Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 23 septembre 2020

 Republicans block attempt to pass TPS for Venezuelans weeks before Election Day

Marleine Bastien, a Haitian activist, said advocates like her will continue to fight on behalf of the estimated 400,000 TPS holders

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SEPTEMBER 16, 2020  

• WASHINGTON
• Republicans blocked a proposal Wednesday by Democrats in the U.S. Senate to fast-track a bill that would grant Venezuelans in the United States Temporary Protected Status, the latest attempt to appeal to Venezuelans in Florida seven weeks before Election Day.
• Two Democratic senators, Bob Menendez of New Jersey and Dick Durbin of Illinois, attemptedto pass a bill that would have granted TPS to Venezuelans — allowing them to live and work legally in the U.S. for a limited time without threat of deportation — through a process in the Senate called unanimous consent. The move, which is essentially a voice vote, bypasses usual Senate procedure and provides a speedy way to pass legislation, but it fails if one senator opposes it.
• South Dakota Republican Sen. John Thune blocked the bill’s passage on behalf of Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee.

“This is a serious mistake and deadly mistake for these Venezuelans,” Durbin said in response to Thune’s objection. 

After the bill was blocked, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden criticized Republicans. Biden said Venezuela’s humanitarian crisis under Nicolás Maduro’s leadership caused millions to leave the country and justifies the need for TPS.

“Republicans continue to prove all their tough talk on Maduro is nothing but empty words,” Biden said in a statement. “Time and again, when it comes to taking real action, President Trump and his Republican allies have failed to support the Venezuelan people. As president, I will immediately grant TPS to Venezuelans already in the United States.” 

The TPS bill was authored by Florida members of Congress from both sides of the aisle: Republican Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, from Miami, and Democratic Rep. Darren Soto, from Kissimmee. 

Menendez said the effort, though largely symbolic, helps to spotlight an issue that President Donald Trump could fix. “The fact of the matter is we have 200,000 Venezuelans who are currently in the U.S. and essentially at risk of deportation,” he said. “The president has all the authority he needs in the world to provide TPS and he hasn’t, so we’re trying to act.” 

Menendez said a federal court decision on Monday that overturned a lower court’s temporary injunction to prevent Trump from terminating TPS for countries like Haiti blunts arguments from Republicans like Florida Sen. Rick Scott that TPS isn’t temporary and can extend for decades. Honduran and Nicaraguan nationals were granted TPS in 1999 after the two countries were devastated by Hurricane Mitch. Haiti was granted TPS in 2011 after the 2010 earthquake. 

Scott attempted to pass a conservative overhaul of the Temporary Protected Status system in September 2019 in exchange for extending TPS to Venezuelans, but Democrats blocked the effort.

“We presented an alternative that Democrats have blocked,” Scott spokesperson Chris Hartline said. “The politics internally in the Senate is still complicated. It doesn’t seem like there’s going to be much of a resolution.” 

In a statement, Durbin said Democrats were forced to bring up the bill again on the floor because Republicans have no interest in using normal procedure to debate and vote on TPS.

“Despite the chest thumping to audiences in Florida about taking on the Venezuelan dictatorship, President Trump has, in fact, turned his back on Venezuelans in the U.S. in need of protection,” said Durbin, who also spoke with Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó ahead of Wednesday’s action. “Since the White House wouldn’t act, more than one year ago the House passed a bipartisan bill granting TPS to Venezuelans. But the Majority Leader [Mitch McConnellhttps://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/venezuelan-immigrants-united-states-2018">Migration Policy Institute, though many have become naturalized citizens. TPS is for non-citizens. 

“There is no question about it, TPS is on the ballot on Nov. 3,” Miami Democratic Rep. Donna Shalala said during a virtual press conference with the Family Action Network Movement on Tuesday. “We’ve got to tell our friends and neighbors that decency and opportunity is on the ballot on Nov. 3. This decision is outrageous.”

The Biden campaign on Tuesday called the court decision “senseless.” 

“This is senseless and a stark reminder that Donald Trump is willfully tearing families apart and sending TPS holders back to devastating conditions for the sole purpose of pursuing his racist, anti-immigrant agenda,” Biden’s national Latino media director Jennifer Molina said in a statement. “TPS recipients and their families, whether from Nicaragua, Haiti, or any country affected by this inhumane decision, should be assured that Joe Biden will continue to fight for a fair, humane, and orderly immigration system that is defined by compassion, not cruelty.”

