An instance of Dominican-Haitian solidarity as captured by ESENDOM revolves around the TC/0168 ruling, viewed by many as an anti-Haitian political tactic. On September 23, 2013, the Constitutional Tribunal of the Dominican Republic ruled that Juliana Pierre, born in the Dominican Republic to Haitian migrants in 1984, was not a citizen of the nation because her parents were not in the country legally. As a response, Queens-born New Yorker of Dominican descent, activist and educator Anthony Stevens-Acevedo, began to mobilize people in New York, coordinating a protest. Nearly two weeks after the ruling, on Saturday, November 16, 2013, approximately 50 people of Dominican ancestry and nearly a dozen non-Dominicans walked nine miles from 207th street and Seamen Avenue in Inwood to the destination of 1501 Broadway (between 43rd and 44th streets) in Manhattan, where the Dominican Consulate is housed. The protest—organized by Stevens-Acevedo in conjunction with We Are All Dominican (WAAD)—was in response to the TC/0168/13 sentence by the Constitutional Court of the Dominican Republic that denies and nullifies the Dominican nationality of persons born in the Dominican Republic to immigrant parents. The march cut across Washington Heights, Morningside Heights, the Upper West Side, Columbus Circle, and many more New York City neighborhoods, culminating in Time Square. Although the Office of the Consulate General of the Dominican Republic was not present, Stevens-Acevedo delivered a letter opposing the TC/0168 ruling.

A few weeks later, We Are All Dominican held a conversation at the Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York, addressing the recent ruling of the Dominican Constitutional Court that stripped Dominicans of Haitian descent of their citizenship. In solidarity with other organizations and worldwide actions, scholars, artists, students, activists and panelists discussed the ruling and its effects. Founded in October 2013, We Are All Dominican is a collective of students, educators, scholars, artists, activists, and community members of Dominican and Haitian descent residing in New York City.

Credit: John Carrero, Emmanuel Espinal, and Nelson Santana