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Franco-Fete Nouvelles Villes Jumelles Minneapolis September 29, 2012. Hon. Jacqueline Regis

Friday, October 5th, 2012

On September 29, those attending Franco-Fete heard very meaningful remarks from Hennepin County Judge Jacqueline Regis.

Her 12-page remarks, printed here with her permission, “Serving our Community through the unique perspective we acquired through our French language”, can be seen here: Jacqueline Regis at Franco-Fete Sep 29, 2012

Her talk concluded with sustained applause.

Judge Regis, who grew up in rural Haiti, has her own inspirational story, “The Daughter of L’Arsenal”. It is accessible at a number of sources which can be seen here.

Judge Regis is profiled in the Journal, Francophone Roots in the Midwest, Vol 4, Issue 1, Fall 2012: Hon. Jacquie Regis001

At page 7ff Judge Regis comments on a personal hero of hers, Toussaint L’Ouverture, a leader in the slave revolution which led to Haiti’s declaration of independence from France in the early 1800s. There are numerous references to L’Ouverture on the internet. Take some time to take a look.

Posted in Community, Family History, Haiti, History, International Relations, Minnesota, Peter Barus | No Responses »
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#549 – Dick Bernard: Part Two. The slow but certain suicide of Capitalism

Wednesday, April 4th, 2012

I’m not an enemy of Capitalism. From my earliest years some deference was paid to the person who lived in the biggest house in town; who occupied a position of status or rank; the most “successful” relative…. Right or wrong, they were thought to be deserving of being a bit better off.

Today, Capitalism funds my retirement pension (unless its most ruthless advocates achieve a goal of destroying my Union which provides the funding to assure my private pension solvency.)

I also have no apprehensions about Socialism. Indeed, without very strong elements of Socialism in the American economy, Capitalism would die, and Capitalism knows it, but doesn’t have the common sense to know when to quit bludgeoning the middle class and government, which are largely creatures of Socialist largesse – public schools, health and the like.

Examples to debate are endless. The Bible quote in last Sunday’s Passion (see it here) was a most interesting one, cutting the apparent Capitalist of the day considerable slack in how she spent her money.

Oh, if it were so simple.

If I were to pick an exemplar of unfettered Capitalism it would be desperately impoverished Haiti, once the jewel of the French Empire. You can find many examples of extreme wealth there; elite families benefit by friendly laws and have destroyed competition. As one gets richer and richer and richer, defeating a potential competitor is easy.

Poor as it is, I’ve heard post-earthquake Haiti described as a “goldmine”. So, somebody has a monopoly on cement; someone else on school uniforms, etc., etc., etc. And the wealthy in Haiti can enjoy their lifestyle wherever in the world they wish, while the overwhelming vast majority of the people subsist. It is a society of, by and for Capitalism; and in the last 100-200 years it is largely of the American variety. Its cruel circumstances were imported from France and the U.S., largely.

In our own U.S., the Capitalist impulse towards self-destruction is harder to see than in Haiti, but nonetheless it is apparent. We are killing ourselves.

The accelerating imbalance in wealth in America (and elsewhere) is apparent to anyone who cares to look. Last Sunday, 60 Minutes had a segment on burgeoning art markets for the super wealthy.

The wealthy have far more than enough. But, it seems, the more they have the more they want.

A friend of mine, a retired corporate manager and no friend of government or taxes, described this dynamic a few days ago, without intending to do so.

He and his wife spend February and March at one of those Florida Gulf Coast condominium complexes, and they had just returned home.

We were chatting, and the topic got around to where they stay each year.

They rent: $5,000 a month. Two bedroom, 9th floor, Gulf side.

We chatted: The owners of their condo have three or four homes. The 19 floors of their condo has over 100 units; only 6 are year round residents. The condo they rent cost $1.3 million when purchased a few years ago, and probably on a good day would now sell for $600,000. Monthly Association fees are $891, and my friend guessed that the place is rented perhaps four months a year. Most of the year it is empty. There are additional costs for upkeep. There are numerous other similar buildings in this community….

One can gather how a conversation about government, taxes, liberals, unions, etc., would go at dinner in one of the restaurants in this wealthy ghetto. Likely the owners pick as their legal residence the state which has the lowest taxes, and extract every entitlement that they can.