Marleine Bastien, a Haitian activist whose Family Action Network Movement is a plaintiff in a TPS lawsuit filed in New York, echoed Shalala’s sentiments. She said advocates like her will continue to fight on behalf of the estimated 400,000 TPS holders affected by Monday’s court decision and will continue to urge Florida Sens. Marco Rubio and Scott “to put their action where their mouths are and support TPS recipients.” 

Rubio and Scott support TPS for Venezuelans, but other Republicans in the Senate and the Trump administration have refused to take action on the issue.

“We ask Sen. Rubio and Sen. Scott to raise their voices on behalf of the people who have TPS, raise their voices on behalf of the families of those with TPS so that we can find a permanent solution for these people and their children,” Bastien said in Creole during the call.

Under the decision, the earliest any of the TPS holders from Nicaragua, Sudan or Haiti would be affected would be March. Nationals of El Salvador wouldn’t find themselves in deportation proceedings until November.

The case is one of several TPS-related lawsuits against the Trump administration in the U.S. federal courts. Haitians currently are protected by another temporary injunction, this one issued last year by U.S. District Judge William F. Kuntz of the Eastern District of New York. In a 145-page federal ruling that the administration has since appealed, Kuntz issued a nationwide temporary injunction preventing DHS from terminating TPS for Haitians. 

Kuntz said 50,000 to 60,000 Haitians and their U.S.-born children would suffer “irreparable harm” if the legal protection ended and they were forced to return to a country that is not safe.

“This administration could grant TPS on its own, but it refuses,” Durbin said. “Senate Republicans could pass the bipartisan House bill to grant Venezuelans TPS, but they also refuse. So let everyone be clear where the real failure to help Venezuelans in the U.S. rests.”

US IMMIGRATION

TPS Holders, Advocates, Communities Condemn Court Decision on Injunction in TPS Case Ramos v. Nielsen

WHO: Family Action Network Movement, Florida Immigrant Coalition, American Friends Service Committee

MIAMI – In the wake of the decision on the current injunction in the case Ramos v. Nielsen, Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders, their families and communities will be holding a virtual press conference to condemn the negative decision. In Miami alone, it is estimated that 23,000 TPS recipients will be affected by this decision, many of which have been in the United States for more than 20 years. 

Thousands across the nation are rallying against the decision on the injunction preventing hundreds of thousands of deportations and to draw attention to the fact TPS holders and their families deserve and urgently need a path to permanent residency and citizenship here in the U.S. 

Marleine Bastien, Executive Director of Family Action Network Movement (FANM), stated, “ This is terrible news! The court’s decision today leaves nearly 300,000 TPS holders vulnerable to one of the biggest mass deportations in our country’s history. These hardworking taxpayers, many of whom have resided in the United States for over twenty years, could be forced to return during a global pandemic to vulnerable nations still struggling from political turmoil, violence, and unrest. In addition, their over 275,000 U.S. citizen children would have to make the heart wrenching decision whether to leave their home or be separated from their families. How can we be a nation of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness if we continue to allow for family separation?! How can we profess to be a nation of immigrants if we continually disdain and disregard those who are black and brown? We demand U.S Senators to rebuke this disgusting decision and to immediately pass “The Dream and Promise Act” passed by the House of Representatives in 2019 protecting TPS recipients. Since 1990, TPS holders have only been protected temporarily. They are completely unprotected now. Congress must protect them! We must all protect them! It is our moral duty as Americans and as people.”

Maria Rodriguez, Executive Director of the Florida Immigrant Coalition stated, “In a brave attempt to keep their families together, the children of TPS holders spearheaded a case (Ramos v. Nielsen). Over the past twenty years, TPS holders have laid down roots in the United States. They’ve created families, businesses, and in the middle of a pandemic, nearly 130,000 of essential TPS working in the frontlines across the country have kept us safe. This negative decision is cruel, exposing families and making them vulnerable to family separations. Now, more than ever, we need to stand with our immigrant communities. We will continue working to transform existing legislation and public policies in order to ensure that they are inclusive, equitable, and just to the hundreds of thousands of TPS holders and DACA recipients, and the millions of immigrants who reside in the U.S. We need to act now, protect TPS holders, and ask for a permanent solution.”

