13517: Hermantin: Sun-Sentinel-Haitian groups to rally votes in protest (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Haitian groups to rally votes in protest

By Kellie Patrick
Staff writer
Posted November 1 2002

Determined to make government officials understand their outrage over U.S.
immigration policy, Haitian-Americans will speak Saturday in a language
politicians understand: They'll vote.

Palm Beach County voters of Haitian descent will travel by busload and
carload to the Supervisor of Elections Office to cast early ballots,
galvanized by the sight of refugees jumping from a boat grounded between Key
Biscayne and Miami this week.

"The message is we are not only boat people, we vote also," said Daniella
Henry, executive director of the Haitian American Community Council in
Delray Beach.

Most of the 200 people who were on board are Haitian. The U.S. government
generally deports Haitians but grants asylum to Cubans who make it to shore.

"The treatment of our new arrivals is unfair," said Robert Arrieux,
executive director of the Haitian Center for Family Services in West Palm
Beach.

The form of protest planned for Saturday became possible with a recent
change in state law. Now even those who will be around on Election Day may
vote early with an absentee ballot.

David Niven, a political science professor at Florida Atlantic University,
expects many other groups to realize they can make powerful statements with
organized, early voting.

Votes cast on Election Day all run together, he said. But a voting bloc's
size and fervor will be obvious if a group publicizes its cause then votes
together before Election Day.

"It's a really dramatic and politically meaningful way to show your group or
community's political strength," Niven said.

While federal officials set immigration policy, Saturday's organized, early
vote could also teach state and local elected officials to pay more
attention to their Haitian constituents, Niven said.

Office-holders know voters choose candidates who support efforts important
to them, whether that candidate can cast a vote on the issue, Niven said.
That's why even local candidates are asked about contentious subjects such
as abortion, he said.

Arrieux takes this a step further. Local and state officials can lobby the
federal officials who can change immigration law, he said, and this is
particularly true because Florida's governor is the president's brother.

Arrieux also advises those in federal office whose terms aren't up this year
to remember this is not an issue Haitian-Americans will forget.

"Though it's a tragic situation, our hopes are to turn it into a positive,
and in the near future, to reap the rewards," he said. "This is a clear
message both to Tallahassee and Washington."

Kellie Patrick can be reached at kpatrick@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6629.











_________________________________________________________________
Broadband? Dial-up? Get reliable MSN Internet Access.
http://resourcecenter.msn.com/access/plans/default.asp