immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador, and African Countries as part of a bipartisan immigration deal.

When I first read those comment I was not surprised, I was enraged because he was my president and him calling any country a shithole is very unpresidential. I felt personally attacked because Haiti is my native country.  Haiti is a country that is filled with pride in our history, culture although it’s poor it is far from being a shithole country. President Trump’s comments were made one day before the 8th anniversary of the devastating earthquake.

According to the red cross, the 7.0 magnitude earthquake killed between 230,000 to 300,00 people and left 1.5 million people homeless. Still, to this day Haiti is still trying to recover from the earthquake that destroyed a majority of the country. In 2016 Hurricane Matthew struck Haiti causing more damage to the already damaged country.

Trump’s presidency was built around his Ludacris stance on immigration. Trump vowed to build a wall along the Mexican border, the Muslim ban, DACA and the mass deportation of illegal immigrants. This is not the first time President Trump has attacked Haiti. Last year President Trump allegedly said that all Haitians had Aids a report that was denied by the white house. The recent shithole country comments made the previous comments about Haitians having aids true.

It is very discouraging to hear someone who is the leader of the free world, someone who should be setting an example for other countries to follow, someone who should be the epitome of democracy to use such demeaning language about someone’s country. President Trump attacks are countries whose population are primarily people of color, his immigration reforms attack people of color.

In November of 2017, the Trump administration revoked deportation protection that was granted to protected thousands of Haitians after the earthquake happened, they had until July 2019 to return to Haiti. Trump stated on multiple occasions that his mission was to make America great again but, he just wants to make America white again. He will allow immigrants from predominantly white countries such as Norway, Russia, etc. to come here but calls for the mass deportation of those from countries that contain people of color.

Haiti like many other countries has its good parts and bad parts, the media has always focused on the poverty-stricken areas but never display the parts of Haiti that are flourishing. Haitians do not eat leaves from trees, we eat cats, not all Haitians practice voodoo and most importantly all immigrants from Haiti does not have aids those negative stereotypes need to debunk. If president Trump was informed on Haiti’s history, he would have known besides from being the first black republic in the world to gain its independence from Europe, Haitians have contributed to American from its foundation.

The Haitian volunteers who fought alongside Americans in the battle of Savannah in 1779, to the founder of Chicago Jean Baptiste Point du Sable who is Haitian, to the thousands of Haitian lawyers, doctors, nurses, engineers, chef, business owners who contributed to this country’s economy.

When Haitians come to the United States like other immigrants they come in search of a better life not to be reminded that their country is a “shithole”.  People from these “shithole” countries fight in the military to protect civilians that often cost them their lives.

Haitians have a sense of pride, back home when we shake people hands we look them straight in the eyes, give them a firm handshake and pat their backs. We also know how to work together I was in Haiti during the earthquakes. The government, the police were not able to get people out of rubbles, the people were lifting debris with their bare hands to help others. We are survivors, even with negative stereotypes we continue to walk with our heads up high. I am 100% proud of my heritage and my country. I am Haitian, I speak three languages, I am proud to be from a “Shithole” country such as Haiti.