Voters must turn out, Biden says in Little Haiti
The sounds and culture of Haiti served as a colorful backdrop for former vice president and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s visit to Little Haiti Monday as he courted Haitian-American voters and leaders on the last day to register to vote in Florida.
“It’s all about the spirit, the spirit of this community,” Biden said. “There’s no quit in America. There’s clearly no quit in the Haitian community, there is none. And I promise you there would be no quit on my part as your president making sure that the Haitian community has an even shot and back on its feet.”
During an address lasting eight minutes, 46 seconds, Biden emphasized the need to have voters, including Haitian Americans, turn out and stressed issues that unite him and the crowd.
Biden told the small crowd if the turnout is the same as it was in 2016 when President Donald Trump, whose name he never once mentioned, ran against Democratic rival and former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the HaitianAmerican community in Florida “by itself” has the potential of determining the outcome of the Nov. 3 presidential race.
“Wouldn’t it be an irony, an irony of all ironies,” Biden said, “if on election eve, it turned out Haitians literally delivered a
in this election?”
Biden’s campaign has emphasized that the race in Florida is critical and can be decided by just 1% of the vote.
“You not only have an opportunity. I think you have an obligation to see to it you take care of the folks you care so much about,” Biden said.
The Biden campaign has struggled with HaitianAmerican voters, who have felt neglected as Biden seeks to woo Hispanic voters and after his running mate, Kamala Harris, failed to meet with Haitian-American leaders during a September roundtable discussion with Black leaders at Florida Memorial University.
On Monday, the campaign sought to make up for it. The invited guests, which were intentionally kept small due to the COVID-19 pandemic, consisted of Haitian-American elected officials in Miami-Dade County as well as State Rep. Dotie Joseph, Congresswoman Frederica Wilson, Dr. Larry Pierre and Dr. Jean-Philippe Austin and his wife Magalie. The Austins held a $35,800-a-plate 2011 fundraiser for
President Barack Obama during his second presidential bid, and Austin and Pierre have also raised money for the Biden campaign.
Concerned about voter turnout among HaitianAmerican voters on Nov. 3, the Austins have organized a group independent of the campaign to promote voter engagement and outreach in the Haitian-American community.
Joseph said she hopes the Biden visit will resonate not just with Haitian-American voters, but all voters.
“Our very democracy is on the line,” she said as she alluded to Trump’s Sunday motorcade photo op even as he continues to battle a positive COVID-19 diagnosis. “When we look at what these people want to do and how they want to treat us ... A lot of us have came from countries where you have dictatorships and you have fascism and the things you’re starting to see with this administration; things you would have never imagined, even when you’re dealing with coronavirus; somebody who knows how to protect us and wants to protect us, and the other one just wants to go around exposing people.”
As Biden spoke in the courtyard of the Little Haiti Cultural Center, He met with TheHaitian-American voters lined up along two city blocks on Northeast Second Avenue and 59th Street hoping to catch a glimpse of him.
Biden said a lot is at stake. The Nov. 3 presidential election, he said, will decide “what kind of nation we’re going to be, who we are, what we stand for. Will we continue to reach out or whether continue to push people away like what’s happened now? Or will we take care of those people, who, through no fault of their own, found themselves among those families, over 205,000 people who have died from COVID without much help at all. “
“This is the most important election,” Biden told the Haitian-American leaders. “The character of the country is literally on the ballot.”
Biden last visited Little Haiti in 2010 when he came to Miami to meet with Haitian community leaders after the Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti to announce the designation of Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, by President Barack Obama for eligible Haitian nationals because of the disaster, which left more than 300,000 dead. Trump has since tried to terminate the status, which is now the subject of at least a halfdozen federal lawsuits.
Biden opened Monday’s return visit by recalling that 2010 visit, during which a photo of him with Haitian community activist Marleine Bastien was taken. That photo was used during the recent Democratic National Convention.
“This is not the time to lift it,” Biden said of TPS. “This is not the time to end it. “
A devout Roman Catholic, who in 2010 quietly stopped at nearby Notre Dame d’Haiti Catholic Church to pray after meeting with the community, Biden stressed that like Haitians, he too was a man of faith and believed in honoring families.
“Family first,” he said, touching on a cultural heartstring of Haitians. “What we need is faith. We need to have faith .... You’ve reached out, you’ve left nobody behind. You made sure that people know they have a home with you. There’s nothing more difficult to deal with, to experience, the loss of family.”
Biden steered clear of Haitian politics on Monday, and instead appealed to Haitians on what’s happening in America, including the COVID-19 pandemic. Still, his campaigned emphasized a first by any U.S. presidential candidate: the outlining of specifics of how a Biden-Harris administration would benefit Haitians.
Ahead of Monday’s meeting, the campaign issued a “fact sheet” on the former vice president’s commitment to Haitian Americans, if elected. President Trump, the campaign said, has “abandoned and insulted” Haiti and “has pursued policies that undermine U.S. interests and hurt and disrespect millions of Haitian Americans in the United States.”