BACKGROUND:

There are over 400,000 people living in the United States with TPS and over 200,000 U.S. citizen children of TPS holders. In the wake of disasters in foreign countries, the U.S. government granted humanitarian relief (in the form of TPS) to people from affected countries already living in the United States. For the countries at issue in the lawsuit, the U.S. government extended TPS repeatedly—for at least 8 years, and in the case of most countries for more than 15 years—based on repeated findings that it remains unsafe to return. In the past year, the Trump administration announced the termination of TPS for over 98% of TPS holders, from six countries. The lawsuit Ramos v. Nielsen concerns the first four of the terminations—of Sudan, Nicaragua, Haiti, and El Salvador. This is the first time any TPS termination has been enjoined by a federal court.

More information on the lawsuit, links to the court filings and decisions, and profiles of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit availablehere.

Obama calls on Senate not to fill Ginsburg's vacancy until after election

The Hill

Former President Obama called on the Senate not to fill the Supreme Court vacancy created by the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Friday, urging Republicans to live up to the standard they set in 2016 when they refused to give a hearing to his final nominee, Merrick Garland.

Obama, in a statement responding to Ginsburg's death, praised the late judge as a "warrior for gender equality" who showed "unwavering faith in our democracy and its ideals."

The former president also nodded to Ginsburg's reported statement to her granddaughter before her death that her "most fervent wish" was that her replacement be named by the next president. Ginsburg died earlier Friday. She was 87. "Four and a half years ago, when Republicans refused to hold a hearing or an up-or-down vote on Merrick Garland, they invented the principle that the Senate shouldn’t fill an open seat on the Supreme Court before a new president was sworn in," Obama said.

"A basic principle of the law — and of everyday fairness — is that we apply rules with consistency, and not based on what’s convenient or advantageous in the moment," he continued. "The rule of law, the legitimacy of our courts, the fundamental workings of our democracy all depend on that basic principle.

"As votes are already being cast in this election, Republican Senators are now called to apply that standard," Obama said.

The court's decisions in the coming years "are too consequential to future generations for courts to be filled through anything less than an unimpeachable process," the former president said.

BREAKING NEWS…Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski announces she will not vote to replace RBG on the Supreme Court until after a new president is inaugurated.

That would be a double standard. And I will not support it, she says.

Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 15 septembre 2020

 TENNIS

Naomi Osaka surges from slow start to win 2nd US Open title

Naomi Osaka has another US Open title to add to her trophy case.

The 22-year-old launched a stunning comeback to top Victoria Azarenka with a score of 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the US Open final, her second win in Flushing Meadows and third Grand Slam win.

Osaka won 12 of last 16 games

Azarenka dominated early, cruising to a 6-1 win in the first set and breaking Osaka early in the second set. Down 30-40 and facing a 3-0 hole, Osaka broke Azarenka back and surged ahead to even the match with a 6-3 second set win.

Osaka scored a key break early in the third set to move ahead 2-1, but Azarenka was poised to break her right back when she won the next game’s first three points. Osaka saved three break points, then finished Azarenka off to stay on top.

Azarenka succeeded in breaking Osaka two games later, but Osaka responded with a break of her own, then served for the championship.

Osaka used US Open platform to highlight police brutality

Over the course of her US Open run, Osaka strategically used her masks to highlight victims of police brutality. She started with Breonna Taylor and was soon making headlines.

On Saturday, it was Tamir Rice’s name on the mask.

Parents of both Trayvon Martin and Ahmaud Arbery thanked Osaka in a video for sending the message.

“I feel like I'm a vessel, at this point, in order to spread awareness. It’s not going to dull the pain, but hopefully I can help with anything that the need.” Osaka said after seeing the video.

Depleted women’s field at surreal US Open

Even beyond the fight for racial injustice, Osaka’s win comes in a US Open like no other, played in an empty Billie Jean King Tennis Center amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The women’s singles field was particularly depleted as the tournament began, with six members of the WTA top 10 — including world No. 1 Ashleigh Barty and defending US Open champion Bianca Andreescu — withdrawing before the tournament due to concerns about travel and the pandemic.

The chaos of the draw only continued when No. 1 seed Karolina Pliskova fell in the second round. No. 2 seed Sofia Kenin, who won the Australian Open this year, went down a round later, leaving Osaka and Serena Williams as the only players left in the top 10 entering the quarterfinals.

Ongoing Protest by High School Students in the Streets Port-au-Prince

Students from several public institutions in Port-au-Prince and its surroundings travelled through the streets of the Capital on September 9, 2020. The aim of their protest was to demand the resumption of classes in public schools operating in Port-au-Prince.

