When I came to Baltimore in 2008, I was an Evangelical Christian Republican who had campaigned for Bob Dole, Tom Davis, and George W. Bush. Even though I had a degree from the University of Virginia that focused on Global History, I was pretty clueless about the politics of urban America. In addition, I was shaped by the Prosperity Gospel, which suggested that people in urban areas were poor because they were sinful and that religious devotion was the answer to all their problems. Strange enough, because of my studies at UVA, I understood that globalized racism oppressed Black nations in the Caribbean and Africa, but I didn’t quite make that connection with urban Black America. But then the Baltimore Uprising happened in 2015 and everything I understood about the Prosperity Gospel began to shatter. I began to learn words like redlining, Black sovereignty, and mass incarceration. I dove deep into learning about the policies that impacted Baltimore, which even before the Civil War had the largest free Black population. The more I learned, the more I realized that the challenges faced in Baltimore were very much akin to Haiti and Palestine.
Oppression in Palestine, Haiti, and Baltimore: How They Connect
Oppression in Palestine, Haiti, and Baltimore shares a common logic of racialized control, dispossession, and denial of self‑determination, but each context has its own history, tactics, and possibilities for resistance.
Why link Palestine, Haiti, and Baltimore?
Across these three geographies, power works through borders, cages, and economic dependence to keep a racialized population “in its place.”
The details differ, but the pattern is familiar: control the land, control movement, control the economy, then blame the people for the conditions produced.
- In Palestine, a military occupation, an apartheid system of laws, and a total blockade of Gaza regulate land, movement, and daily life.
- In Haiti, foreign occupations, debt, and “aid” conditionality have repeatedly stripped Haitians of political and economic sovereignty even after a successful slave revolution.
- In Baltimore, slavery, segregation ordinances, redlining, and over‑policing form a local regime that has controlled where Black people live, work, and move.
In all three, the narrative is flipped: Palestinians are framed as a security threat, Haitians as “failed,” and Black Baltimoreans as inherently “high crime” or “blight,” rather than victims of engineered conditions.
Palestine: Walls, Checkpoints, and Control
Life in Palestine is shaped by things like walls, soldiers, and checkpoints.
Many human rights groups say this system is like apartheid, which is a word for laws that separate and control people.
Here are some things that happen in Palestine:
- In the West Bank and East Jerusalem, people can lose their land or have their homes torn down.
- There are many checkpoints and permits, so going to work, school, or the doctor can be very hard.
- In Gaza, people live under a strict blockade. This means it is hard to get food, medicine, building supplies, and jobs.
New tools like cameras, face scanners, and drones also watch people all the time.
Everyday life becomes stressful, because a soldier or rule can stop you from moving almost anywhere.
Haiti: Punished for a Slave Revolution
Haiti is the first Black country where enslaved people won their freedom through a revolution.
Because of this, powerful countries punished Haiti instead of celebrating its freedom.
After Haiti became free, France made Haiti pay a huge amount of money to “pay back” former slaveowners. Haiti had to borrow money from banks to pay this debt, so the country stayed poor for many years.
Later, the United States sent its army into Haiti and took control of money and land for a long time. Some leaders in Haiti were supported by other countries even when they hurt their own people.
Today, Haiti still struggles with poverty, weak government, and outside control.
But the people of Haiti have a long history of fighting back and standing up for their freedom.
Baltimore: A City Shaped by Racism
Baltimore is often talked about as a “dangerous” city, but that story leaves out a lot.
For a long time, Black people in Baltimore have been controlled by laws and systems, not just by “bad choices.”
Long ago, Baltimore was part of the slave trade. Enslaved Black people were kept in jails and marched to ships at the harbor to be sold in other places.
Even before the Civil War, Baltimore had the largest free Black population in the U.S. These free Black people showed strong Black sovereignty. They fought for their rights in many ways. They went to courts to protect their freedom and families. They used newspapers and speeches to say they were citizens because they were born in America. They built churches like Zion Church, which used American laws to run themselves and show respect and dignity. They also helped the fight against slavery.
After slavery ended, new rules took its place. Baltimore passed laws that said Black and white people could not live on the same blocks. Later, banks and the government drew maps that marked Black neighborhoods as “bad” for loans.
This meant Black families could not easily buy homes or build wealth.
Today, many Black neighborhoods in East and West Baltimore have:
- Old or broken housing
- Fewer jobs
- Poorly funded schools
- A lot of police, but not a lot of help
Police in Baltimore often act like they are “watching” certain neighborhoods instead of serving them. This makes many Black residents feel like they are living under constant suspicion.
How Nonprofits Control Baltimore Like Aid Controls Haiti
In Haiti, “aid” from outside groups often hurts more than it helps.
These groups take money from donors but don’t work with local people. They spend a lot on their own leaders and buildings. They make people wait in camps and stay dependent. They act like a shadow government, keeping real change from happening.
Baltimore has a similar problem with nonprofits.
These groups get millions from government and donors to “fix” poor Black neighborhoods. But many don’t do real work. About 8% of Baltimore nonprofits don’t even file their money reports right. They take grants but spend too much on bosses and offices, not on people. White leaders often run them and block Black groups from getting power. This keeps Black communities weak and needing help forever. It stops people from building their own solutions, just like aid in Haiti.
How They Are Alike and How They Are Different
These places are not the same, but they share patterns.
Ways they are alike:
- People’s movement is controlled.
- Palestine: checkpoints, walls, and a blockade.
- Haiti: foreign armies and control over the country’s money.
- Baltimore: heavy policing and old rules that keep people in certain areas.
- Money and land are used as tools of power.
- Palestine: land is taken and resources are limited.
- Haiti: debt and “aid” keep the country dependent.
- Baltimore: past and present racism keep Black people from building wealth.
- Stories are used to blame the victims.
- Palestine: people are called “terrorists” or “security threats.”
- Haiti: the country is called “poor” or “failed” with no mention of outside harm.
- Baltimore: Black people are called “criminals” or “lazy” instead of talking about unfair systems.
Ways they are different:
- Palestine deals with soldiers, walls, and direct military control.
- Haiti is a whole country that won freedom but has been punished and controlled from the outside.
- Baltimore is a city inside the United States where Black communities are treated like an “internal colony.”
The Power of Resistance and Solidarity
Even with all this pain, people in each place keep fighting for change.
- In Palestine, people organize protests, community groups, and global campaigns for justice.
- In Haiti, people remember the revolution and continue to speak out, protest, and demand real freedom.
- In Baltimore, people join together in movements against police violence, for better schools, fair housing, and community care.
When people in Baltimore support Palestine, or Haitians talk about Black freedom around the world, they are not just being “nice.”
They see that the same kinds of systems hurt them, even if they look a little different.
Understanding these links can help us build stronger movements.
It reminds us that fighting for justice in one place can give people hope—and ideas—in another