18177: (Hermantin)Sun-Sentinel-Haitians boycott Miami restaurant for ejecting anti-Aris (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Haitians boycott Miami restaurant for ejecting anti-Aristide protesters

By Alva James-Johnson
Staff Writer
Posted January 30 2004

As Katherine "KK" Kean sits in her Haitian restaurant, surrounded by vibrant
murals and the rich aroma of the Caribbean country's cuisine, she laughs at
her predicament.

She opened Tap Tap Restaurant on Miami's South Beach to promote Haitian
culture. But now some Haitian-Americans are boycotting her business.

She has fought on the front lines for democracy in Haiti. But now some say
she's a non-Haitian exploiting Haitians.

"I think it's funny, because the people are crazy and so off target," Kean
said Tuesday, just hours after returning from Haiti. "I've been working with
Haitians for many years, and that stuff that they're saying is ridiculous."

Since Jan. 19, Martin Luther King Day, Kean has been at the center of
controversy, after refusing to serve a group of Haitian-Americans who came
to eat at her restaurant after an anti-government rally in Miami.

One of them, Ronald Rigaud, was wearing a T-shirt in support of "184", an
opposition group calling for President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the country's
democratically elected president, to resign. He said he walked into the
restaurant, and Kean said:

"People with those T-shirts are murderers, killing the people in Haiti. You
have to leave the restaurant now.'"

"I was totally enraged," he said. "This is exactly what the people in Haiti
are fighting for, things like freedom of speech."

Another demonstrator, Kathy Holley from Pembroke Pines, said she and some
friends arrived a few minutes later and received the same treatment. When
they asked whether she was serious, Holley said, Kean answered yes and
pushed one of the women.

The demonstrators said they called the police, who told them Kean was within
her rights as long as her reason was not based on race, religion or sexual
preference. About 50 other demonstrators joined them as they chanted:
"Aristide must go. Tap Tap must close."

Kean, a friend and supporter of Aristide, admits to kicking Rigaud out. She
said she had just returned from Haiti and was still upset from an incident
that occurred during the country's Jan. 1 bicentennial. She and a friend
were taking pictures at an anti-government demonstration, she said, when a
group wearing 184 T-shirts tried to take her camera and car keys and
threatened to set her friend on fire. She and her friend fled unharmed when
police fired tear gas.

Kean said she couldn't hold her tongue when Rigaud walked into her
restaurant. "I said `I've just come from Haiti. I've seen a lot of violence,
and I'm not serving anyone with that T-shirt.'"

She said she's sorry the incident occurred and apologized on the television
news.

"It's really silly to refuse someone service for what they're wearing," she
said. "I said I was wrong and they were right about that."

But she strongly disagrees with people who are calling for Aristide's
resignation.

"He has allowed some unsavory people to get into his government, but I
wouldn't say he's personally corrupt," she said. "He's trying to do his
best."

Tap Tap is an upscale Haitian restaurant that draws tourists of diverse
backgrounds as well as local Haitian-Americans. The restaurant features
regular Haitian entertainment and other cultural events.

Kean, 64, a native New Yorker, became fascinated with the culture after
visiting West Africa in the 1980s and learning about the connection between
the country and the continent. When Aristide was overthrown, she produced a
documentary titled Haiti: Killing the Dream, which aired on PBS in 1992.

Kean fought for the president's restoration to power and believes in his
revolution to empower the oppressed.

"He was an inspiration, and I would not have gotten so interested in Haiti
if it wasn't for him," she said. "If it wasn't for Jean Bertrand Aristide,
Tap Tap would not exist."

Kean said she opened the restaurant on South Beach nine years ago. About 40
percent of her customers and about half of her 12 employees are Haitian. And
many Haitian-Americans have called to support her since the controversial
incident.

"KK is a very fair person, and if it is true that she had asked a few people
to get out the door, she had to have a good reason," said Farah Juste, the
South Florida representative of the Fanmi Lavalas, Aristide's political
party. But those who were turned away Jan. 19 said they would continue to
boycott and picket the restaurant.

"It was Martin Luther King Holiday, and we were in Florida being
discriminated against," said Natasha Magloire, who called the police the
night of the incident.

Alva James-Johnson can be reached at ajjohnson@sun-sentinel.com or
954-356-4523.





Copyright © 2004, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

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