Some even forced their way into schools that were in session to persuade those students take to the streets and join them.

Agents of the National Police of Haiti (PNH) chased the public school students with tear gas, because they were throwing stones at several private school buildings in downtown Port-au-Prince. On September 8, 2020, the public school students announced their intention to force students from several private schools in the Capital to leave their classrooms and take to the streets to join them.

The Ministry of National Education and Vocational Training (MENFP) denounced a sector that «is manipulating» students for unspoken purposes.

Port-au-Prince is not the only city where student demonstrations have taken place recently. Students from the Jean Hubert Feuillé High School in Port Salut, Southern Department, recently set up school furniture and materials on the National Road number 7 (RN7) connecting the Southern Department to that of Grand'Anse.

The protest by the students was to solicit the presence of teachers in the classrooms. They also sought to show their solidarity with students from Pinchinat high school in Jacmel (South East). The latter were victims of police brutality on August 25, 2020, following a demonstration in Jacmel.

According to the new school calendar of the Ministry of National Education and Vocational Training (MENFP), the official exams should take place during the month of October 2020.

However, after the reopening of classes in early August 2020, teachers and teachers-in-training in Port-au-Prince and several provincial cities continue to express their dissatisfaction. They are requesting for back pay, as well as better working conditions.

Haiti-Protests: teachers will march on September 14 against insecurity and the cost of life

The leadership of Teachers' Organizations announced last week that they will begin mobilizing on September 14 to denounce the resurgence of insecurity. They are calling for better living conditions for families, parents, and teachers whose poor social situation has worsened since the appearance of the coronavirus in Haiti.

US Weapons Sale, $12 Million for Haiti Police Raises “Troubling Questions”

9-11 minutes

By Jake Johnston and Kira Paulemon on August 31, 2020

In November 2019, as part of its support for the Haitian National Police (HNP), the State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and LawEnforcement Affairs (INL) awarded a $73,000 contract for the provision of “riot gear kit[shttps://haitiantimes.com/2020/09/02/us-weapons-sale-12-million-for-haiti-police-raises-troubling-questions/">Center for Economic and Policy Research

Debate schedule for the 2020 presidential election released

By Lia Eustachewich

The schedule is set for the 2020 presidential and vice presidential debates — with the candidates squaring off later this September into October.

President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden will meet on the stage for the first of three debates on Sept. 29 in Cleveland, Ohio, while their running mates, Vice President Mike Pence and California Sen. Kamala Harris, will face off on Oct. 7 in Salt Lake City, Utah, the Commission on Presidential Debates announced Wednesday.

All four debates will run for 90 minutes, from 9 p.m. ET until 10:30 p.m. ET.

Ticketing will be extremely limited for all four events.

Here’s a more detailed look at the debates ahead:

Sept. 29

First presidential debate will be held at Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio. Fox News anchor Chris Wallace will moderate.

Oct. 7

The vice presidential debate will be held at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah. USA Today’s Washington bureau chief Susan Page will moderate.

Oct. 15

Second presidential debate will be held at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami, Florida. Steve Scully, senior executive producer and political editor of C-SPAN Networks, will moderate.

Oct. 22

The third presidential debate will be held at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. Kristen Welker, co-anchor of “Weekend Today” and NBC News’ White House correspondent, will moderate.

Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 9 septembre 2020

 Debate schedule for the 2020 presidential election released

By Lia Eustachewich

The schedule is set for the 2020 presidential and vice presidential debates — with the candidates squaring off later this September into October.

President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden will meet on the stage for the first of three debates on Sept. 29 in Cleveland, Ohio, while their running mates, Vice President Mike Pence and California Sen. Kamala Harris, will face off on Oct. 7 in Salt Lake City, Utah, the Commission on Presidential Debates announced Wednesday.

Enlarge ImageError! Filename not specified.Donald Trump and Joe BidenAP; Reuters

All four debates will run for 90 minutes, from 9 p.m. ET until 10:30 p.m. ET.

Ticketing will be extremely limited for all four events.

Here’s a more detailed look at the debates ahead:

Sept. 29

First presidential debate will be held at Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio. Fox News anchor Chris Wallace will moderate.

Oct. 7

The vice presidential debate will be held at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah. USA Today’s Washington bureau chief Susan Page will moderate.

Oct. 15

Second presidential debate will be held at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami, Florida. Steve Scully, senior executive producer and political editor of C-SPAN Networks, will moderate.

