I appreciate the concerns and questions you raise in trying to understand what these missionaries were thinking when they took these 33 children and tried to cross the Haitian/Dominican border. I too really have been trying to wrap my head around what would drive a person or group of people to think that such an action was in any way acceptable. In addition to this, what is really drawing me to this story is the ways that, in light of studying the history of the Christian church in the Americas, it is simply the latest example of a dynamic between Europe, then the United States, and Latin America, that can be traced all the way back to 1492.

I cannot help but see these ten people as the newest generation of American missionaries that have historically rendered invisible entire communities and cultures throughout the Americas in the name of Christianization and Americanization (the U.S. brand). How conscious these particular missionaries are of the legacy that goes before them is unclear. A look back, however, shows that they are not straying far from their foremothers and fathers.

Historically, the missionary project in the Americas has functioned largely in this way – from the earliest days of frontier and borderlands missions in what is now Texas and the southwest to denominational participation in colonizing territories, as in the case with Puerto Rico. In the spirit of manifest destiny, missionaries have ventured out “into the wilderness” of our historical imaginations to play their part in the settling of lands. What is left out of this historical imagination is the communities of people, people who had been living throughout the americas for thousands of years before Europeans arrived. And yet, they were rendered invisible in this missionary imagination.

This dynamic has existed throughout the americas, including Haiti. Another example is in southern Texas, along the border, where a group of students traveled with Dr. Machado in January to study the borderlands region. One of the most striking parts of this history of the borderlands is the way in which European and Euro-american settlers and missionaries disregarded the Mexican and tejano peoples titles to their land despite it being in their families for generations. As evidenced in our visit to the Institute of Texan Culture, these people are absent in the history we tell of Texas. We also met with Catholic priest and theologian Virgilio Elizondo, who shared his struggle as part of the Mexican American community against invisibility and shame in the church. Dr. Machado’s work exposes the protestant denominations neglect of the Mexican American community and culture as well.

So, in a sense, the fact that these people didn’t take into account the families of these children, nor Haitian laws, is nothing new. It is the result of a dangerous mix of good intentions, missionary zeal and American exceptionalism. In my opinion, this makes it all the more reprehensible and dangerous. Given the post-earthquake influx of missionaries of different denominations into Haiti, we must be mindful of how this dynamic could manifest itself, in actions as extreme as the smuggling of children over borders, or in more subtile ways that could result as undermining community organization or culture. If our good intentions render invisible the community in which we are serving, it is all for naught.

To see more on the Borderlands immersion class, visit our class blog.

As some have suggested, “the road to hell has been paved with good intentions.” I believe that the idea that these individuals were only intending to help these children should be taken right off the table if we truly critically analyze the crime these individuals committed. The apparent leader of this group is either delusional or hyper-arrogant in that she asked that the judge absolve them of their wrongdoing and allow them to continue to “help the children” of Haiti.

I use the term “crime” because, although I am not an attorney, I have never heard of good intentions absolving anyone of a crime committed. This idea of good intentions might help a judge’s discretion in determining the sentence one receives, but it does not provide a legal exemption from a crime committed. Can holding up a bank for the purposes of feeding these same children in Haiti, although perhaps well intended, be acceptable?

Certainly the value of these Haitian children far surpasses that of monies taken from a bank vault. This leads me to wonder: Assuming these individuals had the best of intentions for these children, why did they not seek to provide for them monetarily, educationally and spiritually in their own country?  Could the arrogance of being U.S. citizens have misguided their actions?  Did these “missionaries” display any respect for the Haitian government and its people despite the crisis in which the country finds itself? Could the conditions of poverty under which these children and their families live have influenced how these “missionaries” view their humanity?  For what reasons other than the devaluation of the life, culture and perhaps even religion of the people of Haiti would this group of “missionaries” take children from their homeland and from their families without going through the proper channels?

Their actions could only have occurred if these individuals believed that the excruciating pain that would be felt by their fellow Idahoan brother or sister  at the sudden disappearance of their child would not be similarly felt by a Haitian Mother or Father. Similarly, the longing felt by an Idahoan child for their parents would not be similarly felt by a Haitian child.

Again, I must admit that as a “dad” I cannot be totally open minded about this matter. I would, in my emotionally based analysis, call for the full extent of the law to be handed down to these “missionaries.”  I pray that the dehumanization of the other may no longer be couched in the name of faith or religion, but that we may begin to understand that the rights, dignity, and well-being of children, women and men should supersede any divine laws whether prescribed by the traditions of Christianity or, for that matter, Haitian Vodou.

This op-ed was printed in El Diario La Prensa