Wed, Jul 14, 2010

If the State Department has a desire to communicate important information to the Haitian Diaspora: Who will they call? If these states, such as New Jersey, NY, Florida, Georgia, California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Louisiana, Arizona and so on, want to communicate pertinent information to the Haitian Diaspora within their own state: Who they will call?

If the state of Haiti requested the presence of an official Delegation of the Haitian Diaspora in the U.S to attend an important function: Whose going to be part of that official Delegation? When the Haitian Parliament decides to amend the 1987 Constitution, it will create a constitutional amending commission. It will be great to include a member of the Haitian Diaspora in the U.S., Canada and so on. Who will be invited?

Today, no one in this room can answer these legitimate questions. If I ask the same questions to many Jews and the Cubans in the U.S., they will provide an answer.  (Other nationalities such as Jews and Cubans do influence the U.S. policy toward their country.)  

Organization is the key of creating a structural Haitian Diaspora in the U.S.  If we organize ourselves and put structure in place, we will be able to influence the U.S. policy toward Haiti and most significantly we will receive respect from the new Haitian generation who has been complaining tremendously.

How to organize the Haitian Diaspora in the U.S.?

A long time ago, NY and Miami used to be the strong hold of the Haitian Diaspora but during the last 20 years we have seen a score of emerging Haitian communities throughout the continental of the United States and the territories. 

It is neither by chance nor accident that we convene today in Chicago, a city that was founded by a Haitian National in 1772. It is neither by chance nor accident that many of our ancestors who freed Haiti were involved in the Battle of Savannah in 1779. There is always some precedence that Haitian decedents are known for their creativity and their heroine.

We have done great things in the past and we had a great past. During our independence war, we had various groups that were fighting the French independently like we have today scores of Haitian based organizations that are assisting Haiti independently. They are winning many battles but it was impossible to win the war. The Haitian Based organizations are doing a great job in assisting the Haitian people but they were powerless in meeting all their needs and two months ago, that hunger strike can be a decisive moment to change course. On May 18, 1803 our ancestors had finally convened at Arcahais and created a Union and six months later Haiti became the second independent country after the U.S. in the new world. If all these Haitian based Organizations and willing Haitian Nationals and friends of Haiti can link themselves together, I strongly believe that they will be in a better position to assist the country effectively and efficiently.

The time to organize the Haitian Diaspora in the U. S. was yesterday and we can do it. Two years ago, I was invited to the Atlanta Regional Commission for a snapshot. I saw the representative member of the Somalis Community, the Mexican, the Nicaraguan, the Brazilian, the Jamaican, the Congolese, and the Ethiopian and so on and I wish that the Haitian diasporas could have been represented.

Many of you today are coming from various states and Haitian communities; I wish that you could have represented the Haitian communities of New Jersey, NY, Miami, Chicago, Boston, and Atlanta and so on.

Here are my suggestions:

We can create a temporary Representative Team of 11 members with volunteers from various states such as Florida, NY, Illinois, New Hampshire, MA, California, and New Jersey and so on. The required criterions: would have to be fully committed and involved and it must be a situation to whereas it was diverse. 

And at the same time, we have to organize ourselves within our individual state and also our needs are different from state to state.

1) A city Link (One representative)                2) A county Link  (One representative)

3) A metro Link  (One representative)            4) a District Link  (One representative)

5) A State Link  (One representative)

Then divide the U.S. into 4 to 5 regions

Western Region (One representative)             Northern Region (One representative)

Eastern Region (One representative)              Southern Region (One representative)

Midwest Region (One representative)

Each Region will then select a Regional Delegate and These five Regional Delegates are ipso facto the legitimate elected leaders of the Haitian Diaspora in the U.S. Among them they will vote for a president (for protocol only) but all five shall have the same power and everything must be decided by an open vote. If we arrive to put this in place, we will be in our way to assist Haiti more efficiently, influence the U.S. policy toward Haiti and Haitian Nationals and also play a political role in the U.S. and as well as in Haiti. 

It is doable and it can be done. Can we use the power of the net to link every willing Haitian Community throughout the United States? Yes, we can.  If we organize ourselves, we can canvass ourselves to make a difference and influence policies in the U. S. Most Haitian nationals who are coming here have to struggle like we did; again, if we organize ourselves, we can make their transition a little better and we can assist Haiti effectively and efficiently.  

We have to learn from our ancestors; back then, they knew that they had to unify to win the war; today, if you want to win the economic war, if you want to assist the Haitian people back home, we have no other choice but to unify our force.  My fellow Haitian people, we are living in a country of opportunity and a country that has always used the language of compromise to resolve its problems. We are also the product of a compromise and a Union.

La promotion de l’homme Haïtien aux Etats-Unis; La fierté de l’Haïtien; Sa capacité de travail; Ensemble on peut tout, seul on ne peut rien, il faut l’Union. Maintenant, concrétisons cette devise qui n’a jamais été appliquée en Haïti. Prenons cette devise, unissons-nous, “mettez-nous” ensemble, unissons pour être plus fort.

Joseph Alfred,

P.O. BOX 1022

Douglasville, GA 30133-1022

Phone: 770-262-6621

Email: joe_alfred@yahoo.com

Email: hcrinformation@gmail.com