25146: Hermantin(News)Hostility among Haitians crops up in Miami (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

>From miaminewtimes.com
Originally published by Miami New Times 2005-05-19
©2005 New Times, Inc. All rights reserved.

Festering Wounds
Hostility among Haitians crops up in Miami
By Francisco Alvarado


Jonathan Postal

Doumic Romain says intraregime violence and class tension have jumped from
Haiti to Miami



Doumic Romain sneered when he read a recent op-ed piece in the Miami Herald
by Miami Police Chief John Timoney touting the department's recent role
helping Haiti's interim government assess security in Port-au-Prince. "He
talks about providing a safe environment for Haitian citizens," the
42-year-old amateur filmmaker said. "Yet he has Haitian-American cops who
harass and falsely arrest Haitian Americans in Miami. It's a joke, man."

Romain maintains this happened to him November 3, 2003, when he was filming
a documentary about the tenth annual Haitian Rasin Festival at Bayfront
Park. He was arrested on misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct and
resisting arrest without violence, charges ultimately dropped or refuted.
Now Romain wants Miami's Citizen Investigative Panel, the city's independent
body charged with investigating citizen complaints of police abuse, to
admonish the police officer who busted him. "He arrested me because I wanted
to get his badge number," Romain said. "He wanted to emasculate me."

The officer he is referring to is Stanley Jean-Poix, a six-year veteran of
the Miami Police Department, who patrols Little Haiti. According to Romain,
he had permission from Hamler Rodney Noel, one of the event's promoters, to
film backstage during the 2003 festival. Armed with two digital video
cameras, a zoom lens, and battery chargers, Romain was heading toward the
side of the Bayfront Park Amphitheater's stage when he was confronted by
Jean-Poix, who was working off-duty but in uniform. Jean-Poix denied him
access to the backstage area even though he was wearing a staff T-shirt and
wristband.

The filmmaker's camera was rolling but not trained on the officer. A
microphone picked up Jean-Poix's verbal exchange with Romain. Jean-Poix, in
a deep baritone, repeatedly asked him if he wanted to go to jail: "I'm gonna
take your ass to jail. I told you, you need a pass. I don't want to hear
nothing else. Don't run up on me."

Romain retreated and searched for Jean-Poix's supervisor. When he couldn't
find the supervisor, Romain said, he returned to the side of the stage to
obtain the officer's badge number. "When he saw me, he grabbed me and threw
me to the ground," Romain alleged. "Six other police officers jumped in. I
had knees on my head and back. My arms were twisted, and I was forced to sit
awkwardly in a puddle of water for nearly two hours."

Guy Michel, a witness who testified on Romain's behalf, said he saw the
cameraman put his hands in the air when Jean-Poix went to arrest him. "He
didn't look like he was resisting," Michel said.

March 29, 2004, Romain was acquitted on the disorderly conduct charge. Judge
Karen Mills-Francis withheld adjudication on the resisting arrest
misdemeanor and ordered Romain to pay a $201 fine. Michel said Jean-Poix and
Noel tried to intimidate Romain and him after the hearing. "Jean-Poix told
me I had a big mouth," Michel remarked.

Romain appealed to Mills-Francis to reconsider her ruling. She granted his
request, and he was retried on the resisting arrest count September 7, 2004.
This time he was acquitted because Jean-Poix was a no-show. Following the
dismissal, Romain filed a complaint with Miami Police Department Internal
Affairs and the CIP. The IA complaint was closed after investigator José
Gonzalez said he could not reach Romain. The CIP is reviewing Romain's
complaint, said Charles Mayes, the panel's independent counsel.

In his complaint Romain accused Jean-Poix of being part of the "Tonton
Macoutes ruling class living in Miami who continue to abuse and terrorize
the Haitian people at home and abroad." During his heyday, Haitian dictator
François "Papa Doc" Duvalier relied on the brutal Tonton Macoutes, his
personal police force of loyal unpaid volunteers, to scare the Haitian
citizenry into submission. The Tonton Macoutes, Kreyol for "bogeymen," were
officially disbanded in 1986 but have haunted their countrymen through
several blood-soaked upheavals, including the recent toppling of
Jean-Bertrand Aristide's government.

Stanley Jean-Poix is the son of Antonio Jean-Poix, the former Miami consul
general of Haiti during the military governments of Henri Namphy and Prosper
Avril from 1986 through 1991, after the coup d'état against Jean-Claude
"Baby Doc" Duvalier. The elder Jean-Poix was also a lieutenant for the
Haitian police during the Duvalier regimes. Romain alleged that Antonio
intimidated and terrorized Haitians in Port-au-Prince, Port-de-Paix, Inche,
and Chiotte before going into exile. "Stanley Jean-Poix seems to have a
genetic disposition toward violence and abuse," Romain grimaced.

During a recent interview, Officer Jean-Poix flatly denied Romain's
accusations. "In short his allegations are completely false," he said. "I
don't know what his problem is with me. He was giving me a hard time, so I
had to arrest him." Jean-Poix added Romain was an instigator outside the
courtroom. "He was yelling that he was going to put a vodou curse on me," he
explained.

According to Jean-Poix, he had asked the festival organizer, Larry Pierre,
if the filmmaker was allowed backstage. "I was going to let him go, but Dr.
Pierre said he didn't know the guy," Jean-Poix said. Pierre runs the Center
for Haitian Studies, a nonprofit group that helps Haitian Americans infected
with HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. The center puts on the
Rasin Festival to raise money for its mission.

Pierre told New Times that only staff and musicians with backstage passes
were allowed entry to the amphitheater stage. "This gentleman was not
staff," Pierre said, adding he had never met Romain before that night. "He
tried to fuss his way and that's why he was arrested."

When Pierre was confronted with paperwork provided by Romain indicating the
two had spoken about making event T-shirts prior to the festival, his memory
was jogged: "I do remember talking with this guy about the T-shirts," Pierre
said. "Whether it was the same gentleman, I can't recall."

Romain claimed Pierre is feigning ignorance because he knows Jean-Poix was
wrong but is protecting the Haitian-American police officers who worked the
festival. "Everyone knows that Jean-Poix is the ticket fixer for the people
who work in Dr. Pierre's office," Romain said. "I just want people to know
that Haitian-American cops are violating the rights of Haitian Americans in
Miami."