October 3,1937
Mario Saint-Laurent MD. Faap.
Great harm has been done by omitting and sweeping under the rug a dark and significant portion of our history. The massacre of haitians perpetrated by then president of dominican republic rafael leonidas trujillo in 1937 is and has remained an embarrassment for both nations. The dominicans for the immoral and shameful act of genocide and the haitians for rattling around while their citizens were being slaughtered, mutilated, burned and buried in mass graves next door.
As concerned citizens, we are obligated to pay respect to our compatriots who perished as a result of ethnic cleansing.
October 3,1937- october 3,2018, eighty-one years have elapsed, no monuments, no museum, till present not even a date of remembrance. As a result, sporadic cases of humiliation and aggression have been instigated by right wing dominican extremists.
While we are unable to physically separate the island in two or rearrange the past. We can learn from it by acknowledging the damage done without the ill emotion of anger or rancor, then take the necessary steps to prevent another catastrophe from occurring.
In any part of the world where mass murder has taken place, the affected nation always recognizes a date associated with the event out of respect.
The time has come to let the world know that haitian lives matter. The time has come to say never again.
October 3rd should forever remain in our calendar as a national memorial day on behalf of the victims and be commemorated with religious service on a yearly basis. We owe this not only to those families who are still mourning but also to this generation and those of the future.
Not knowing history may place us in the worst place we have never been.