Oct. 22

The third presidential debate will be held at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. Kristen Welker, co-anchor of “Weekend Today” and NBC News’ White House correspondent, will moderate.

Ghana Minister Invites African-Americans to Re-settle in Africa If They Feel Unwanted in the U.S.

BY BRENDAN COLE ON 6/10/20 AT 9:26 AM EDT

The debate about race following the killing of George Floyd has reverberated across the Atlantic Ocean, spurring the tourism minister of Ghana to appeal to its diaspora, including in the U.S., to "leave where you are not wanted," and return home.

A ceremony marking the death of Floyd was held at the W. E. B. Du Bois Memorial Centre for Pan-African Culture in the capital Accra during which Barbara Oteng Gyasi made the plea that her country is open to those fleeing racial tensions.

"We gather in solidarity with brothers and sisters to change the status quo. Racism must end. We pray and hope that George Floyd's death will not be in vain but will bring an end to prejudice and racial discrimination across the world," Oteng Gyasi said, according to Ghana Web.

"We continue to open our arms and invite all our brothers and sisters home. Ghana is your home. Africa is your home. We have our arms wide open ready to welcome you home.

News week

COVID: School has reopened in Haiti. But students, teachers are protesting on the streets

BY JACQUELINE CHARLES

Two weeks after schools were ordered reopened in Haiti, classrooms around the country remain empty because teachers are refusing to come to work over back pay and poor working conditions amid the global COVID-19 pandemic.

It is unclear how many schools are in essence closed, but since schools officially resumed on Aug. 10 — with national exams first and classes starting a week later — sporadic protests by teachers and students alike have erupted in several cities including Gonaives, St. Marc and most recently Jacmel.

While teachers have taken to the streets with their demands, students have done the same to demand that teachers return to the classroom. Some public-school students have gone as far as attacking fellow students at private institutions that are in session, to let out their frustrations.

On Tuesday, a clash in the southeastern town of Jacmel between police and a student protester, Joanès Dory, left human rights observers and a former minister of education horrified.

Two members of the Haiti National Police’s specialized Departmental Unit of Maintenance of Order, or UDMO, were videotaped punching Dory while dragging him down Avenue Baranquilla in the Saint-Cyr zone of Jacmel. Dory, who attends Lycée Pinchinat in Jacmel, was subsequently arrested and taken to the nearby police station.

“What happened this morning is totally unacceptable,” said Nesmy Manigat, who served as minister of education and professional training from April 2014 to April 2016. “In no country does this make any sense where you have police reacting like this when students are in the streets.”

A spokesman for the Haiti National Police did not return a call. Neither Haiti’s Minister of Education, Pierre Josué Agénor Cadet, nor a spokesman for the ministry responded to a text and email from the Miami Herald seeking comment.

The situation, says Manigat, is beyond the issue of teacher pay or closed classrooms. COVID-19, which temporarily shuttered schools, has only added to the inequality gap.

Even before the coronavirus pandemic forced the temporary closure of schools, education was already facing challenges. Parents spend about 80 percent of their income for schooling that is often lackluster, and mostly privatized with little government oversight. With education receiving about 11 percent of the national budget, the ministry struggles to not just give children a basic education but pay teachers on time and provide a bare minimum in terms of classrooms.

During the pandemic’s shutdown, children, who had already missed months of schooling last year due to violent anti-government protests, continued to fall behind because many lacked the technology or electricity or both for virtual learning. Students at wealthier schools were able to complete their studies and will return to classes on Sept. 7.

The reopening of most public and some private schools in early August was received with mixed reactions. Union leaders harshly criticized the decision, saying the government has not put in place the proper sanitary measures to help schools minimize transmission of the coronavirus, which continues to spread in the country.

“Some schools do not even have water,” said Magalie Georges, a career teacher and secretary general of the National Confederation of Educators of Haiti (CNEH). “They closed the schools in March when there were only two cases of COVID-19. Now they are opening it when there are thousands of cases. The health and security of the professors and students are in danger.”

Some Haitians abroad have tried to help. Fleur De Vie, a nonprofit education charity based in New York, recently contributed 5,000 masks for schoolchildren in 14 communities around the country. But the needs are much greater.

Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 2 septembre 2020

 The Troubling Similarities Between Presidents Trump and Moise

Valerie Jean Charles

This post is also available in: Kreyol

Here, we find two administrations who behave strikingly similar: they perform the ruse of wanting democracy while working tirelessly to undermine it. 

