Trev's Final Speech

AP English Final Speech

Trevor Kennedy

Human trafficking and modern slavery are issues currently plaguing our world as we know. However, we as Americans have the rare luxury of not being exposed to the majority of such cruelty. Yet, these injustices are hitting home much more than we realize. Our diplomatic relations with the Dominican Republic have proven feeble as the country still turns its back on the blatant trafficking of Haitians into their borders destined for a life of pain and suffering as they grow lucrative cash crops like sugar cane. We must set aside our profitable economic ties and stand up for the American values of humanity that have guided our nation through times of both poverty and despair.

The Dominican Republic has been widely known for its sugar cane. This highly valuable crop has kept the nation somewhat removed from the widespread poverty felt in regions like Central America and the Caribbean. As a result, they’ve become the more dominant of two countries on the island of Hispaniola since they declared independence from Haiti in 1844. They are currently able to impose their financial will on the helpless Haitians, many of whom have no choice but to unknowingly commit themselves to a life of slavery because they cannot find any work back home to feed themselves and their families.

It’s a terrible life that Americans, not the wealthy Dominicans like many of us would predict, are unconsciously providing to these people every day. An overwhelming majority of Dominican sugar cane is exported to the United States for refinement into the sugars and sweeteners we use as part of our daily routine. And yet still, even with all of our consumption, no substantial system is in place to ensure that this product is being grown and harvested fairly. So in essence, these Haitian immigrants produce a major economic asset only to be treated on the level of animals, living in places none of us can truly imagine.

 It would be a dramatically different situation if this problem existed in a country with minimal influence by the United States. However, given the Dominican Republic’s dependence on us as their main sugar cane consumer, it is completely unjust that nothing has been done to regulate where our imports come from, especially when the country in question is located within one of the poorer parts of the world, where corruption and violence are unfortunately embedded into the nation’s culture.

We as a nation can no longer hide behind the problem by compiling flimsy paper reports and doing nothing substantial with them. There is a clear reason why in the Department of State’s 2012 Trafficking In Persons report that the Dominican Republic were a Tier 2 nation and not a Tier 1. A Tier 1 nation must comply with all minimum human trafficking regulations. Clearly, when the Dominican Republic chooses to ignore slavery going on within its borders, they cannot be that Tier 1 nation fighting to end human trafficking like many other diligent. The Documentary “The Price of Sugar” fully exposes the delinquency of the Dominican government in dealing with the dictatorial nature of the sugar cane plantation owners. This lack of responsibility by the government must be curbed by whatever means necessary in order to establish the highest standards of moral equality throughout the world. Doing so would also establish a sense of economic fairness in which all nations were on the same playing field in terms of producing goods and trading with other nations.  

The main question I ask of you all today is one that will define our course with nations who infringe on our value of liberty and our pursuit of equal freedom for all. Are we going to continue to invest in a system that goes against any sense of humanity in favor of leading people down a path of isolation and heartache? Why do we keep investing in sugar that was made from the blood of Haitians drawn by the lashes of their hostile neighbors? If we are a nation trying to truly better the world around us, then clearly we are falling short of that goal at this point.

Ladies and Gentlemen, it is time for us to send a message to Dominicans as well as human rights abusers and traffickers everywhere. We must tighten our grip on the Dominican economy in order to ensure that there isn’t a bigger moral price being paid than the price on the countless bundles of sugar cane. Stricter regulations must be implemented to ensure the safety and fair treatment of workers everywhere. Failure to do so is a greater corruption of our American values as we continue to invest in the suffering of innocent Haitians simply trying to follow in the same American dream our founding fathers worked towards centuries ago and the same one we work towards today.