{"id":5059382,"date":"2024-06-28T09:22:43","date_gmt":"2024-06-28T13:22:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/malatinonews.com\/?p=5059382"},"modified":"2024-06-28T09:22:43","modified_gmt":"2024-06-28T13:22:43","slug":"why-dont-we-go-to-the-roots-of-haitis-problems-before-were-jumping-to-conclusions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/maln\/2024\/06\/28\/why-dont-we-go-to-the-roots-of-haitis-problems-before-were-jumping-to-conclusions\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Why don\u2019t we go to the roots of Haiti\u2019s problems before we\u2019re jumping to conclusions?\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In partnership with Boston University students, Where Mainstream Media Fails is a four-part series highlighting critical issues in underserved communities across Boston that have gone underreported. This series comments on how mainstream media continues to ignore or misrepresent Boston\u2019s racially and ethnically diverse communities. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each piece is merely a starting point for MA Latino News\u2019 reporters, and hopefully other Boston-centered newsrooms, that inspires a deeper dive into complex issues that uniquely impact diverse and historically underrepresented communities across the city.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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PART 2:<\/strong><\/mark> MATTAPAN\u2019S HAITIAN-AMERICAN COMMUNITY\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Past the busy road of Blue Hill Avenue in Mattapan, on a side street surrounded by auto body shops, there is a green warehouse with a low drumming rhythm coming from it. There are no big banners or elaborate decorations, just a worn sign that says \u201cThe Voice of the Gospel Tabernacle.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Service starts in five minutes. The music swells and women in yellow dresses summon the congregation to their feet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cMerci Seigneur! Merci Seigneur! Hallelujah! Hallelujah,\u201d a woman in a white blazer shouts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The growing congregation stands and waves their hands. They sing in Haitian Creole. Worship has started, with families hand in hand with each other. Some have been here for decades, others for days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mattapan\u2019s Haitian community has been overwhelmed with the recent wave of immigration into the city. After decades of political unrest exploded in their native country, families look to their local leaders for guidance. Yet, as shelters housing newly arriving immigrants fill up, reporters have been missing from the picture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is not an isolated incident, nor has it improved. Local leaders in Mattapan have been overwhelmed with trying to meet migrants\u2019 needs as they arrive in Boston, and they\u2019re looking to the press to shed light on these issues. Most leaders have said that media coverage on Mattapan\u2019s growing community has not been as extensive as they had hoped. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhy don\u2019t we go to the roots of Haiti\u2019s problems before we\u2019re jumping to conclusions?\u201d said Deputy Director James Colimon of Global Affairs & Protocol for the City of Boston. \u201cWhat sells is the fact that [they] can say, \u2018Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. They are from a shithole country\u2019, pardon my French. That\u2019s not constructive to anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Suggested Article: <\/mark><\/a><\/strong>Some Latinos in East Boston Feel Forgotten<\/mark><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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At the Immigrant Family Services Institute Inc., workers have been providing assistance to migrants as they filter into the city. The center\u2019s makeshift cubicles separate the different departments that address everything from adult education to legal affairs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dieufort Fleurissant, who heads The Voice of the Gospel Tabernacle church in Mattapan, has been responding to the needs of recently arrived migrants. His phone doesn\u2019t stop ringing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I say we work eight days a week, I mean it,\u201d said Fleurissant, who is popularly known as Pastor Keke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He\u2019s been running around the city helping in any way that he can, like taking the time to meet with local politicians and other immigrant advocacy groups, but plenty of work lies ahead for the pastor as he attempts to highlight the plight of the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen it comes to immigration, we all come together,\u201d he said. \u201cThey don\u2019t have to start from the bottom.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLa vie continue, La vie continue,\u201d says a man in a brown blazer as he laughs with Fleurissant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Life continues, life continues.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

People hug and kiss one another, and parents chase their kids around. The congregation begins to sway with the music. Hands are raised. People clap along with the drum\u2019s rhythms. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The band stops playing for a moment, but the singing carries on. For one verse\u2014the only verse sung in English\u2014they sing, \u201cIn the name of Jesus, break every chain, break every chain, break every chain.\u201d They repeat this over and over until the song ends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Boston\u2019s media coverage of the local Haitian community and the conflict, including brutal gang violence, in their mainland often conveys political commentary that questions US and French intervention. On occasion, there are feature pieces that focus on immigrants\u2019 detrimental inability to find work. In rare circumstances, reporters will spotlight a naturalized immigrant or first-generation citizen who has found success. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mattapan is not the same as it once was, when crime was the major story. Yet, the same negative portrayals of the neighborhood remain. An online search of the words \u201cMattapan\u201d or \u201cHaitian\u201d on the websites of Boston\u2019s larger media outlets shows articles that are primarily centered around crime, with fewer stories focusing on the full scope of the local Haitian-American community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe media is very reactive to the Haitian community,\u201d Colimon said. \u201cIt’s only when something happens and it’s usually not for something good.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Repetitive and superficial coverage on marginalized communities perpetuates harmful stereotypes, while in-depth stories on migrants\u2019 complex experiences can build people\u2019s empathy and knowledge of such growing local communities. Otherwise, it is difficult to understand the hardships a person faces when leaving their homeland and traveling, in perilous conditions, to a new place where they don\u2019t know a single person. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur country\u2014native country of Haiti\u2014is in crisis,\u201d said Boston City Councilor At-Large Ruthzee Louijeune. \u201cSo, it\u2019s often times really hard being able to hold both a sense of pride in your culture and a desire to do the work to make things better for folks here, and a sense of heartbreak about what\u2019s happening in Haiti.