Haitian Community Flexes Its Political Muscle

Election day is tomorrow and Haitian Americans are heading to the polls with a lot of pressing issues on their minds. Across the country, a number of Haitian-American candidates won primaries earlier this year and are looking to secure city, state and national seats.

Mathylde Frontus, the child of Haitian immigrants, secured a surprise win in a heavily-contested Democratic nomination for the 46th Assembly District seat in Coney Island by a razor-thin margin. The previous assemblywoman, Pamela Harris, was forced to resign in disgrace this year after she plead guilty to charges of fraud in June for stealing $25,000 designated for survivors of Superstorm Sandy.

Frontus has spent decades working as a community organizer in the district — which covers Coney Island, Sea Gate, parts of Bay Ridge, Brighton Beach, Dyker Heights and Gravesend — and is now a professor of social work at Columbia and New York University.

“I hope to bring fresh thinking to the 46th AD [Assembly District] and a focus on community inclusion and engagement,” she told The Haitian Times. “I’d like to invite my constituents to have a seat at the table and inform the the decisions I make as their legislator.”

“Since I was a teenager, I’ve been involved in various community projects such as volunteering at my local soup kitchen and helping the homeless connect to services. I founded a multi-service non-profit organizations that offered a range of services to the community such as job and housing search assistance, legal referral and final literacy, in addition to founding 2 anti-violence coalitions which brought various stakeholders together to combat gun violence,” she added.

Frontus said she managed to beat her heavily-backed primary opponent, Ethan Lustig-Elgrably, through grassroots organizing and on-the-ground campaigning. Despite her win, Lustig-Elgrably is still running on the Working Families Party line and may siphon votes from her as she battles the Republican candidate, Steve Saperstein.

Mathylde Frontus. Photo Credit: Mathylde Frontus Facebook

“I have a history of meeting the needs of district and coming up with innovative programming like the first veterans outreach program in Coney Island, youth leadership programs, workshops for aspiring small business owners,” she said. “I’ve been more hands on and understand the needs of the various corners of the district from the west end of Coney Island to Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights.”

While Frontus works to win her seat, other Haitian Americans that secured early primary wins, like Assemblywoman Rodneyse Bichotte, are likely headed toward easy victories thanks to heavily Democratic districts in New York. Francois Pierre-Louis, a political science professor at Queens College, said Haitian-American visibility through politics in New York and other cities has created a politically-active base of voters that can get candidates into office.

He cited Haitian-American officials in the administration of New York Mayor David Dinkins as well as others in subsequent city administrations that helped provide a starting point for Haitian-American political activity in New York.

“There has been an evolution of the politics of Haitian Americans, since the Haitian community really started to form in the 1960s. At one time, Haitians had no political power at all, but by the beginning of 2006, we began to have elected officials in New York City, and Florida had them much sooner,” he said.

“We began to have a critical mass of Haitians engaging in local politics and club politics,” Pierre-Louis added, mentioning that Democratic Party political leader and campaign strategist Patrick Gaspard had been able to elevate Haitians beyond local communities and into national politics. Now that officials like Gaspard, who was appointed ambassador to South Africa during Barack Obama’s presidency, have been able to expand upward, politicians like Frontus were able to win in districts without large Haitian populations.

Pierre-Louis told The Haitian Times that while politics in New York and Florida are vastly different, Haitians have been able to make their way into the political system in both states by promoting issues pertinent to the community and striving to be advocates for those who have traditionally been marginalized.

“New York City is not as competitive as other parts of the country because it is heavily Democratic, so once you win the primary you are likely to win the whole election. While Haitians in Florida have been involved in politics for longer, they have more issues to face because they are in a Republican state and have to jockey for power with other groups,” he told The Haitian Times.

“It is going to be interesting to see how elected officials behave, because as you know immigration is a major issue for the Haitian community. The Trump administration has created a negative atmosphere for immigrants. I think this election is crucial because there needs to be a balance of power, so that one party does not dominate government.”

Andrew Gillum Kicking off La Perle de Miami: Little Haiti Tour at the Little Haiti Cultural Complex! – at Little Haiti Cultural Center. Photo Credit: Andrew Gillum Twitter

Florida is in the midst of a heavily contested gubernatorial race between former Jacksonville Mayor Andrew Gillum and Republican U.S. Representative Ron DeSantis. Haitian-American Angie Jean-Marie is the director of #VoteTogether, a national initiative aimed at increasing voter participation in the 2018 elections. She has been working to promote voting everywhere but plans to hold a number of large events in Miami’s Little Haiti area.

