Thread: Canditates highlight Haitians' Concerns

Candidates highlight Haitians' concerns

Jennifer Kay | the Associated Press
Posted August 21, 2006










MIAMI -- When the Haitian man sat for a passport photo at the shop doubling as Dufirstson Neree's campaign headquarters, he was handed a black suit jacket to wear over his bright blue T-shirt.

It's a perk Neree gives customers at Ben Photo. It elevates them, he said, makes them look more professional. He does it, too: He arrives for an interview in khakis but briefly excuses himself to don a pinstriped suit.

Haitians need to be better represented -- in passport photos and in person, he said. Hoping to be the first Haitian elected to Congress, he has challenged incumbent Kendrick Meek in the Democratic primary Sept. 5 in Florida's 17th District.

If elected, the community-development-banking specialist born in Cap-Haitien , Haiti, said he would represent those in his largely Haitian district who would benefit the most from a change in U.S. immigration policy. They want to make it easier for Haitians to stay in this country and become citizens, like Cubans.

"I'm sitting here in the heart of the city of Miami, and I'm looking for votes and no one around here can help me because they're all a bunch of illegals," said Neree, 32.

Though a federal issue, immigration is a major talking point in the campaigns of other Haitians running for state and local office in South Florida.

"I hear the fear amongst the parents for their kids. If they're Haitian, if they get in trouble, they get deported. In other communities, it's 'I'm worried about my windstorm insurance,' " said Hans Laurenceau, a prosecutor in Broward County juvenile court. Laurenceau, 27, is one of two Democrats with Haitian roots campaigning to represent the 108th District in the Florida House.

Either immigrants themselves or the children of immigrants, these Haitian candidates say they can relate to potential voters who express difficulty adjusting to life in the United States -- and they can do it in Creole, the language that separates Haitians from other black voters.

Haitian leaders advocated for Creole to be included as a protected language in the Voting Rights Act, the recently renewed civil-rights law that opened polls to millions of black Americans when it was first enacted in 1965.

Complicated ballot questions are often lost on Haitian immigrants who were illiterate when they arrived and learned to read and write Creole before English, said Lucie Tondreau of the Haitian-American Grassroots Coalition.

The candidates say Haitian voters have other concerns exacerbated by their isolation -- the lack of health care and affordable housing, low wages and poor education.

"That is not so different from the African-American community, but the difference is many of the Haitian-Americans aren't fully aware of everything the system has for them. There has to be somebody who can really advocate on their behalf," said Ronald Brise, a native of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, who is challenging Laurenceau and three other Democrats to represent the 108th.

More than 109,160 Haitians live in Miami-Dade County, and 90,000 live in Broward, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/orl-haitians2106aug21,0,3776007.story?coll=orl-news-headlines-state

ok so we don't vote for Neree. Can we get him on the "Who not to vote for" list?

"I'm sitting here in the heart of the city of Miami, and I'm looking for votes and no one around here can help me because they're all a bunch of illegals," said Neree, 32.

That's what struck me as funny. Being here legally is almost a joke anymore.

There has to be somebody who can really advocate on their behalf,"

And that's the problem. Instead of advocating for all citizens, too many politicians are only advocating for a certain race or ethnicity. So. Fl. voting districts are so gerrymandered that it's a joke.

Aren't Americans supposed to be all colors? Or am I still a bit idealistic?

I can only speak for So. Fl., but from the news stories , I'm getting the impression it really isn't that way.

Special Interests.