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Le Foyer, a bakery sitting somewhat secluded off of Blue Hill Avenue, is a staple in the community with its irresistible offerings\u2014giant oatmeal raisin and white macadamia cookies are made in-house. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With no indoor seating, people come in and out, filing into a single line leading up to the register. Atop the bakery case and on the wall behind it, are photos and certificates recognizing the business\u2019 impact on the community. The cashier proudly wears a large necklace recollected of Haiti as its adorned with white, red and blue beads. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That Haitian pride is also on full display at Bon Appetit Restaurant on Livingstone Street and Blue Hill Avenue. The walls are lined with Haitian flags, sports memorabilia, and promotional posters for local DJ\u2019s. TVs showcase the daily news, while a stand features a tourist guide of Haiti and a pair of slides with the Haitian seal on them, reading \u201cIn Union, There is Strength\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Pride permeates the atmosphere of both the cafe and the restaurant, as well as the food that they serve. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

An inexpensive order of \u201cpoulet\u201d and the hypnotizing sounds of Kompa flows from the speakers, transporting Haitian residents back to their homeland. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou will definitely find the largest Haitian population in Mattapan,\u201d Fleurissant said. \u201cIt\u2019s like an economic hub\u2026 people love to come to Mattapan because they’ll be able to shop cultural food.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As of 2017, there are around 25,000 Haitians in Boston\u2014making up 3.7% of the city’s population\u2014according to the Boston Planning and Development Agency. Of that percentage, nearly all Haitians in Boston reside in Mattapan and Dorchester. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are on [the] third and fourth generations of Haitians in Boston,\u201d Louijeune said. \u201cStudents in school, either their grandparents or great grandparents are from Haiti. I think showing our longevity too is important.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Boston is home to the third largest Haitian community in the nation, serving as a hub for those fleeing conflict in the mainland, which continues to escalate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With tensions in Haiti rising in the past couple of years, a surplus of migrants have been coming to Boston to not just find a new home, but a new life entirely. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUnderstand, Haiti in general has been going through lots of turmoil,\u201d said Fleurissant. \u201cEvil situations continue to permeate in Haiti that have not received any coverage from the mainstream media.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Currently, an alliance of gangs\u2014who refer to themselves as \u201cViv Ansanm\u201d, meaning \u201cLive Together\u201d\u2014have been agitating to oust the current Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who announced his intent to resign on March 12. Gang members have subjected civilians to acts of kidnapping, theft, physical assault, and armed violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf I was in Haiti right now, I would want to get out as soon as possible because it’s hell on earth,\u201d said Colimon.  \u201cHowever, is that the solution? It\u2019s a bandaid on a wet wound.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of the Haitian migrants who arrive in Boston end up in Fleurissant\u2019s church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, churches in the area provide what the media cannot. They have become more than places of worship. They\u2019re havens of support for newly arrived immigrants who need help assimilating into the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs a pastor, I am always hopeful,\u201d said Fleurissant. \u201cI can see a bright future for Haitians in Boston\u2026I draw my strength from God; things will definitely change.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On a recent Sunday, churchgoers entered the worship room and filled the aisles of foldable chairs in Total Health Christian Ministries in Mattapan. The band, dressed in variations of the same hues of blue and red as the Haitian flag, sang and played their memorized music. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Worshippers shouted passionately as the piano\u2019s melody and the crash of drum cymbals flooded the room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fleurissant, speaking on the importance of solidarity and what it means to put others\u2019 needs above your own, preaches. His hands act as extensions of his words. Keke takes off his glasses, pointing at the audience and himself, stressing forgiveness and self-reflection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the sermon, he introduces a trio of reporters to five migrant families who have recently arrived in Boston and had been staying at a shelter within the Melnea A. Cass Recreational Complex.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The migrants gather in a stockroom in the basement of the church.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the migrants, Joseph Wanboche, was the most vocal of the group. The other four families were hesitant to speak. But they said Wanboche\u2019s story was no different from their own. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking through a translator, Wanboche described the long and tortuous journey to get to America with his wife and toddler.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[This is] not something that we want to do,\u201d he said. \u201cWe don\u2019t want to leave our country behind, but it\u2019s something that we need to do in order to survive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He endured a journey many Haitian immigrants have taken. He said he escaped his homeland, leaving his parents behind. For a time, he lived in Chile, before fleeing from one country to another. At one point, he said he and his family trekked through Panamanian jungles where they were surrounded by dangerous animals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI had to leave my country due to the violence,\u201d Wanboche said. \u201cThe police were asking for money to transfer to the U.S.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wanboche emphasized that as migrants, they do not have enough resources in Boston to find permanent housing. While some migrants have families here, who are ready to receive them, they have yet to find economic opportunities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll the glory goes to God,\u201d Wanboche said. \u201cHe was the only one that helped me through the journey. I was coming here with only my family and nobody else was helping me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wanboche\u2019s toddler clinged to his side. His son had seen the same things along the way. That night, he would sleep with his parents in an overcrowded shelter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This story is part of a student reporting series on how underrepresented communities are covered in the media. Student reporters were part of Professor Meghan Irons\u2019 Reporting in Depth class at Boston University.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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