When your ass come here and deal with the struggles of having strangers disrupt your way of living, present major health issues, crime issues, economic issues-When you as an outspoken advocate for the Haitian community encourage reform in Haiti to stop the flow of illegals in other people country, then you can open your mouth, Dr. Who. The reality is, sometimes you have to appear to be xenophobic to protect your own interest. Otherwise, people will take your kindness for weakness. And that is exactly what the majority of these so called undocumented Haitians have been doing. Like I always say, If the Bahamas was not a country that was friendly to America or a poor country, these people wouldn't give a dam about status.

I do not see how this is news.
The climate in the bahamas is generally xenophobic.
Not only towards haitians, but towards jamaicans, guyanese and asians as well.
It is not only haitian descendants who cannot obtain passport until the age of 18, it is any nationality.

Plus what influence could this american have on public opinion around here. He is a foreigner.

we are not xenophobic about money. Money does not stink. Only one rule: "Give us your money, once you have no more - take a hike!"

To Louby Georges: Since you believe that the Haitian Embassy in Nassau is too small to accommodate the influx of people that you think would like to apply for a Haitian passport, then let them travel to Haiti to do the same. After all, Haiti's policy is all are welcome once they are of Haitian descendent. If you really are an activist and you truly believe in your culture and the Country where your parents came from, why not direct the energy on rebuilding Haiti rather than telling Bahamian officials what they ought do. I personally could never grow enough balls as a Bahamian to go in someone else's country and tell them what is in the best interest of Bahamians, especially if I was born there after parents snuck in the country to have me.

I am a Haitian (medical doctor) born in the Bahamas and have never travelled to Haiti but I would sure like to say this: the Bahamas is indeed xenophobic society and the ignorance of the masses is nauseating to say the least. When I read people like Emac's comments, it makes me feel ashamed to say I am from the Bahamas. The issues that our society face is not because of Haitians or any migrants….it is because of Bahamian born persons who have no values, goals, morals or ethical beliefs. In my humble opinion, I believe the Haitian Bahamians contribute more to the Bahamas than most raw born Bahamian. So castigate the Haitian Bahamians and use them as scapegoats as much as you would like but WE will continue to be productive members of a xenophobic society but change must come!!!!

Evgeorge, you are missing the big picture here. You shouldn't expect for people to show much respect for a culture that has little regard for the laws of other countries that they invade. Respect begets respect. TO say that Haitian Bahamians contribute more to the Bahamas than raw born Bahamians is debatable. I don't even know what you mean by raw born Bahamian...Lol, But if you read my comments carefully, you will see that I never once made disparaging remarks about Haitian decendents. I simply stated facts. Now if these facts happen to cast negative light on your habits then I am not the one to blame. I am not saying that Bahamians are better than Haitian, I am simply saying that when you are a guest in someone's home you don't invade their space or try and change their whole living condition. I have Haitian friends that I would never dare look down on, I love kompa, I love grio. But these friends will tell you that we constantly discuss this hot topic and at the end of the day, no friendship is lost.

Please go home and ply your trade in Haiti george,you are well needed,in my book there will NEVER be such "Haitian Bahamian" it does not exit only in your head,and you is a doc?Muddos...

I do not agree with your point about surnames. I think that French surnames indicate French heritage not Haitian heritage. Haiti was a French colony and their surnames reflect their former French colonists. Is this not so?

Andrewharris, I take it you probably live in some gated community where you are not affected by certain social problems brought on by these bunch. But when you move where I live where illegal and non illegal Haitians shit on your property, destroy your boundary, steal your power, pollute the area with dirty pampers and garbage, have 100s of pikininis run around naked wreaking havoc, use your property for short cut, start fires for no apparent reasons, constantly fight and argue, eat your pet cats (and the list goes on) then we can talk about Bahamian ignorance. THe problem is you don't experience the mess other Bahamian live. Walk in their shoes then come back to me and talk about xenophobia. IT IS CALLED FEDUP! Not xenophobic.

A definition of xenophobia is "dislike of or prejudice against people from other countries."

Bahamians dislike Haitians because they have no regard for our laws, have totally overwhelmed our healthcare, education and social services to the point that citizens of the Bahamas are unable to obtain medical care, our children are unable to receive quality education etc.

To add insult to injury Haitians undermine Bahamians in the labor market by learning skills from Bahamians then offering those skills at lower cost thereby eliminating those very Bahamians they learned skills from.

If what I described above equals "xenophobia"......Then Bahamians have every right to hate Haitians & better develop a heightened sense of "xenophobia" if they want to survive.

No matter if Bahamians are lazy, slow, inefficient, stupid or dumb, this country still belongs to Bahamians and we should do all possible to ensure the Bahamas is reserved for Bahamians.

NOBODY is immigrating to, or smuggling humans to, or trying sneak into Haiti!