“I become irritated at the attempt to govern mankind by force and fraud, as if they were knaves and fools.” 

More than two hundred years ago, political theorist and philosopher Thomas Paine wrote these words to express his frustrations when a fellow thinker tried to undermine the importance of revolutions. Now, it may be my Jesuit education or flair for the dramatic, but I find myself relating to his exasperation more and more these days.  

2020 is unlike any year we’ve ever experienced, and this summer alone has illustrated to us how desperately authoritarianism is hoping to cling to power, especially in Haiti and the United States. 

Last week, United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo addressed the delicate matter of legislative elections in Haiti in a hallway with Haitian president Jovenel Moise during the inauguration of Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader. 

While some took the locale of the meeting as a “diss,” believing it showed that Haiti was a mere “afterthought” to the U.S. government, I believe we should take it for what it is — a sham of democracy being flouted in the face of Haitian activists who have long critiqued Moise for ruling by decree after failing to renew parliament. It is also rather ironic that Pompeo would be the one to stress how “critical” it is for Haiti to hold these delayed legislative elections when the very administration he represents has published over 40 executive orders this year alone and is actively working to suppress voter turnout for America’s November races. 

Here, we find two administrations who behave strikingly similar: they perform the ruse of wanting democracy while working tirelessly to undermine it. 

From the moment Donald Trump became president, political scientists, scholars and historians have been interested yet fearful of how Trump’s strongman tendencies would inspire other heads of state, especially those in democratizing nations. In fact, a week after Trump’s 2016 win, reporters Jason Burke and Ruth McClean wrote: “Trump’s victory may allow more autocratic African rulers freedom to tweak constitutions to retain power, harass dissidents, shut down media organisations or, in some cases, simply make more money.” 

Truth be told, it’s actually not rare for Black nations to experience this. In a November 2017 op-ed for the Guardian, Chigozie Obioma wrote, “African nations have a total dependency on foreign political philosophies and ideas, and their shifts and movements. It is the feeblest position a state can be in, because it is a position of chronic subservience. It also means that whatever becomes normalised in the west will eventually be adopted, in, say, Uganda or Togo.” 

This sentiment can apply to Haiti and her current government. 

Since their respective appointments to power, both Trump and Moise have ruled in similar fashions, showing a lack of regard for the rule of law, staying mum on insensible acts of violence and exhibiting no desire to practice accountable leadership. Perhaps, Moise — who enjoys the support of the U.S. —  takes his cues from Trump and aims to replicate the American bully’s destructive behaviors within his own borders. 

In May and June, all 50 states in America erupted in protests after Minneapolis police killed George Floyd. Facing economic and racial inequality, Americans from all walks of life poured into the streets demanding change. Trump’s response? A call for law and order which emboldened local and federal officers to attack protestors with wooden and rubber bullets, fists, batons and tear gas. 

A similar scene played out in Haiti during the same time. Growing anger and fear over mounting gang violence, economic insecurity and lack of government transparency pushed several local activists to demand change in front of the Ministry of Justice. Just as in the U.S., police attacked the activists with tear gas and other intimidation tactics.  

And that’s not all. 

Going back to the matter of elections and peaceful transfers of power, both Moise and Trump have let it be known they’d rather cosplay as absolute monarchs than be democratic presidents. In a July 2020 interview with FOX News’ Chris Wallace, Trump refused to comment on whether he’d agree with the results of the upcoming bid for the White House. He even bluntly stated: “No, I’m not going to say yes. I’m not going to say no, and I didn’t last time either.” 

That same week, Moise dropped a warning of his own. At an event billed as a community dialogue, the Haitian president announced that no one could strip power from him and his political party. He took a step further than Trump and proclaimed matter-of-factly that no one in the country holds more authority than him. 

On paper, Haiti should not be sitting in this boat with the United States as a buddy, sailing towards the shores of authoritarianism. As the two oldest republics in the western hemisphere, the two nations have represented two entirely different ideologies: one standing for white supremacy and violent conquest and the other illustrating the possibilities and hopes of Black liberation. But now, they find themselves partners for all the wrong reasons, with leaders appearing determined to flex their muscles, sparing no one in their respective quests to do so. I suppose with a U.S. president so hellbent on protecting and promoting expansion of executive powers, racism, homophobia, citizen militias, etc. it is no surprise that another wannabe strongman in the South would use this moment in history to do the same. 