“Our research shows that when communities come together in celebration of the act of voting, voter participation can increase between one and four percentage points. That’s why we’re engaging voters through events designed to bring together families, friends, students and neighbors in celebration of civic engagement and the act of voting,” she said.

“Our goal is to celebrate Election Day the same way we celebrate the 4th of July.”

The group is working with more than 180 state and local partner organizations to hold events on election day and popularize the day with young people and marginalized communities, and it seems to be having an effect. Across the country, states are seeing record early voting numbers and both parties are campaigning until the final seconds to get their ideas directly to voters.

President Donald Trump has focused heavily on immigration during his rallies across the country ahead of Nov. 6, using inflammatory rhetoric to drum up support for struggling Republican candidates.

One Republican even mentioned Haitians specifically last week when asked about Trump’s stated desire to end birthright citizenship — which is explained and protected by the 14th amendment. South Carolina Congressman Mark Sanford claimed the amendment was only meant for former slaves and that he was “not a fan of it.”

“The idea that you just happen to come in from Haiti or anywhere else, and just because you get your boat to shore, all of a sudden you’re open to the same rights and privileges as anybody else is—I think that’s at odds with the intent,” Sanford explained. “I think it was ultimately about slavery at the time, and rights that should come to former slaves.”

Trump and his supporters continue to use harsh stance against immigration from Haiti and other predominantly black and Latino countries as a talking point to gain voter support. Since Trump became president, he has repeatedly mentioned Haitians specifically as examples of people he does not want in the United States, going so far as to tell Senators in December that “all Haitians have AIDS.”

Under Trump, immigration, always a key issue to Haitians has become even more important as he has vowed to end TPS for Haitians by next July.  While the issue has dominated headlines, the Haitian community is also focused on a wide variety of issues related to life in New York. Frontus said that her campaign has focused on local issues like education and housing; problems that every community in New York is dealing with in one way or another.

“My district doesn’t have that many Haitians, compared to other parts of NYC such as Flatbush, Brooklyn or parts of the Upper West Side of Manhattan or Cambria Heights, Queens,” Frontus said.

“For the few that do live in my Assembly District, they care about the same issues as everyone else: affordable housing, public safety, and ensuring that their children have access to a good quality education.”

*This article was featured on the Haitian Times website on November 5, 2018: https://haitiantimes.com/2018/11/05/haitian-community-flexes-its-political-muscle/

Letitia James: Decisions Impacting Haitian Community From Trump, Sessions ‘Must Be Challenged’

The Democratic primary race for New York State attorney general has suddenly turned into a dogfight ahead of the election on Thursday, pitting heavily-backed New York City Public Advocate Letitia James against United States Representative Sean Patrick Maloney and law professor Zephyr Teachout.

The candidates are battling to face unopposed Republican candidate and lawyer Keith Wofford in the general election in November. Former Solicitor General Barbara Underwood was forced to take over the position in May after Eric T. Schneiderman resigned amid a scandal over accusations he had abused several women.

James started the race as the frontrunner, securing the party’s endorsement in May and a helping hand from Governor Andrew Cuomo. But a Sienna Poll released yesterday found that the race is now nearly a dead heat, with Maloney in the lead at 25 percent and James right behind at 24 percent. Teachout is not far off either, getting 18 percent of the poll surveying 509 Democratic voters. Leecia Eve, a former Hillary Clinton aide from Buffalo, is also running.

Increasingly vocal critics to James’ left have pushed back against seemingly all “establishment” candidates — especially those tied to Cuomo — despite her impressively long record of advocacy, across-the-board support from most of the state’s labor unions and liberal bona fides on many key issues.

In an interview with Haitian Times, James said voters should focus on what the state’s attorney general can do to oppose many of the worst policies that have come out of Washington since Donald Trump’s election win. One of the most devastating Trump administration decisions to come down the pipeline since the last election is the imminent termination of temporary protected status for Haitian immigrants on July 22, 2019.

More than 5,200 Haitians in New York City alone will be affected by the move, and James said the attorney general was integral in fighting back against policies like these.