Both Dr. Haitians should try selling their "Haitian xenophobia" theory in Dominican Republic where they too have had to put their foot down on parasitic Haitians that were costing them over $200M annually in medical services alone for Haitians....More "xenophobia" perhaps.

WE AS BAHAMIANS HAVE BEEN SELLING OUR COUNTRY FOR 40 ODD YEARS ,EVERY POLITICAL GENERAL HAS 5 TO 10 WORK PERMITS FOR HIS/HER HATIAN 'SLAVES ' WITH 5 OR 6 GRAND I ,LL GET YOU THREE WORK PERMITS FOR FARM LABORERS IN A MONTH

i'm beginning to wonder about *the Guardian*. Why would they even publish this crap?
.
Who could care less what some jonser in Tennesse has to say about our country.

Try getting a Bahamian to talk about american policies towards mexicans and see who would give a crap.

Again, I've said it before and I'll say it again.

The policies are to stem the mass influx of **ILLEGAL** immigrants and apply to ANYONE who would try and take advantage of us.
It applies to Haitian, American, British, Canadian, Philipino etc etc.
Anyone can also still come to The Bahamas legally, get your work permit and go on about your business in peace.

**BUT**

because the haitians are the vast majority of those who take advantage of our slack borders and then take advantage of our services to drop babies etc, they are obvioulsy going to be the ones to cry about it the loudest. In doing so they are also admitting they are a problem.

and why are Bahamians xenophobic for just trying to protect their home?

I think most Bahamians are good natured and friendly to all our visitors.

But think of it this way and the following would apply to ANY human being:

Let's say you have a house guest come to stay:

You let them into your house to stay a while.

If you're lucky you have a spare bedroom or you let them stay on the couch.

You host them and let them help themselves to your food and beverage.

But then they don't want to leave because they have it better on your couch than back home.

They keep taking and it's more than you can afford to keep them.

They keep taking until the fridge is empty.

Then they sneek their brother or sister into your house and other family members and hide them in a cupboard.

And then they start to steal your childrens lunch money.

One of them then also goes to your boss and says he will do your job cheaper, boom, you lose your job.

Any people in the world would feel pissed off if this happened and would then resent that houseguest.

Now some people reading this might laugh and say this is far fetched. It is not. This is a reality.

Haitian parasites have rendered our country to the brink of economic collapse. Anyone that does not understand that, simply do not want to understand and we shouldn't give a dam what they think in any event!

Haitian President Michel Martelly ......"overflew"...... Dominican Republic and came to the Bahamas to tell our government to take care of Haitians?

Why are Haitians our problem and not their sister country Dominican Republics problem?

If xenophobia is what we need to protect our country from Haitian invaders.....Then by all means let's have ....."more xenophobia" ......and instill in our children that xenophobia against Haitians or anyone else that is destroying our country and way of life is a GOOD THING!

ACTUALLY B/C WE ARE SO CROOKED WE BEEN SELLING IT TO THEM ,,FOR A COUP[LE GRAND I,LL GET YOU A FARM LABOUR PERMIT IN A MONTH ,,THATS ALL OLE STUBS USED TO DO ON POTTERS CAY ,,THEN ONCE YOU GET THEIR PERMIT IF THEY WORK ELSEWHERE THEY GOT TO KICK BACK ,,FUNNY THOUGH THEIR KIDS DO SO MUCH BETTER IN SCHOOL AND ARE LESS DISRUPTIVE

Because it was amazing that the two countries came to an agreement to work together on the problem. Dominica has their own way they are dealing with it and it's not portraying them well in western view.

GO HOME WHERE YOU BELONG.HAITI.

What I can't get over is how homey has the nerve to call tor public discussion. What the hell is is there to discuss? Haitians are the predominant cause of our illegal immigration issues. If Looey-George or George Looey - or whatever his name is - thinks our policies - which are clearly designed to stem this tsunami of his countrymen from invading our shores in mass - makes us xenophobic then I say let's be xenophobic or whatever it takes to get these blood suckers out of our country!

Dr. Haitian will have to revise his book to add Puerto Rico as being xenophobic against Haitians.

US Customs and Border Protection Patrol Agents apprehended Wednesday morning 32 undocumented Haitian migrants that landed Monday afternoon in Monito Island, Puerto Rico.

http://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/local-media…

Obviously very popular for EVERYBODY to be xenophobic against invading Haitian parasites!

Dr. Haitians' personal definition of xenophobia renders his book worthless. Other regional countries also have illegal migrant problems and are now being more proactive in protecting their countries.

Trinidad national security minister promises to put an end to illegal immigration which make up 10% of the countries population.

What percentage of Haitians to Bahamians are in the Bahamas and at what point does Dr. Haitian think WE should start being concerned?

http://www.canesearch.com/trinidad-and-…