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Haitian turmoil inspires coalition
Monday, June 27, 2005
By DAVID ROUT
Selena Singleton is not Haitian and until she attended a conference a few years ago she wasn't involved much in the Haitian community.

But something about the situation in Haiti - and the struggles Haitians face when they seek refuge in America - struck her, and she hasn't looked back since.

Today, working with TransAfrica Forum's One Standard campaign for Haitian refugees, she's the self-described "most passionate person" in her office about the issue, and has no plans to stop any time soon.

She was one of many representatives from a number of Haitian outreach programs nationwide to attend Saturday's summit in Princeton Borough - an event called for and orchestrated by Naomi Jean-Baptiste, coordinator of the New Jersey Immigration Policy Network's Haitian Community Outreach Program.

The event's purpose was to mobilize leaders of the Haitian community as they attempt to lobby the U.S. government to issue "temporary protective status" for Haitian immigrants already in the United States so that they cannot be deported to their panic-stricken nation.

According to Singleton's organization's Web site, Haiti is the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, with about three-quarters of its citizens living in poverty. Just over 6 percent of its citizens have HIV/AIDS and yet, the Web site says, current American policies prevent the nation from receiving the economic aid it needs to recover.

The outlook is grim for Haiti - a country whose former president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was forced from office and exiled to South Africa last year, and whose current social, political and general climate is one of violence, death and chaos.

"People are being killed on the streets," Singleton said. "People are being kidnapped, children are being raped in front of their mothers." She said the situation has only gotten worse since Aristide was removed from office, and that it's now so dangerous that many nations, including the United States, have issued advisories warning their citizens not to travel to Haiti.

For Singleton, however, it's the situation here in the United States that remains her primary concern. Haitians seeking refuge are being detained and held indefinitely, she said, and those who are here - and have been for some time - are being deported to their struggling homeland.

She said she doesn't understand why immigrants from other nations, such as Cuba, are allowed to go through the process of becoming legal immigrants while Haitians are being held in closed quarters, often separated from their families for extended periods of time.

"Why is there a different policy for Haitians?" she said. "The goal is to try and get fair and just rights for Haitian refugees," and "to make sure, if they are detained, it is for a valid reason."

Jean-Baptiste, the event's organizer, agreed with the sentiment. She is Haitian, but has never been there, having been born and raised in the United States.

When she heard about the situation in Haiti, and the troubles for Haitians in America, she knew she had to do something. "I was faced with the issues that Haitians confront," she said. "I was outraged - I was upset."

Saturday's event, she said, was just a small step - the first step, perhaps, in a slowly paced marathon. Before anything can be accomplished, she said, the Haitian community must organize itself. There are 2 million Haitians living in the United States, she said. "This is truly just the beginning," she said. "I'm optimistic, but I'm also realistic. It's going to be a fight."