Each fall TCU students identify a common reading for the entire university community. The idea is that everyone will read it and discussions will take place in classes and other groups. This year’s choice is about a Haitian family.
Brother I’m Dying, by Edwidge Danticate, is a story of two brothers and a daughter’s love of them both. It is also a story about the split between family members still struggling in Haiti, and those that have come to the U.S. for greater opportunity.
Underlying this emotion filled family story is also an account of a confused up and down relationship between the two countries.
Haiti’s story is one of a steady succession of unsuccessful leaders. Many were ruthless. And mixed in with this sometimes violent turmoil has been weather events that literally devastated cities, raped the countryside, and wrecked the economy.
For a time after 1915 the U.S. became occupiers. At other times U.S. administrations varied in levels of interest and types of response. As a consequence, many Haitians developed negative attitudes about America. But others still dreamed of immigrating to the US for a better life. Many of these eventually became citizens, but now live with confused personal identities and families emotionally divided between the U.S. and their homeland.
This book leaves the reader thinking: Is it not time that we in the U.S. finally send out a clear message about what Haiti ultimately means to us? Do we share a common ideology? Is there a national security concern? Is it an important trading partner? Or do we just continue to help clean it up when it comes apart?
We are a nation of immigrants, and are proud of that fact. Yet we have prison-like holding centers for thousands of good family people waiting for visa and entry decisions. Indeed, the situation is complex. But can’t we somehow find a simple policy message that gives guidance to practical solutions?
Read Brother I’m Dying and you will come to a deeper understanding of the human consequences of a confused foreign policy, and the devastating impact it can have on traditional American family values.
Larry D. Lauer 
Two problems in my mind. The world seems to be consumed by the Middle East and what we should do with regards to Syria, and our Secretary of State seems dedicated to crafting an agreement that would establish the two-state solution with regards to Palestine and Israel. Unfortunately, there is not a lot of energy for the rest of the world. Secondly, our foreign policy in the Caribbean is continually mucked up by our silly relations with Cuba and the influence of the Cuban lobby in Florida. Interestingly, the emigrants from these countries in the Caribbean do well here. By the second generation, their standard of living is equal to that of whites. Bronson