19884: (Hermantin)Miami-Herald:Haitians-Faith in American Values (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Posted on Fri, Mar. 05, 2004


HAITIANS


Faith in American values

BY DAVID IGNATIUS

davidignatius@washpost.com


I'm never sure what the shopworn phrase ''American values'' really means,
but I think I had a glimpse here Sunday as thousands of Haitian Americans
danced down Biscayne Boulevard in a Mardi Gras parade -- trying to keep
faith with the tormented country they left behind even as they rejoiced at
being accepted in their new home.

Overhead, airplanes were towing banners advertising the two things these
emigrants seem to need most: financial institutions that will transfer money
back home and phone cards that will let them call family and friends. On the
street, dancers on stilts were careening to the beat of a song whose chorus
was, ``Jump up and celebrate.''

That same day, a few hundred miles away, the scene was more menacing.
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide had just fled his ruined, riot-torn country
as it was about to collapse into all-out civil war. U.S. and French
peacekeepers were arriving to try to restore order.

`We need help'

During a speaking trip that brought me to Miami at the height of the Haiti
crisis, I couldn't find a Haitian who was really happy about Aristide's
departure or who imagined that a bright day would now suddenly dawn in
Port-au-Prince. What pleased them was that the United States, their adopted
home, might become more involved in Haiti.

''We need help,'' said James Dulorie, a 65-year-old hospital worker who came
to America 29 years ago and has raised seven children here, four of whom
have already gone to college.

Jean Jadotte speculated that perhaps Haiti's perpetual feuding stems from
the fact that its people are descended from slaves who came from different
parts of Africa, each with its own cultural traditions. Since bravely
overthrowing French colonizers in 1804, Haiti has had 200 years of more or
less continual conflict. According to the CIA's World Factbook, about 80
percent of Haiti's population lives below the poverty line.

Jadotte gazed at the crowd dancing in the streets, the Haitians joined by a
rainbow of colors from Miami's diverse communities. ''I think my people have
learned a lot by being here,'' he said.

The remarkable fact about this celebration is that it was held at all. ''Ten
years ago, Haitians in this city were hiding,'' says The Herald's Jacqueline
Charles, who covers the Haitian community. They were shunned as AIDS-ridden
refugees, many imprisoned.

The ''land of the free'' wasn't exactly welcoming then. But amid the sea of
red-and-blue Haitian flags on Biscayne Boulevard on Sunday, you sensed that
America, however grudgingly, is starting to assimilate another refugee
group.

''I feel like I am accepted here. We are part of this community,'' said Alex
Stinfil, watching as the dancers on stilts wobbled past. He came here from
Haiti 29 years ago.

False expectations

In Little Haiti, people spoke of their fear of what lies ahead. Jean
Dimanche, who sings in the choir at Notre Dame de Haiti, the community's
biggest Catholic church, said it was ''a very sad day'' to see the elected
president driven from the country. ''Now Bush says he will give help and
money, but I don't believe it,'' he said. ``For three years he never gave
Aristide anything.''

That's the problem with American values. People expect us to practice what
we preach. And our open, prosperous society is so seductive that it fosters
false expectations -- among Americans as well as people abroad -- that the
whole world can somehow be Americanized.

I suspect that there are few Haitians who aren't dreaming of living the good
life in Miami or New York, just as there are few Iraqis who don't envy that
cousin in Dearborn, Mich. They want to come to America or, failing that, for
America to come to them.

Foreigners get upset when this dream of a benevolent, powerful America goes
awry: Why can't the U.S. occupiers fix Iraqi power plants? Why haven't
decades of American intervention stabilized Haiti? Why can't the Bush
administration follow up its ''road map'' rhetoric and be midwife to a
Palestinian state?

Along Biscayne Boulevard Sunday, you could see that America's secret is its
openness to new people and new ideas -- and its ability to somehow assemble
these diverse pieces into a national culture of shared aspirations. The
tragedy unfolding in Haiti that day was a reminder of America's greatest
weakness -- its difficulty in sharing those gifts with the rest of the
world.

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