While six Haitian nations were arrested and charged with orchestrating the boat ride where 235 Haitians waded to a Florida shoreline, Rep Danny K. Davis (D-IL) and the Congressional Black Caucus on Oct 3, 2002 called on President Bush to intervene in the crisis. Rather than processing the Haitians and granting them political asylum, immigration officials said the 235 will be detained for months.
We must continue to support one another for the future of our community. We need to see more African American leaders coming into the Haitian community, not just during election time but throughout the year. We need to see more solid commitment on the part of the Haitian community also to join different causes in the African American community. These are the only ways we can overcome in this struggle for equality. If we continue to treat our political interests as separate entities, we will never get to partake of the ftuits of democracy. Concerned citizens and political officials in both communities need to let people know that we don't have a Haitian/African American problem. I would hope that the Haitian community can realize that just because Mr. Duke, an African American, was defeated by Mr. [Joe Celestin], a Haitian, that Haitians are not "better" or "tougher" or "stronger" than the African American community. Likewise, the African American community needs the growing Haitian vote in the future. Haitian and African American people are one race, living through different cultural lifestyles. It's okay to have different lifestyles, as long as we respect each others' differences, without animosity or violence. For instance, the Latin community is comprised of Spanish-speaking people from different countries: Cuba, Colombia, Puerto Rico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, etc. Does anyone think that these groups are in complete harmony with one another? The answer is no. The different Spanish-speaking groups do not like one another that much but, in reality, when it comes to standing up for a common cause you see them marching side by side, taking pictures with each other and voting for each other.
"There was no trial. No formal accusations. They just dumped all of the prisoners like animals into a cage," [Jan Mapou] recalls. "they stripped us and then crammed 14 of us into a small cell. We had no idea if we would ever see our families again. We had no idea if we would even be alive from one second to the next." Tell no one "When I first started working with Jan Mapou and the Sosyete Koukouy, I knew very little about the meanings of the daces I was performing," says Nancy St. Leger, who is now the dance troupe's choreographer. "Mapou opened me up to the significance of each dance. He didn't want the dance troupe to perform anything we didn't understand." "What Mapou is promoting through his work is not just Haitian culture but what Haitian culture represents," says [Yves Colon]. "He keeps alive those ideas of beauty, harmony and black pride which are all a part of what Mapou believes is Haitian culture.