Yes, we have always had the better off, and mostly they were accepted and respected.

But like the semblance of balance necessary to keep a tub of clothes on spin cycle from ruining the wash machine, the obsession with more and more wealth – escalating inequity – is ruining everyone, including the very wealthy.

The wealthy are already a victim of their own greed – imprisoned by their own wealth – but its all they know. The rest of us will just tag along as their (and by extension, our) self-destruct mission continues…unless we decide to do something about it in our still free elections.

Happy Easter.

(Part one is here.)

UPDATE April 4:
John Borgen: Yes, we are a country of the corporations by the corporations for the corporations. Making profit is our holy grail. So many believe they will strike it rich, win the lottery, inherit the big bucks. Consumerism is our religion. Our citizens are drunk on TV, sports, video games, alcohol, drugs, sugar, gossip, blame, selfishness, American elitism.

Ah, the rugged individual! The entrepreneur who cashes in. Only in America!

I heard on the radio,according to the Gallop organization, the top three happiest countries are Denmark, Norway and Finland. The USA
is # 11.

Posted in Community, Economics, Haiti, History, Labor, Peace & Justice, Politics | 1 Response »

#526 – Paul Miller and Dick Bernard: Haiti, remembering eight years ago

Wednesday, February 29th, 2012

About this time of year in 2002, Paul Miller and I met each other at a meeting, and we learned we lived in the same community.

Paul was already active in the cause of Justice for Haiti, and over the coming months he began to urge me to visit the island Republic with him. It took a while. Though I was a geography major, I needed to re-learn where Haiti was, and a little about it.

Finally, Paul won me over, and on December 6, 2003, we landed in Port-au-Prince, just in time to see the democratically elected government of Jean-Bertrand Aristide begin to fall to a foreign state sponsored coup d’etat, which ended with President Aristide and his wife being spirited out of the country in the middle of the night, early Feb. 29, 2004, aboard a U.S. aircraft, with a final destination in the Central African Republic. (I guess, though I don’t recall it, that I’m the one who told Paul that Aristide had been taken out of the country.)

Our week, December 6-13, 2003, was an extraordinarily rich learning experience, which gave lots of direct context to assess the later reporting, which left out the positives we had experienced: our context simply didn’t fit the official U.S. narrative….

For those with an interest, there’s tons of information readily available from the Aristide government point of view. Don’t stop with the “official” U.S. narrative.

Following the photo (click on it to enlarge) are’s Paul’s thoughts, and following those, a link to my own reflections written late December, 2003, on our memorable week in Haiti, December 6-13, 2003.

Group visits with Michelle Karshan, President Aristede's foreign press liaison, Dec 11, 2003. From left: Jeff Nohner, Paul Miller, Rita Nohner, Michelle Karshan, Rita Nohner, Fisher, Dick Bernard

Paul Miller, February 29, 2012:

“Seems like yesterday, but also seems like a really long time ago

Haiti, 8 years later

I remember very well where I was when I learned that President Aristide had left Haiti in the early morning hours of February 29, 2004. It was my “where were you when you heard JFK was shot” moment, although I have that memory, too. It was at Caribou Coffee in Woodbury, Minnesota and my friend, who had traveled with me to Haiti in December of 2003, 3 months earlier, informed me that news reports were saying that Aristide had left Haiti. LEFT HAITI? No way, was my first thought. I did not think that Aristide would ever abdicate his presidential term in Haiti by his own choice after the 1991 coup against him and his 1994 return. Stunned and devastated would accurately describe how I received this most depressing news.

The facts would come to show that my instincts were right. President Aristide had no intention of leaving Haiti on that night or on any night during the remaining time of his presidency. Clearly he DID NOT leave that night of his own volition. You can choose to believe whatever you want to believe about US actions on this day and about US actions towards Haiti on any given day. However, if you choose to value the truth, then you will accept /learn that the facts show that Jean Bertrand Aristide was removed by US force/s and yet another coup d’etat took place in Haiti. The only real evidence offered of an alternative scenario are the self serving statements from those at the top of our government, chiefly George W. Bush, Donald Rumsfeld and the sycophantic Colin Powell.