“I’m going to work with a collection of AGs across the country to oppose this administration’s disastrous decisions. It is important that we protect the rights of immigrants, enforce the law and use all of our efforts to help people stay in this country,” she said, adding that in general, there needed to be a more robust effort to help immigrants understand the legal system and, more importantly, understand what rights they are afforded under New York State law.

She noted Underwood’s significant role in the lawsuits against the Trump administration decision in March to add a question about U.S. citizenship status to 2020 census forms. In July, a federal judge in Manhattan allowed two cases against the new rule to move forward, led in part by Underwood, who is representing New York in the multi-state lawsuits. Before Schneiderman resigned, he had taken more than 100 legal or administrative actions against the Trump administration, and earlier this summer Underwood sued Trump for using his foundation to fund his campaign and business.

James said the question was designed to disproportionately affect immigrant communities and added that she was eager to join other states in the fight to get it removed. The Census Bureau has not asked the question in nearly 70 years, and groups involved in the lawsuits pointed specifically to Trump’s heavily-criticized comments on Haitian immigrants as direct evidence that these moves, and other decisions like it, were intentionally aimed at immigrants. In January, the Washington Post and New York Times reported that Trump asked a room full of senators why the US would want any immigrants from Haiti.

“Immigrants should have access to courts and we will use our voice to help immigrants navigate the system. We want to fund more legal services across the state to help people learn their rights and know how the system works. We also have to make sure that ICE is not allowed to just arbitrarily arrest people and obstruct justice. We have to protect everyone here, including DACA residents as well,” she said.

The Brooklyn native has faced heavy criticism over the past month after telling the New York Times she did not want to be known as the “Sheriff of Wall Street” — a moniker often given to the New York attorney general — eventually revising her statement to say she wanted to focus on a number of different issues including financial crimes.

“I fully plan on fighting to root out corruption on Wall Street and going after predatory lenders. Lenders in New York are still charging excessive fees, offering no loan modifications and many are back to the same tactics they were using to defraud people before,” she told the Haitian Times this week.

“The student debt crisis is also a pertinent issue affecting voters across the state. Students are leveraging way too much debt at an early age, and I plan to take on for-profit universities that are saddling students with worthless degrees that leave them with excessive amounts of debt and no tangible way to pay it back.”

These issues also bled into the housing crisis, she said, as “zombie” homes were a clear by-product of the foreclosure process plaguing many New Yorkers and fueling the homelessness crisis.

“As a former assistant attorney general in Brooklyn, I sued a lender that was engaging in the same patterns as other abusive lenders and I brought action against them based on deceptive advertising and other abuses,” she added. She went on to describe plans to use the civil rights bureau to initiate litigation against housing discrimination and lenders violating federal as well as state law through predatory loans that target immigrants.

Part of her blueprint to help immigrants in New York is to increase awareness and access to government institutions through better language services, stating that “Haitians who speak Creole deserve to have the same services as their fellow citizens.”

As public advocate, she has introduced more legislation than anyone who held the position before her and pointed to her record as evidence of a dogged determination to bring local issues to the fore. On top of immigration, Wall Street regulation, environmental protections and the housing crisis, she mentioned that the opioid epidemic was being exacerbated by deceptive advertising from giant pharmaceutical companies who needed to be checked by the attorney general’s office.

When asked about her two major opponents in the race, James said flatly: “I have real world courtroom experience, not classroom experience. I’ve opposed Trump at every turn and never backed any of his decisions. That’s what separates me from the pack.”

*This article was featured on The Haitian Times website on September 11, 2018: https://haitiantimes.com/2018/09/11/letitia-james-decisions-impacting-haitian-community-from-trump-sessions-must-be-challenged/

Josue Pierre Leads Pack In Race For District Leader →

Election Day is approaching quickly and voters in the 42nd Assembly District are heading to the polls on Thursday with a number of important decisions to make in hotly contested state legislative party primaries. One of the most important local races is for male district leader of the 42nd Assembly District, which covers Ditmas Park, Flatbush, East Flatbush and Midwood.

Incumbent Josue Pierre won the seat in 2016, taking over for longtime district leader and president of the 70th Police Precinct Community Council, Ed Powell, after being elected to both the Democratic County Committee and the Judicial Convention in 2010, 2012 and 2014.