Living in these unprecedented times, it feels as if the beast that birthed white supremacy, patriarchy, cronyism and a multitude of other sins is taking its last breath, so to speak, attempting to take down every person it can in its last moments. 

Simply put, how we continue to respond to these twin bullies will determine not just our lifetimes but the futures of our nations and which boats they sit in for generations to come. Haitian and American activists are showing the world what it means to believe in the creation of new worlds, just as their forefathers and foremothers did centuries ago. Not only are these activists imagining new worlds, they are pushing to birth them into the present while killing the desire to await change in some unseeable moment in the future. And it is our duty to stand with them, support them, motivate them, join in arms in them and find ways to evangelize to others to swell our numbers.

While I don’t know how all this will play out, Thomas Paine once more rings as the voice of reason with this quote: “Government…[has] no other object than the general happiness. When instead of this, it operates to create and increase wretchedness in any parts of the society, it is on a wrong system, and reformation is necessary.” 

Valerie Jean Charles

Valerie Jean-Charles is a Communications Strategist living in Washington, D.C. She is also an editor at Woy Magazine.

“We Returned to Haiti with A Master’s Degree and Ready To Give Back”

Haitian women scholars are helping reverse brain drain to support Haiti’s journey to self-reliance

U.S. Agency for International Development

The future looks promising for 20 U.S. college-educated Haitian scholars who recently earned master’s degrees from the University of Florida and Louisiana State University and have returned to Haiti ready to give back to their country.

Their graduate studies focused on nearly every field of agricultural sciences including horticulture, biological engineering, and entomology. An additional five students are enrolled at the University of Florida and are on track to graduate in December 2020.

With support from the U.S. Government’s global hunger and food security initiative, Feed the Future, implemented by USAID, these scholars are going against the tide.

Today, Haiti ranks at the top of the list of countries with the highest number of educated citizens living abroad. But by returning home, collectively the students represent one of the largest cohorts of Haitian agricultural professionals from U.S. universities.

With the knowledge gained during their tenure at the University of Florida and Louisiana State University, these agricultural experts are seeking to fill the gaps by improving the fertility of degraded soils, developing higher-yielding varieties of crops, managing crop-destroying pests and plant diseases, and developing agricultural policies to help address major food production challenges in Haiti.

Recognizing the critical role women play in the agricultural system, 13 of the 25 graduates are women and they are all working to support Haiti’s journey to self-reliance. One such graduate is Marie Darline Dorval.

Marie Darline began work in the fall of 2019 as a research assistant, shortly after she returned with a master’s degree in horticulture from the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.

“It’s important work,” she says of her responsibilities at the research laboratory on innovation, biotechnology, and sustainable agriculture, associated with Quisqueya University’s College of Agriculture in Port-au-Prince, the capital city.

Ten of the program’s 20 graduates have already been hired on an array of agricultural-related projects: one graduate helps to manage a portfolio of agricultural, food security, and environmental programs for the Swiss Embassy in Haiti. Others work as researchers and educators to train women farmers, improve soil fertility, and test higher-yielding beans.

Jobs are hard to come by in Haiti, a country that historically suffers from high unemployment and a stagnant economy. The job market is now even more challenging because of heightened economic risks amid the coronavirus pandemic and ongoing civil and political strife.

Despite these challenges, skilled researchers like Marie Darline are in high demand and have the support of the Ministry of Agriculture. The current Haitian Minister of Agriculture, Parick Severe, has expressed his commitment to helping these scholars find jobs in the agricultural sector in order to ensure their expertise will be put to good use in the country.

 Marie Darline believes her master’s degree prepared her for life as a professional scientist in what she hopes is a brighter future for Haitian agriculture. Looking to the years ahead, she hopes to use her new skills to start her own genetic-testing firm. “Haiti is a beautiful country,” she added, “and it is up to the Haitians to develop it.”

Haiti Cultural Exchange

Haiti Cultural Exchange is excited to announce that through a competitive process, it has been selected by the New York City Department of Transportation’s Art Program (DOT Art) to participate in their Arterventions program. They have commissioned 2018 Lakou NOU Artist, @madjxo to create a mural in Flatbush. Madjeen’s “Migration” design visualizes the journey of immigrant residents to the neighborhood and the ways in which they carry the legacy of their ancestors. They are thankful to NYC DOT and New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with Council Member Farah N. Louis for their support of this community beautification project.