It’s not ancient history, like a lot of our nefarious actions towards Haiti. It was 8 years ago. Yesterday it was announced that President Aristide is being investigated for drug violations. Our hypocrisy really knows no bounds. What a coincidence that once again we are challenged to question Aristide’s integrity and ethics rather than to be reminded that there was a US sponsored coup that undermined Haiti’s hope for democracy and stability on this day, 8 short years ago.”

Dick Bernard reflections written late December, 2003: accessible here.

Posted in Haiti, History, International Relations, Peace & Justice | No Responses »
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#498 – Dick Bernard: Haiti. Thoughts on the second anniversary of the earthquake

Thursday, January 12th, 2012

There are, of course, many perspectives about realities in Haiti. Following are three for the second anniversary of the earthquake, January 12, 2010. Comments are solicited. Access at the end of this post.

The Haiti micro-finance Fonkoze had a very interesting one hour Webinar on the situation ‘on the ground’ in Haiti on January 11, 2012. It can be heard/seen online here.

A significant book, Tectonic Shifts, released this week, gives many perspectives on the aftereffects of the Haiti earthquake. Details including full description of contents here.

My personal thoughts: Today is the second anniversary of the devastating earthquake in Haiti. A year ago we had Bell Ringing for Haiti at the moment of the earthquake. It was very successful. This year there are any number of commemorations of the awful event.

Haiti recovery continues, though slower than desirable. There have been and continue to be many very serious problems.

I choose a ‘good news’ message this year.

In October, 2011, my friend Paul Miller sent the following photo, taken June 1, 2011, somewhere in the Port-au-Prince area of Haiti (click on all photos to enlarge).

Natalie Miller and Lavarice Gaudin, Haiti, June 1, 2011

The photo was of Paul and Sharon Miller’s daughter, Natalie, with Lavarice Gaudin of WhatIf? Foundation, looking at locally grown Haitian agricultural produce to be used for the food program at Ste. Clare church in Port-au-Prince. (You can read the WhatIf? and Ste. Clare story here.)

This photo is a shining sign of hope for Haiti.

In November, Lavarice came to Northfield MN as a guest of the Haiti Justice Alliance, and on November 9 we heard him speak at the University of Minnesota.

Lavarice Gaudin, November 9, 2011, at University of Minnesota

I’ve been around the Haiti Justice community long enough to know the drill: there is injustice; you can go to Haiti and see injustice; someone comes from Haiti to speak about injustice. And the injustice continues.

But I’ve been seeing increasing evidence that the action conversation between Haiti and the massive number of NGOs involved in Haiti is slowly but perceptibly changing, and WhatIf?/Lavarice Gaudin/Haiti Justice Alliance together are one piece of what I hope is increasing evidence of change from a charity to a justice model of outside involvement in Haiti.

Lavarice – who we first met in Miami in March, 2006, on a visit with Fr. Gerard Jean-Juste – is native Haitian, college graduate. I had the privilege of meeting Fr. Jean-Juste at Mass in his Ste. Clare parish in early December, 2003, subsequently following his life through trial and tragedy…imprisonment and ultimately death at a too-young age. On that March, 2006, visit, I was put in touch with Fr. Jean-Juste through Lavarice Gaudin, who in turn I had learned of through passionate Haiti advocate and Haitian Marguerite Laurent (“Ezilidanto” in one of the google references to Jean-Juste, above).

I mention all of this because there are endless networks between the U.S., other countries, and Haiti. Unfortunately, the dominant ones, as our own government, have too often been negative and oppressive and dis-empowering to the Haitians.

But there are very positive networks as well. They don’t all agree on tactics and strategies, but the important thing is that they are working tirelessly for justice, part of which requires self-determination for the Haitian people, who have been denied that self-determination.

I was attracted to that photo of Natalie and Lavarice because of the many things it symbolized.

Here was a young, idealistic, American college student, an intern for WhatIf? Foundation. Here also was a Haitian with lots of talent and lots of ideals who moved easily in the U.S. and in Haiti, and who had come back to Haiti to work for a more secure future for the people of his country.

And here, symbolized by the growing corn in the field, was a Haitian farmer, who if I recall Lavarice’s words correctly, was paid for use of his land, and also paid for the produce of the land, which was in turn used to feed the people of Ste. Clare.

Certainly, this is just one example, of many, but it is an example.

