On September 28, 2026, members of the University of Michigan’s African Studies Center (ASC) community met with Guerline M. Jozef, co-founder and executive director of the Haitian Bridge Alliance and the 2026 Wallenberg Medal recipient. Held at 4 p.m. in Room 523 of Weiser Hall, the conversation brought together scholars from the University of Michigan African Presidential Scholars (UMAPS) Program, MIDAS African Faculty Fellows, and ASC staff.

The meeting took place the day before the 2026 Wallenberg Medal and Lecture. Jozef shared experiences from her advocacy for migrants and invited participants to consider how race, power, and national identity shape access to safety and belonging.

Jozef traced her engagement with migration advocacy to 2014. She listed factors such as natural disasters (an earthquake that devastated the country), political instability, and the search for work contributed to Haitian migration, including to places such as Brazil where they sought employment during Brazil’s preparation to host the Olympics and the World Cup. She recalled meeting Haitians at the U.S. - Mexico border who had traveled from Brazil to Tijuana, walking through various border crossings over the course of seven months, illustrating the distances and hardships people endure in seeking security.

Anti-Black racism was central to Jozef’s analysis. She argued that human rights advocacy must address the racial hierarchies that influence how migrants are perceived and treated in the United States and around the world. Drawing comparisons across the United States, South Africa, and Brazil, she reflected on how social and political histories shape understandings of Black identity. She also discussed how the visibility of Black leaders and professionals can influence assumptions about Blackness and authority.

Jozef contrasted the treatment of Haitian asylum seekers with the reception of Ukrainians displaced by war during the Biden administration. In her view, these differences demonstrated the need to examine racial bias within humanitarian responses and immigration systems.

She also questioned the prioritization of white Afrikaners from South Africa in U.S. refugee admissions, contrasting that policy with barriers faced by Black and Brown people seeking protection. Jozef connected these concerns to wider debates about demographic change and political power, including her concerns about Project 2025. She argued that fears about losing social or political influence can shape responses to migration and definitions of who belongs.

Reflecting on belonging, Jozef said,

She encouraged participants to consider the connections among migration, identity, and the search for opportunity, while questioning divisions between Black Americans and Black immigrants.

Jozef highlighted Haiti’s place in histories of freedom and resistance across the Americas. She presented that history as a reminder of the relationships among struggles for liberation and urged participants to approach connections across the African diaspora through solidarity and a shared commitment to human dignity.

Throughout the conversation, Jozef emphasized her belief that no race or person is inherently superior or inferior. She described racial hierarchies as constructions tied to histories of slavery and domination. In her view, the task is to hold people and institutions accountable when human rights are violated and to put existing principles into practice.

Jozef closed with reflections on the relationship between personal care and public responsibility. She encouraged participants to begin with self-respect, to teach children to value themselves and others, and to carry that care into their communities. Addressing the UMAPS and MIDAS scholars and ASC staff in attendance, she urged them to leave the world better than they found it.