|
Haitian Communities in the U.S.
Little Haiti serves up some of the best Afro-Caribbean culture
this side of the Gulf Stream, the warm-water current south
of Florida. The Miami community of some 33,000 people is alive
with the sights, sounds, smells, and tastes of Haiti. Place
names echo with Haitian pride. Avenue Felix Moisseau Leroy,
which slices through the heart of Little Haiti, bears the
name of a famous Haitian writer and poet. It leads directly
to the Toussaint L'Ouverture Elementary School, which is named
after the hero of Haitian independence.
Take a quick tour of Little Haiti by visiting the Haitian
Bicentennial Site, sponsored by the City of Miami. Then
write a short guide for tourists who want to visit this cultural
landmark.
Brooklyn’s Haitian Community
According to the 2000 census, some 200,000
Haitians live in Brooklyn—home to the largest Haitian
community in New York City. This is a sharp rise from the
52,600 who lived there in 1980.
Most of Brooklyn's Haitians live along
Flatbush Avenue. Here announcements written in French or Creole
decorate the walls, windows, and bulletin boards of stores,
churches, and government agencies such as police and fire
stations. Newspaper stands carry publications like the Haiti
Progres, a newspaper written primarily in French, and
the Haitian Times, a newspaper written in English.
Both papers offer stories about Haitian-related events not
normally covered in other sources.
The mix of languages can be heard in the
halls of Brooklyn's Walt Whitman Middle School. Here about
75% of students are of Haitian descent. Teachers challenge
them with bilingual instruction, both in English and Creole,
so that students can continue in regular all-English classes
in high school.
But learning English doesn't mean leaving
Haitian culture behind. New York's Haitian radio station,
Radio
Soleil D'Haiti, broadcasts programs in 3 languages,
24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Some 600,000 Haitians and Haitian
Americans in the New York metropolitan area tune in regularly.
There's other live entertainment, too.
The dance-and-drum group La
Troupe Makandal, for example, regularly sells out tickets
to its shows. The group, which takes its name from a enslaved
African leader, often reenacts important events in Haitian
history. In one performance, an ancestor calls out: "Have
we truly tasted freedom?"
The Haitian community of Brooklyn
is seeking to answer, "Yes!" They're finding a new
political voice in the 2000s. The Flatbush community recently
succeeded, with the help of local politicians, in renaming
a street Toussaint L'Ouverture Boulevard. It's the city's
first Haitian street name. Jean Vernet II, who grew up in
Haiti and Brooklyn, has created a computer database to unify
Haitian-American voters in the United States. He tried it
out in the 2004 election and plans to continue building a
Haitian voting bloc. "We're no longer an exiled community
who will return to Haiti shortly," he says. "It's
O.K. to be an American."
|