A couple of days ago I had occasion to use that warm Haitian proverb, common in many cultures: “Men anpil, chay pa lou” (“Many hands [make] the load lighter.”)

This proverb presumes people working together, not at cross purposes. Many hands fighting each other does not make “the load lighter”.

The road to change is long and very, very difficult, but I hope that year three after the earthquake will bring more and more progress and true recovery to the wonderful people of Haiti.

Fr. Gerard Jean-Juste and parishioners at Ste. Clare Parish Port-au-Prince Haiti December 7, 2003

Enter the word “haiti” in the search box of this blog and you will find many references to Haiti.
My personal web site re Haiti is here. It includes a comparative map, and historic timeline. Yes, it needs updating….

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#459 -Dick Bernard: Heritage, part 3 (of 4). Michif Language and Music; Haitian Family Story and Food. Thoughts of Booyah and Culture, generally.

Saturday, October 22nd, 2011

An October theme for this writer came to be the topic of Heritage. Previous posts on this topic are here and here and here.

October 18, found me in a classroom with multi-cultural students of French at Macalester College in St. Paul MN. We were listening to Professor of French and French in America scholar Professor Virgil Benoit of the University of North Dakota speak on the Michif culture of the Chippewa Reservation at Turtle Mountain ND. Dr. Benoit is a passionate defender of the French language, one of the major world languages, and one of the most studied languages in the world.

Dr.Virgil Benoit, University of N. Dakota, at Macalester College, St. Paul MN October 18, 2011

Dr. Benoit’s video guests (from a 2005 video interview) were Turtle Mountain Michifs Dorothy and Mike Page (Mike is pictured with the fiddle above). Mr. and Mrs. Page conversed about various aspects of their culture, including use of their native Michif language, a language infrequently used at this point in their history. “Michif” is a culture and a language, usually a combination of French-Canadian and Canadian Cree ethnicity and language and customs. (A number of links related to Michif, including a fascinating conversation spoken solely in Michif, can be found here.)

A few days later, October 21, we attended a most interesting talk presented at a Minneapolis Church by Jacqueline Regis about her experience growing up in the southern peninsula of Haiti (near Les Cayes). Haiti, the second free Republic in North America (independence in 1804) was born from a revolt of African slaves against their French masters. It was viewed as a threat by slave-holding and infant United States with consequences to the Haitians lasting to this day (click on Haiti history timeline link here NOTE. the reference to 1919 should be 1915). The loss of Haiti was a major defeat for the French, however, and a direct consequence of that defeat was the co-incident sale of the huge Louisiana Purchase to the United States in 1803.

Ms Regis, long in the United States, is fluent in English but grew up speaking Kreyol and learning French, now both official national languages of Haiti, though French is the language of government and commerce.

[UPDATE: see note at the end of this post] Here is a Haitian recipe for Haitian Pumpkin Soup, served at the gathering: Haitian Recipe001. Food, along with Fun and Family, are very important parts of all cultures.

As I was listening to the Page’s and Dr. Benoit on Tuesday I began to think of a regional stew often featured at large group gatherings in this area. It is called “Booyah“, sometimes “Booya”, and when I looked it up I found it is likely actually derived from a French word, and possibly was first used as a reference to the stew in Wisconsin.

Booyah, like Americans generally these days, consists of many common elements, but no Booyah is exactly the same.

So also is American culture: very diverse. And the diversity was reflected both in the classroom and the church sanctuary in the Twin Cities this week.

Dr. Benoit, the Page’s, Jacqueline Regis, and everyone who make up the American booyah have good reason to be proud of their heritages, as reflected in the rich tapestry that is the American culture.

UPDATE October 26: an incorrect link is shown in the pdf. A reader provided the correct link for the Pumpkin Soup recipe: see it here. Other recipes here and here

Posted in Haiti, History, Minnesota, Native American, North Dakota | 1 Response »
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#438 – Dick Bernard: Some nice news about Haiti

Sunday, September 18th, 2011

I’m a regular usher at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis. It is an enjoyable task, and on occasion I see something unusual, as was the case this morning.

I was walking down the outside aisle on the downtown side of the Basilica, and saw a display case with a piece of sculpture (click to enlarge):

I looked more closely and it was just a couple of five gallon pails. Odd.