District leaders are unpaid but generally work to encourage local residents to be more engaged in the community politically, champion pertinent local issues within the county’s executive committee and vote to elect Democratic party leaders or judicial candidates.

Pierre, born in Haiti and raised in the Flatbush area, has worked ardently to promote and encourage increased political engagement within the Haitian-American community in the 42nd District. With the help of powerful Haitian-American Assemblywoman and female district leader Rodneyse Bichotte, he has been able to consolidate political influence in the area and give local residents a platform to voice concerns about pressing issues like immigration, housing and jobs.

He releases a monthly email for job opportunities and housing openings that local residents can sign up for all while canvassing and building coalitions with other party officials. He’s tried to become a resource for some of the 5,200 Haitians in New York City that will be affected by the Trump administration’s decision to terminate their temporary protected status on July 22, 2019. This will force thousands of families to make unconscionable decisions about whether to take American-born children and family members back to Haiti with them or leave them behind.

“People may have had a limited view of [the district leader position], but I have worked to maximize its potential and use it to affect change. Based on the work I have done here, my constituency and voters will see that he came in, and did more with what he had. If I can do this much with a position like this, I hope they could imagine any legislative position where I would have a budget, and be able to pass legislation. I hope to be their voice,” Pierre told the Haitian Times in an interview.

“I am a product of the community. Despite the challenges of growing up in central Brooklyn, and in consideration of the opportunities, I have fought to be successful and I have decided to stay in my community, and use all that i have learned, and my skill sets, to make my community greater.”

Pierre comes from a politically influential family in the district, as Bichotte is his cousin and another family member, Samuel Pierre, previously ran for a New York State Senate seat before dropping out and becoming the executive director of the Haitian American Caucus.

Since becoming district leader, Pierre has been adamant about increasing the visibility of the role and actively seeking out community thoughts on issues to bring them to other Democratic party leaders and decision makers. He said he has always wanted the Democratic Party to “feel like a localized, empowering group” that was inclusive and made people feel as though they were being heard.

As a founding member of the Shirley Chisholm Democratic Club, Pierre has worked with Bichotte to cultivate a new generation of political leaders in Brooklyn while flexing the growing leverage of the Haitian-American electorate and political machine in the area. But Pierre, through his “Opportunity for All” agenda, has stressed that the issues facing Haitian Americans were almost identical to those facing everyone in the 42nd District.   

“It is critical that the Haitian-American community not lose its culture or its sense of connectivity, but that it does be pulled into the mainstream Flatbush, Brooklyn community, because 90 percent of the issues that we face are the same issues that are facing the Caribbean, the black and even the white community,” he said.

“Everyone is concerned about housing, education and well paid jobs.”

John Wasserman, president of the Brooklyn Young Democrats, said Pierre was one of the most dynamic, up-and-coming leaders King’s County had to offer and that the group’s membership was fully behind him.

“We were very impressed with Josue’s vision for the future of not only the party, but the country. He recognizes the income inequalities currently that we’re experiencing here in Brooklyn. We really like what Josue has to say about solving those issues, including rent increases, including college affordability, including fixing our broken transit system,” he said.

“Part of that is bringing a diverse group of community residents to run for the county committee in the 42nd Assembly District, and if you go to any events he holds, you’ll recognize the diversity in the room. You’ll see young people, old people, parents, people from all economic backgrounds. He works on building bridges and brings people together.”

Voters will be deciding between re-electing Pierre or voting for one of his two challengers: Victor Jordan and Chidi Eze. Jordan is a professor and economist who has been a political operative in the district for decades, running for many local positions over the years. In addition to this race, he is also challenging Bichotte for her seat. Eze is a longtime civil rights lawyer in the community.

Jordan did not respond to requests for comment, and Eze would only confirm that he is running, declining to answer any questions about his platform or views on important issues.

Wasserman said he “hadn’t really heard of his opponents,” but added that Pierre was “at every community board meeting, at your block party, at your train stop. Everywhere.”

“I’m a big believer in taking the message to where people are. I’ve gone on to Haitian radio to talk about civic engagement. I also use social media to communicate with Haitian groups,” Pierre said. “You can’t be a civic leader and expect them to come to you. You have to take the message to where people are.”

*This article was featured on The Haitian Times website on September 10, 2018: https://haitiantimes.com/2018/09/10/josue-pierre-leads-pack-in-race-for-district-leader/