Pierre
(1963–2011)
Sonia Pierre in Santo
Domingo, March 2007
(far left). U. S. Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton
and First Lady Michelle
Obama presenting
Pierre with the 2010
International Women
of Courage Award.
In Memory of Sonia
By Sergia Galván
RAMON ESPINOSA/AP; INSE T: GERALD HERBER T/AP
onia Pierre was born in the sugar
town of Batey Lecheria in the shadow
of the Catarey Sugar Mill, in Villa
Altagracia, Dominican Republic. Her
mother, Carmen Pierre, was a Haitian
immigrant who, like many of her
Haitian sisters, worked in the sugar fields.
Even when she was young, Sonia spoke out against
discrimination, social exclusion and the routine
violation of human rights that afflicted those of
Haitian descent living in the Dominican Republic.
In 1982, she joined the Dominican-Haitian Cultural
Center (CCDH), where she began to lobby for the
needs and rights of Haitian-Dominican women—
eventually founding the Movement of Dominican-
Haitian Women (MUDHA) which she led until her
death on December 4, 2011.
I met Sonia in 1982, a year before the creation of
MUDHA. She helped me understand the dynamics
of racism and xenophobia, and I like to believe that
I contributed to her quest for understanding the
subordination of women.
She was a pioneer in organizing women who lived
in the bateyes (the company towns for sugar workers)
and in fighting for the citizenship of people of
Haitian descent living in the Dominican Republic.
She left behind a community that now understands
the need for profound judicial reform to protect the
rights of Haitian-descendant Dominican people,
and the need to align immigration policies to
international human rights standards.
I admired Sonia for being a Dominican woman
who was proud of her heritage in a country that
too often discriminates against Haitians, and for
speaking up on their behalf.
She refused to let the pronunciation of the
word “perejil” (parsley) to be used as a tool of social
exclusion, the way former President Rafael Trujillo’s
soldiers would determine if someone was Haitian by
the way they pronounced it. She fiercely defended her
Dominicanness, in all its complexity.
Sergia Galván is executive director of Colectiva Mujer
y Salud in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
AMERICASQUARTERLY.ORG
Americas Quarterly
71