Then I looked at the identification of the particular work:

It all made more sense. Kevin McClellan has for many years been engaged in delivering fresh water to the slums of Haiti. It is his mission in life.

I googled Kevin and came up with this link, which has many photos etc.

This sighting reminded me of a special event happening on Friday of this week.

M. Jacqueline Regis, native of Haiti, and long-time corporate attorney, is being sworn in as a Judge in Minnesota’s Fourth Judicial District on Friday of this week. The event is Friday, September 23, 3-4 p.m. in the Thrivent Financial Building Auditorium, 625 Fourth Avenue South, Minneapolis. Here’s an earlier news account of her appointment to the Bench.

Soon-to-be Honorable Judge Jacqueline Regis grew up in Haiti. She has written a fascinating book about her growing up experience in Haiti. It is Daughter of L’Arsenal, and I presume remains available here.

Sincere congratulations to both Judge Regis and Kevin McClellan, who individually and together represent the best of our world society.

UPDATE September 24, 2011:
CONGRATULATIONS, Judge Jacqueline Regis

Here’s two photos at the ceremony September 23, 2011 (click on photo to enlarge)

Judge Jacqueline Regis September 23, 2011

Posted in Haiti, Peace & Justice, Quietings | No Responses »
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#339 – Dick Bernard: Part 9. The Rich

Wednesday, March 2nd, 2011

Pretty clearly, the Rich have won, at least temporarily. Not the ordinary rich, but the Filthy Rich.

Take a moment to look at what “rich” means, thanks to a series of charts published in Mother Jones magazine.

Then, there’s an interesting commentary entitled “Koch Dreams” which refers to a David Koch piece in the Wall Street Journal, and some counterpoint. That is here.

There are over 2500 comments to the Mother Jones piece. One can get a flavor by just looking at a few of them.

I am always interested in the apologies/justifications for the Rich folks: they’ve earned it, they deserve it; it’s to their credit, etc. The poor, were they not such dolts, could do as well. The America dream is open to everyone, or so the Ayn Randians suggest. Go for it.

For some of the rich, money does indeed grow on trees…until the tree dies. Ask the supposedly savvy folks who queued up to be accepted as investors by Bernard Madoff. Each of them had heard of the risk pyramid – the greater the return, the greater the risk. But the siren song of guaranteed high returns on investments proved irresistible. And then the crash came and they lost anything, and it is everyone’s fault but theirs. They earned that money, they say. Until it disappeared.

There are lots of followers of Bernie Madoff-likes….

Money does grow on trees, only because it is abundantly fertilized by those of less means. It is the middle and lower classes that fuel wealth in this and other countries. One wonders, then, why the wealthy is obsessed with making the middle class poorer, and weaker, and the lower class destitute. That is what seems to be happening these days.

If I venture outside my suburb to the inner cities, I’ll come across pan-handlers working very hard to collect enough money for their evening delight, whatever that happens to be – or for their very survival.

If I accept the stereotype – that it’s cheap booze they’re after – they have to buy the booze, and in so doing contribute to an entire food chain of wealth, right up to the super wealthy. That panhandler contributes to the wealth of that entrepreneur who markets the cheap wine. It’s legitimate business. But without the addict, it would be a little more difficult for the rich guy.

This doesn’t stop at my communities poor. I have a particular affection for Haiti. If one goes to Haiti these days, the only rice one sees is labeled American rice. That’s because the domestic Haitian rice farming enterprise was deliberately destroyed back in the 1980s by American government policy, giving the long term competitive advantage to American rice growers. Sell cheap rice, drive Haitian farmers out of business, corner the market and increase the prices…. It’s easy.

Haiti is one of the world’s poorest nations. Every time I’d go to a meeting about Haiti someone would ask why there is such an interest in keeping Haiti down. There were a number of different answers.

The one which made the most sense to me was this: there are about 8,000,000 Haitians, and if they have an average resource of $1 a day, perhaps one-fourth of that, a quarter in American dollars, goes for food, usually rice. Doing some simple math, that’s $2,000,000 a day, or $730,000,000 a year – and this in the poorest country in the hemisphere. Low hanging economic fruit.

Bigger picture: the only advantage the rich do not have is the numbers. For every rich person there might be as many as 99 who are not so rich.

