My parents immigrated to the United States from Haiti in the 70s. They were part of the second wave of middle and lower-middle-class migrants fleeing deteriorating socioeconomic and political conditions. My parents’ story is like that of many other Haitian parents who decided that leaving their homeland was a necessary sacrifice to give their children a better life. I was 10 when my family settled in Miami, Florida, but I rarely interacted with other Haitians outside of my family and the local restaurant where we picked up our Soup Joumou on Sundays.

For context, Haitians account for less than 2%…