HAITI FEAR IN B’KLYN
Chaos gripping Caribbean nation hits kin in Flatbush
Residents and representatives of Brooklyn’s large and worried Haitian population are asking President Biden to ensure the protection of refugees and relatives in their homeland still reeling from the recent assassination of the embattled nation’s president.
Business owners and community leaders are backing that plea with a vigil Sunday in Little Haiti, where they plan to offer up prayers and support for loved ones suffering from the instability brought on by the latest wave of political violence.
Ever since gunmen stormed the home of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse on July 7 and assassinated him in an attack that also wounded his wife, Haitians there and abroad have been on edge — not just about the country’s political future, but about basic necessities like food and water.
That’s because in the nation already reeling from the coronavirus pandemic and an earthquake that devastated the country more than a decade ago, instability has kept many locals on lockdown, afraid to leave their homes amid the upheaval.
Even a delegation Biden sent to Haiti left shortly after arriving on Friday when gunshots rang out at Moïse’s funeral. U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-Queens), who is head of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and UN Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield led the delegation.
So, asks Brooklyn’s Sabina Dorville, if America’s top diplomats are afraid to hang around, what does that mean for her aunts and uncles and grandmother who hear the same gunfire?
“They stay at home,” said Dorville, 22, a Flatbush resident who is pursuing a master’s degree in public administration at New York University. “They don’t know when something bad is going to happen.”
Dorville, who left Haiti with her family eight years ago, lives near the Flatbush area recently designated as the Little Haiti
Cultural & Business District.
According to the most recent U.S. Census data, Haitians are the largest immigrant group in Flatbush and make up more than 20% of the neighborhood’s foreign-born population.
Worry fills the streets along Nostrand Ave., where just months ago residents were celebrating plans to rename the Newkirk Ave. subway station in honor of Little Haiti. There, community leaders will hold a vigil Sunday at 1:30 p.m. to highlight concerns about how dire the Haiti situation is.
Some of the same leaders signed their names to a letter to
Biden urging the president to offer better support to Haitians seeking asylum in the U.S.
“They’re camping outside the embassy in Haiti,” said state Assemblywoman Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, a Haitian-American who doubles as Brooklyn’s Democratic district leader. “We here in the U.S. are very concerned because we have friends, family and loved ones in Haiti.”
Like many of her constituents, Bichotte Hermelyn has been using Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp to communicate with relatives. And what she’s hearing isn’t good.
“They told me they hear gunshots,” Bichotte Hermelyn said. “They’re just afraid that anything can go haywire. They’re OK. But they stay home. People are not on the streets.
“But there will probably be a halt in the economy. Who’s going to run the electricity? Who’s going to make sure to run the Wi-Fi so we can communicate? Who’s going to provide clean water?”
Bichotte Hermelyn’s constituent services director Rebeca Lafond said her family in Haiti is suffering, as well.
“Most of my mom’s family is in Port-au-Prince,” Lafond said. “For a long time she has wanted them to come here. All she can do is send money and keep the line of communication open for them.”
She said they send money and clothes, but it’s not enough. Laford was born in Haiti, but hasn’t been back in 20 years. Her mother went back briefly when Laford’s grandmother died.
“We rarely go back over there,” Laford said. “We want to. We’re hoping for better days to come.”