This is a known problem for the wealthy, and the strategy is how to keep the vast majority quiet and in chains.

So far they’ve been successful.

But they always live in fear of being found out.

More on that in a following post.

Posted in Economics, Haiti, History, Labor, Peace & Justice | No Responses »
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#317 – Dick Bernard: Some thoughts on Haiti, Duvalier, Aristide, reconstructing the deconstructing….

Sunday, January 23rd, 2011

Baby Doc Duvalier materialized in Port-au-Prince about a week ago. You’d be led to think Duvalier’s trip was a surprise to the international community. Reading the media, it almost seems as if he just jumped on a plane and flew home after 25 years in France.

The odds of Duvalier’s trip to Haiti being unknown to the international community are about the same as my odds of winning the lottery.

His arrival has re-ignited the conversation about Haiti, particularly about the Duvalier and Aristide years.

The events brought back my own memories, recounted below. My key learning, then: take nothing at face value if the topic is Haiti or, in particular, former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

We set foot on U.S. soil after spending a week in Port-au-Prince on December 13, 2003. It had been a powerful week for me: my first visit. Basically we had met with persons and groups favorable to President Aristide, though we didn’t meet with him. We went by, but didn’t enter, the iconic Presidential Palace. Excepting the last day or two in Port-au-Prince, which were a little tense, there were no reasons to be concerned about safety. I felt welcome in Haiti.

In Miami, before the flight home, I picked up the Miami Herald for December 13 (below, click on photo to enlarge). It speaks for itself. The complete news article is here: Miami Herald 121303001) Less than three months later, Aristide would be gone.

Front page Miami Herald December 13, 2003

The trip caused me to want to learn more about the geopolitical relationship between the U.S. and Haiti, something I knew little about at the time. I’ve been studying this ever since, not only from the academic perspective, but from the grassroots as well.

Freshly home, in early January, 2004, I went to the U.S. State Department website and discovered the following news release on Haiti (Click on it to enlarge. There’s no need to look for it on-line – it disappeared from the State Departments website and cyberspace by the middle of 2004, if I recall correctly.

Handwritten notation on left margin added by Dick Bernard early 2004

I wrote the Haiti desk at the State Department in mid-January, 2004, asking where the money identified for Haiti had been spent (relevant documents here 04001). Much to my surprise, in early February, I received a phone call from the State Department. I simply restated my desire to have information in writing. At this point, I was still very trusting of my government…I thought my question would be very easy to answer, since it was directly from an official document and very recent as well.

Succinctly, I never got a detailed answer to my question, even after a Freedom of Information Act request, and a passage of two and a half years. By the time I dropped my request, the matter had been turned over to U.S. AID and the Department of Defense. My last response from USAID seemed to indicate that the person knew more than she was authorized to tell me; Department of Defense never did provide specifics.

I received only incomplete and vague information from my Government about how it spent my tax money. I became enough of a nuisance so that I am probably a name on file in Washington.

Seven years after that first trip to Haiti I have had no choice but to conclude that even official U.S. government information cannot be trusted, regardless of the source; and that the likeliest reason for the non-disclosure in 2004 was that the so-called U.S. aid to Haiti was primarily being used to destabilize and ultimately overthrow the democratically elected government of Haiti on February 29, 2004. I found other evidence of blatant dishonesty in U.S. reporting of another important event in Haiti. There is the additional problem of deliberate dessemination of misinformation via supposedly credible sources who may not even know they are spreading untrue information.

The initial information about President Aristide’s motivation and intention to help his people, which I received on that first trip to Haiti, turned out to stand the test of time, and was credible, and endures even after constant attempts to destroy Aristide’s reputation.

Now information – and misinformation – is again swirling, occasioned by Duvalier’s return to Haiti; and the seeming continued efforts to smear Aristide and keep him out of his native land.

An excellent 16-page booklet, We Will Not Forget! The Achievements of Lavalas in Haiti by Laura Flynn and Lisa Roth was released in 2005, and reprinted in 2010, which endeavored to tell the largely untold story of what the Aristide administration was working for – and toward – in Haiti. Simply type the title in your search engine for more information. It is worth reading.

There are many chapters yet to be written about Haiti.

Keep seeing Haiti.

