Pwogrè ayisyen lan politik Florid. Bèl bagay.

Posted on Sun, Feb. 08, 2009
Haitian Americans in South Florida eye politics of unity
BY CASEY WOODS

The new post-presidential political season has swept a slew of Haitian-American candidates into local and national races, igniting fears among some in the community of a return to the divisions that once stunted the community's rising political power.

With U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek announcing plans to run for the Senate, at least three well-known Haitian Americans intend to run for his seat: local activist Marleine Bastien, former state Rep. Phillip Brutus and current state Rep. Yolly Roberson.

In North Miami -- a city that once was the example of rising Haitian-American political influence, but later became emblematic of its capacity for self-defeat -- four Haitian Americans are vying for the mayor's office.

A group of prominent Haitian Americans have joined together to create a political action committee to harness the community's latent might -- and attempt to avert a potential political disaster that could leave the community with many candidates but no elected official in those crucial electoral matchups.

'The community has been going through growing pains, and it is at the moment when it has to ask itself, `Am I going to grow up and be mature or am I going to continue to be a teenager?' '' said state Rep. Ronald Brisé, who is vice chairman of the newly formed Citizens for Better Government PAC.

``Now, when people are interested and willing to participate, it's a good time to help bring some direction as to how the Haitian community can be more impactful in dealing with the broader political game.''

Brisé and others involved in the PAC intend to create a system of polling and community forums to determine the most viable candidate in races with multiple Haitian-American candidates, and then back them using the PAC's donations and endorsement. They aim to raise as much as $700,000 by the 2010 midterm elections to contribute to those races and to other campaigns.

''It's a very healthy thing that more people want to serve, but in the name of community empowerment, we have to create a process by which we can encourage and discourage certain candidacies,'' said community activist and PAC member Gepsie Metellus. ``The losses we have inflicted on ourselves in the past have shown us where we went wrong.''

The PAC is the latest attempt to tame the demons that have bedeviled the fractious community's struggle for broad-ranging political influence, which has the potential to be second only to that of the dominant Cuban-American majority.

Haitian-American political power seemed to be on a steady upward march in 2001, when Haitian-American Josaphat ''Joe'' Celestin captured the North Miami mayor's seat and clinched the community's majority on the City Council -- a first for Haitian Americans in a large Florida city. The feat came just three years after they captured a majority in the El Portal City Council and a year after Brutus became the first Haitian-American legislator in Florida and the second in the country.

But that golden age of unquestioned ascension was short-lived, as Haiti's bitterly divided politics crashed into local elections after the 2004 ouster of Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was viewed as an advocate for the poor.

DIVISIVE CAMPAIGNS
After Celestin was forced out by term limits in 2005, Haitian American Jean Monestime's campaign for the mayor's office was crippled by a ferocious Creole-radio campaign against him that painted the Aristide opponent as out of touch with the city's struggling working class. Monestime lost the race, and the community lost its majority on the council in a city where Haitian voters are believed to outnumber those of other ethnic groups.

Similar attacks in 2006 helped doom campaigns by other Haitian Americans to join the County Commission, the School Board and the state Legislature. Of the eight Haitian Americans who ran for state and local office that year, only Roberson and Brisé made it past the primary.

In this year's North Miami mayoral race, the Haitian-American candidates -- Celestin, incumbent Commissioner Jacques Despinosse, former Greater North Miami Chamber of Commerce Chairman Andre Pierre and city activist Sidney Charles -- will run against former Mayor Frank Wolland and community activist Beverly Hilton.

Several of those behind the PAC privately say they hope to encourage candidates to leave the race. None of those running is willing to entertain pulling out at this stage -- although most said they would welcome the PAC's backing.

'That idea of saying, `We are unified and choosing one candidate' -- that doesn't happen in other communities,'' Despinosse said. ''I can't go out and tell the people who have given me money that I'm not running now -- I'm not going to do that.'' Nonetheless, Despinosse did support the idea of a unity candidate for the congressional races.

''You need big money these days to win, and if we have so many candidates, I don't think anyone will be able to get enough,'' he said. ``In that race, if we have one candidate and even if that candidate loses, we can win anyway because we will be showing our strength.''

Unifying the community for the North Miami mayoral race is the key to the congressional seat, said Haitian-American North Miami City Council candidate Alix Desulme.

''I think anybody who is running for higher office knows that it begins in North Miami, because that's the base you need to motivate,'' said Desulme, who helped found the PAC. ``If they don't unify that base in North Miami, then without a doubt there won't be a Haitian winning the congressional seat.''

TIMING AS A FACTOR
Many in the community see that unity as more crucial than ever now, so soon after their homeland suffered devastation from hurricanes last summer that left more than a million people homeless. Long-sought goals, including temporary protected status that would have granted undocumented Haitians the right to stay while the impoverished country recovers, were not granted even in light of the widespread suffering -- a sign, many say, of the community's lack of true political clout.

''We've been here for the past four decades, and we have managed some small political successes . . . but Haitians are simply not at the table, and so we're not part of the decision-makers,'' said Aude Sicard, a PAC board member and president of the Women's Alliance of Miami-Dade and Broward. ``We get feel-good photo opportunities, but when it comes to the nitty-gritty, meat-and-potatoes needs of our community, we have not seen it.''

As the PAC pushes for consensus, its greatest test may come from within. It gathers many of the community's most politically ambitious members who inevitably will have competing aspirations at times -- a fact that became evident soon after its inception.

The initial organizational meetings were already under way when Meek announced that he would run for the Senate. Bastien and Brutus, who attended the meetings, announced their intent to vie for his seat. Brisé has not ruled out a run.

All maintain that it is best for the community if only one Haitian-American candidate runs. Bastien said she would consider backing down if, through an ''objective'' process, the PAC decides that another candidate is more viable. Brutus said he believes that ''that's not a decision for the PAC to make'' because each candidate should decide.

In these situations, PAC members are ''going to have to be big about it and make some decisions and do what's best for the community,'' Metellus said. ``If we can't get this together ourselves, then what is the community going to do?''



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Kouman? Kote patisipan fowòm nan ki rete lan Florid yo?
Se pou nou sòti al ede konpatriyòt yo.
Paske si yo kapab genyen enfliyans ke kiben gen lan eta saa,
yo ta kapab fè anpil chanjman lan politik meriken sou Ayiti.

Non selman sa, kiben ki te pran Florida daso yo se te anba Kastro yo te kouri.
Nèg sayo pa anpil ankò, yap prale.
Men politisyen ayisyen yo se yon nouvèl jenerasyon.

Balibwa.

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