#4060: Lynn Garrison: Chamberlain replies to Pina (fwd)

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From:DelRauth@aol.com

Yes, Greg, reporters do need stimulation and encouragement but I do believe 
that Norton and Bauduy, relative to their reporting of the recent elections 
of May 21, need much more.  I'll try to be nice in my response by saying that 
they really need contact with the Haitian people, the real Haitian people, 
the people in the street who struggle each day to find a way to exist.  They 
need a sense of compassion, they need to understand the spirituality of the 
Haitian people, they need to get out of their luxury hotels like the Holiday 
Inn and the Olaffson and the Villa Creole and other places and take a trip to 
the rural regions of Hinche, Dechapelles, Verrette and Fondwa, Gros Morne and 
especially Cite Soleil and St. Joseph's Market downtown Port-au-Prince.  They 
need to visit with missionaries who have spent years of their lives among the 
Haitian people, struggling themselves to find ways to give the people hope to 
live.

I recently took Norton to task by way of corresponding with Dan Perry, Bureau 
Chief for AP in Puerto Rico and I did get a response.  It was not 
satisfactory and I think Dan Perry also could use a dose of what I suggested 
as medicine above.  This medicine could ultimately help in removing the bias, 
the prejudice, the slanting, the non-objective reporting which relies on 
single incidents to make broad generalizations across the whole nation.  

The next time I go to Haiti perhaps I will try to visit with Michael Norton 
and explain to him face to face my deep feelings about the reporting that has 
been done so far that has done so much harm in giving the people in the U.S. 
the wrong impression of the people of Haiti and their true struggle for 
democracy. 

During my recent visit, as part of the International Coalition  of 
Independent Observers, composed of members from Global Exchange, Quixote 
Center, Pax Christi USA the Catholic Diocese of Richmond, we visited 
approximately 122 polling stations on May 21st. and none of what I saw 
matched what was reported in the AP press by Norton and Bauduy.  Indeed I 
believe Haiti can recover from its intolerable living conditions if we, the 
people in the U.S., are willing to truly listen to the people of Haiti and to 
honestly become committed to wanting to help them.

Peace - Bob DellaValle-Rauth
Consultant - PCUSA Haiti Task Force
Coordinator of Pax Christi VA