My personal perspectives on the Haiti I visited in 2003 and again in 2006 can be found here. While the site needs updating, I have continued to be very engaged on the geopolitics of Haiti and particularly the United States.

Posted in Haiti, History, International Relations | No Responses »

#316 – Bells for Haiti Committee: Final Report on the One Year Anniversary Project Remembering 35 seconds in Haiti, 3:53 p.m. CST January 12, 2010

Friday, January 21st, 2011

The Bells for Haiti Committee is grateful for the response around the United States to the one year anniversary project which culminated with bell-ringing and other events on or surrounding January 12, 2011.

The Committee met to debrief the activity on January 20, 2011, and following is its report.

GENERAL:
1. The project evolved over about a one month period beginning in early December, 2010. All members of the Konbit-Haiti/MN list* were invited to attend. American Refugee Committee (ARC) hosted each meeting at its Minneapolis office, providing lunch (thank you, ARC!) There was no budget, no expenditures (other than those incurred by ARC or the committee members themselves). Committee members shared their time and pooled diverse talents to organize and publicize the event.
2. The group decided early on to keep the project very simple: Bell Ringing at 3:53 p.m. CST on the one year anniversary of the earthquake, January 12, 2011.
3. An early decision, thanks to Lisa Van Dyke, was to set up a Facebook events page which remains as Bells for Haiti.
4. Group members publicized the event through their own networks, including their own media contacts.
5. Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network and Minnesota Alliance of Peacemakers lent their name and support to the event as co-sponsors.

RESULTS:
1. The results on January 12, 2011, far exceeded the expectations of any of the group members.
A. The Mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul issued proclamations for the day (see below, click on image to enlarge)
B. At peak, over 3500 people expressed an interest in Bells for Haiti via the Bells for Haiti Facebook page; these people were all over the United States and in Haiti.
C. Bells were rung in a wide variety of places all over the country, including Minneapolis City Hall, the Cathedral of St. Paul, the Basilica of St. Mary and many others places. (Partial list here.) There was significant media interest and coverage of the activity

Basilica of St. Mary rings the bells for Haiti, Minneapolis MN 3:53 p.m. CST January 12, 2011

D. Additional activities and observances were held in various places to recognize the anniversary.
E. The specific activity added very positively to the media coverage of Haiti during the anniversary period.
2. Most importantly, the event brought together people with an interest in Haiti, and renewed commitment to help in the countries recovery.

LEARNINGS:
1. Representatives of diverse groups can come together on an ad hoc basis and accomplish significant goals which they would not be able to accomplish alone. (A quotation heard later the same day we debriefed: “None of us is as smart as all of us”, attributed to former MN Gov Rudy Perpich, on the benefits of sharing talents, resources and energy.
2. Used prudently and creatively, Facebook is an incredible resource for such an event. A Facebook event page is easy to create and to manage.
3. By focusing on things we agreed on, there was less loss of time on things on which we couldn’t agree on, and there were opportunities even within the committee meetings to enter into dialogue about items on which we might disagree.

FOR THE FUTURE:
1. We have decided to keep the Bells for Haiti Facebook page open, simply adding a very brief message at the beginning of the event, leaving all the rest of the content intact. We will be sending a brief message to all of those who participated, inviting them to share thoughts, plans etc., as time goes on. One of us will monitor the page periodically to remove postings that are inappropriate. We were new at this process, so made some mistakes, but apparently they were not fatal. We learned from our experience.
2. We are hoping for a one year anniversary meeting of the Haiti Konbit group on that groups one year anniversary: Tuesday, April 26, 2011. We are not in charge of this event, but solicit persons and groups who are willing to host, suggest topics and/or speakers for such a reunion gathering.

Committee members who participated in planning and implementing the activity are as follows. All were part of the informal Konbit [pronounced cone-beet]-Haiti/MN group including 25 Twin Cities groups dedicated to helping Haiti in sundry ways*:

Therese Gales and Jenna Myrland, American Refugee Committee; Lisa Van Dyke, Spare Hands for Haiti; Mike Haasl, Global Solidarity Coordinator, Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis; Rebecca Cramer, Haiti Justice Committee; Dale Snyder, Haiti Outreach; Jacqueline Regis, Haitian-American attorney and author; Lisa Rothstein, Healing Hands for Haiti; Sue Grundhoffer, No Time for Poverty; Ruth Anne Olson, St. James Episcopal Church, Minneapolis; Bonnie Steele, St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Church, Maple Grove MN; Dick Bernard, Basilica of St. Mary, Minneapolis, Fonkoze, and Haiti Justice Alliance, Northfield MN.

