Hundreds of Haiti supporters protest near Mar-a-Lago

USA - About 500 HaitianAmericans and their supporters used the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday to protest derogatory comments President Donald Trump reportedly made about immigrants from majority-black countries.

“What do we want? Apology!” the protesters chanted.

Many wore shirts proclaiming, “I love Haiti,” while they carried Haitian flags, sang hymns and shouted chants in both English and Haitian Creole, including “Respect.”

The protest, held on Southern Boulevard near the Intracoastal bridge, was in reaction to remarks calling Haiti and some African nations “shithole” countries, which were attributed to the president from a meeting Thursday on immigration.

“If Dr. Martin Luther King were alive today, he’d be here marching with us,” said protest organizer James Leger, a local activist and radio show host. “We’re going to pray for America and pray for President Trump. People make mistakes. We’re not asking for impeachment. We just want an apology.” Phoebe Crane, of Indiana, who is visiting friends in Florida, has a toddler grandson, Joey Fabrice, who was born in Haiti.

He was pictured on a protest sign she held declaring herself a “proud grandparent.” “I had to come out because of the president’s incredibly racist, bigoted and depressing remarks,” Crane said. “This is just setting our country backward. This is not who we are. It’s not what our founding fathers intended.” Across the street from the hundreds of Trump protesters were Trump supporters, waving American flags and holding up signs proclaiming, “I love Trump” and “Trump 2020.”

“I’m here to encourage my president and let him know he’s doing a good job, and just because he used a word doesn’t change that,” said Cindy Levegetto, of Boynton Beach. She said Haitians immigrated to the United States “because they believe the same thing that Haiti the president believes. If they would realize that, they wouldn’t be so offended.”

Trump, who stayed at his private club Mar-a-Lago, this weekend, went to the Trump International Golf Course on Monday. He looked out the window but did not engage with the protesters as his caravan passed by them on Southern Boulevard on his way to Mar-a-Lago on Monday afternoon.

He left for Washington, D.C., about 4:30 p.m. He has denied making the vulgar remarks. (sun-sentinel)