By Yanick Louis-Lindquist
An opinion piece published last month on Miami’s gentrification resonated with me on many levels. Born and raised in Haiti, I experienced the impact of climate change firsthand from an early age.
As a little girl, I would sit on my family’s porch, watching the streets flood with heavy rain. It was terrifying — there were no weather forecasts, and sometimes people were swept away by the strong currents into storm drains.
Haiti’s challenges are complex: its geographical location on a fault line between tectonic plates, its exposure to hurricanes and tropical storms, and a lack of infrastructure, all compounded by political upheaval.
The hardships of my immigrant experience followed me when my family moved to Boston. We settled into a dilapidated building where lead paint flakes fell from the ceiling onto our kitchen counters and bedroom floors. The constant noise from the cargo train behind our building disrupted our sleep.
My family, like others in our neighborhood, felt helpless. We now understand that many of our health issues stemmed from circumstances beyond our control — victims of climate injustice as we simply sought a better life for ourselves and our families.
That was nearly 50 years ago. The difference between then and now is that the impact of global warming knows no boundaries. It is felt everywhere — from the wealthiest neighborhoods of Miami Beach, a catalyst for the gentrification of Little Haiti, to the melting glaciers in Antarctica that are threatening sea life, to the displacement of Icelanders from volcanic eruptions and floods, and the famines in Africa caused by severe drought.
The universe has made it clear that we are all interconnected. Environmental justice must be at the forefront of addressing this climate crisis, and we must act together, as one, to create the urgent change that is vital for our livelihoods and the future of generations to come.
Yanick Louis-Lindquist is a retired teacher who lives in Cutler Bay. Banner photo: Haitian citizens walk through the flooded streets of Port-au-Prince in 2020 after Hurricane Tomas hit the country. (DVIDSHUB, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons).
If you are interested in submitting an opinion piece to The Invading Sea, email Editor Nathan Crabbe at ncrabbe@fau.edu. Sign up for The Invading Sea newsletter by visiting here.