* – If you or your group is interested in being added to the Konbit list, please contact dick_bernardATmsnDOTcom. This is a group primarily based in the Twin Cities area of MN, has no dues, organization or regular meeting structure. It is an informal alliance which functions to help people remain connected.

Related posts: type Haiti or Bells for Haiti in search box.

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#315 – Dick Bernard: Haiti. Duvalier. The Punishment and Justice Narrative…and the Reconciliation Possibility

Tuesday, January 18th, 2011

I woke early in the morning of Martin Luther King Day, January 17, 2011. The purpose was to publish #314, which is here.

In front of me was a note from my spouse from a couple hours earlier. It deserves to be presented as I saw it:

On screen were a couple of e-mails about Duvalier’s return.

I added a few comments to the end of #314, and clicked publish. They remain “my first draft of history”, as I see it.

Off to morning coffee a little later, I noted that the January 17 Minneapolis Star Tribune, hardly a Haiti focused newspaper, gave the story front page status, and 27 column inches. In the news biz, that’s a major story.

Now the debate is raging, particularly within the community that has an interest in Haiti policy: Whose fault is this? What does it mean? What should be done? And on and on and on.

I keep thinking of Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Fr. Gerard Jean-Juste. Three are living, half are dead. Two of them were assassinated, most all of them were imprisoned or exiled. All were labeled by opposing persons and groups as, in one sense or another, enemies of the state, corrupt, even evil. It’s called political positioning….

And each had followers: people who believed in them; thought they were doing some good.

So did the Duvalier’s.

What would they all be saying? What will those still living have to say in coming hours and days?

I’m hardly an acknowledged ‘expert’ on Haiti, but I think I know a lot more than most, and I’ve made an effort to stay well informed over the years. The very short ‘course’: the Duvalier’s were cast as crooks and evil; Aristide has been cast as basically the same; Haiti has scarcely benefitted from hundreds of years of meddling from outside, in the most recent several hundred years primarily by France and the United States of America, neither of which had much time for a state of freed slaves.

Of the people I met in my first trip to Haiti, December, 2003, two have been murdered – one within two days of my meeting him; a couple were tossed in prison not long after on what were quite certainly trumped up charges; within three months most of the rest were in hiding or out of the country after the 2/29/2004 coup.

Quite inadvertently I got a University level introduction to what most never read in books or even hear in conversations.

Adding to the mix is the not always helpful role of what has been described as 10-16,000 independent NGO’s (non-governmental organizations) trying to do something in Haiti, from the micro to the macro – all this in a country one-eighth the size of my own state of Minnesota. Indeed I heard a U.S. embassy official recently describe Haiti as a Republic of NGO’s. This is not helpful to anyone, including the NGO’s, and most especially not helpful to the long-term for the Haitians themselves. We’ve all heard the term, “too many cooks in the kitchen”. Haiti has tens of thousands….

The purpose of this piece is to plea for some perspective, and for some consideration of positive possibilities in the wake of this news development.

Shortly, apparently today, in a few hours, Baby Doc will say something in Port-au-Prince and we’ll get his ‘spin’ on his return to his native land.

Personally, I keep thinking that this is a unique moment: a unique opportunity to begin a reconciliation process in a time of huge and continuing crisis. I remember Fr. Gerard Jean-Juste, supporter of President Aristide, in his beloved St. Clare’s parish in Port-au-Prince, preaching on Dec. 7, 2003 – less than 24 hours after I’d landed in his country. There were six white Americans in his pews that day, and I was one of them. Most of his sermon was in Kreyol, but part of it was in English, very powerfully directed specifically to us, and part of that message emphasized the paths which could be chosen: to be “killers” or “healers”….

Given the cacophony already, I’m not terribly hopeful about “healing” being in the Haiti conversation today….

But Martin Luther King, and Mandela and Gandhi and Jean-Juste could dream.

Why not?

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