26309: Simidor (Raber): Personal attacks (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: daniel simidor <danielsimidor@yahoo.com>

Dear M. Raber,

I?m sorry I did not respond to your earlier letter,
especially since it raised a number of interesting
questions.  But this notion of a ?personal attack?
against you is a misunderstanding.  At the time I did
not know enough about you and your vacationing habits,
to target you personally in my criticism of Haitians
who ?vacation on a budget in the DR? and dissociate
themselves from the plight of other Haitians who live
there.  Frankly I had no idea you were even Haitian,
and given your concern about the restavek children in
Haiti I had no reason to place you in that category.
You assured me of that in your previous letter, and I
appreciate the important work you do in both
countries.  In any case, I was referring to a callous
behavior and an appalling lack of solidarity common to
thousands of Haitians, and I would rather think this
is the reason why our gracious host did not object to
my post.

What I do find ?shameless? and ?disgusting,? to use
your own words, is the fact that Haitian immigrants
are being hunted down, lynched and treated like
animals in the DR, and more fortunate Haitian
immigrants in the US and Canada just don?t give a
damn.  At the rally during Leonel Fernandez?s visit in
NY last week, there were only a handful of Haitian
activists.  Not even enough to save this community
where I live and work, if the parable of Lot and the
destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah was to come alive
today.  That, my friend, is an object of great sadness
and shame to me!

Be well,
Daniel