Mass. Black and Latino Legislative Caucus joins the chorus of support for humanitarian parole

This week, the Massachusetts Black and Latino Legislative Caucus sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security urging Secretary Janet Napolitano to create a Haitian Family Reunification Parole Program. The lawmakers join Governor Deval Patrick and most of the Mass. congressional delegation in this call for humanitarian parole for Haitians who have already been approved to come to the US. “As representatives of the state containing the third largest population of Haitians and Haitian Americans, we are deeply concerned about the precarious status of many Haitian children, elders and families as they wait in Haiti to be reunited with their families in the United States,” the caucus wrote.

Four at-large seats; seven eye one of them

The Dorchester Reporter's latest overview of the Boston city council race provides context to an election that features strong personalities and unlikely allegiances. "...Flaherty’s entrance radically re-jiggered a municipal election since in many parts of the city the seven-person at-large field will be the only item on the ballot. Dorchester, with an open district seat for the first time in nearly two decades, is one of the exceptions. Voters will get to pick a district councillor and fill in four slots for City Council At-Large. Most political observers are predicting a citywide voter turnout of 12 percent – barely one in 10 voters – and an election similar to 2007. That was the year City Councillor At-Large Felix D. Arroyo was knocked off the council by West Roxbury’s John Connolly. But it’s unclear who will be clearing out their desks come January, if Flaherty manages to get back on the council."

Mass. delegation appeals for Haitian humanitarian parole

Members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation are urging the Obama administration to expedite humanitarian parole for approved Haitian petitioners. In a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Senators John Kerry and Scott Brown, along with Representatives Edward Markey, Barney Frank, John Olver, Jim McGovern, Stephen Lynch and Michael Capuano, ask that the DHS grant entry into the U.S. for beneficiaries of already approved family-based immigration petitions. The individuals in question have already been approved, but remain in Haiti because Legal Permanent Residents, who have the right to petition for spouses and children, face a delay of as long as five years before families can be reunited. There are 105,000 Haitian beneficiaries – of which 16,000 are children and spouses – who are ready to come to the United States.

UN envoy Paul Farmer: Haiti cholera outbreak is now world’s worst

PORT-AU-PRINCE _ Haiti has the highest rate of cholera in the world a mere year after the disease first arrived in the Caribbean nation, a leading health expert said Tuesday. Dr. Paul Farmer, one of the founders of the medical group Partners in Health and U.N. deputy special envoy to Haiti, said cholera has sickened more than 450,000 people in a nation of 10 million, or nearly 5 percent of the population, and killed more than 6,000. Farmer told The Associated Press on the anniversary of cholera’s arrival in Haiti that it’s also on the verge of becoming the leading cause of death by infectious disease in the Caribbean nation.

Community meeting to address post-quake challenges

On Thursday, October 20, social service advocates host a meeting to address continuing needs and challenges faced in the community after the Jan. 12, 2010 earthquake. Local officials will tackle a host of issues such as immigration, housing, education and job training for the displaced. This community meeting will take place at the Boston Baptist Missionary Church, 336 Dudley Street in Roxbury, from 6-8 pm. Featured speakers include Anny Jean-Jacques Domercant from the Governor's Office of Community Affairs, Vivie Hengst from the Office of Immigrants and Refugees, Robert Pulster from the Department of Housing and Community Development, and Dennis Riordan from the Boston branch of US Citizenship and Immigration Services. For more information, contact Keke Fleurissaint at 617-296-6000 or Jean Vatelia at 617-866-3633.

Anténor Firmin’s work resonates at NAACP centennial

Anténor Firmin: Photo published by the Public ArchiveLast month was the 100th anniversary of the death of Haitian scholar Joseph Auguste Anténor Firmin. Anténor Firmin is best known for his seminal work De l’Égalité des Races Humaines (The Equality of Human Races), which was published in 1885 as a response to French writer Count Arthur de Gobineau’s work Essai sur l’inegalite des Races Humaines (Essay on the Inequality of Human Races). Gobineau’s book asserted the superiority of the Aryan race and the inferiority of blacks and other people of color. Firmin argued the opposite – that “all men are endowed with the same qualities and the same faults, without distinction of color or anatomical form. The races are equal.” He pioneered the integration of race and physical anthropology and is now considered by many as one of the fathers of anthropology and the first Black anthropologist.

State’s first school for Immigrant families opens in Boston

A new charter public school has opened its doors in Boston with a unique focus — immigrant families. It is the bay state’s first school that specifically focuses their efforts on English Language Learners and one of the first charters in the country to do so. MATCH Community Day Charter Public School began its first school year with 100 pre-K and 2nd grade students from across the city. 70% of the students come from families whose native language is not English. This high rate is a result of robust community-based outreach.

Science for Haiti: A necessity moving forward

Ilio DurandisThe American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) recently published Science for Haiti: A Report on Advancing Haitian Science and Science Education capacity, which sets the stage for Haitian policy makers to incorporate science in their strategies of the reconstruction of Haiti. The theme of the report centers on two key components: advancing Haitian science and science education. Science, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary is defined as the state of knowing. Its etymology is from the Latin word: Scientia, which literally means knowledge. If science is the state of knowing, why more often than not the subject matters bring in a fear of knowing? To fully appreciate the set of goals and recommendations presented in the Science for Haiti paper, we must try to explain the state of science in Haiti and how it is perceived by most Haitians.

Helpful tools to save a foreclosed home

Imagine buying a house, a place to call home. The mortgage is paid on time and the yard is maintained. Then suddenly the mortgage rate shoots up from 6% to 18% because it is a variable rate mortgage. Many calls are made to the lender and but go unreturned. Applications for a loan modification are filed but the bank says that because payments are still being made, it can’t approve the modification; and the only to approve one is if a payment is missed and the mortgage goes into default. The next month, the mortgage isn’t paid because the payment has become too expensive. Finally, a notice in the mail comes that the bank has foreclosed on the property. The bank also says that it wants you and your family out of the house. The bank is evicting you, and you have nowhere to go. This was the case of Guy Lebrun, the Haitian radio host of Verite Variete. So he went to

Time for action on humanitarian parole

Immediately after the earthquake the White House granted eligible Haitians already living in the United States the chance to remain and work here legally for 18 months through Temporary Protected Status (TPS). On May 17, 2011, more than 16 months after the first designation, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano announced the extension of TPS for roughly 48,000 Haitian nationals who currently had the designation. The extension was made effective July 23, and allowed Haitian beneficiaries to remain in the United States an additional 18 months—through January 22, 2013.

Boston Haitian Reporter