Of all the issues brought up last month at the National Coalition for Haitian Rights (NCHR) conference on the state of Haiti and Haitian communities in America, the one participants decided to pursue was getting the Haitian vote out in the United States.
Voters would exercise their power in the United States and encourage Haitian-born eligible residents to register to vote and show up at the polls on Election Day. The connection was clear to conference participants: affecting policies in the United States equals a better Haiti.
One attendee, Louis Elneus, founder of Haiti Lumière de Demain of Connecticut, vowed to personally register 2,000 voters.
"Why not 2,004?" Jocelyn McCalla, executive director of NCHR, responded, referring to Haiti's bicentennial celebration this year.
"Politicians pay attention to votes when they know there are votes to be had," said Tamara Thompson, coordinator of Haitian Entrant Legal Civic Education Program at NCHR. "The idea is consolidating the power of the Haitian-American community in the United States and leveraging that to help Haiti."
The NCHR decision to get involved falls in line with an education and mobilization campaign that immigrant advocates kicked off on May 4, at a rally in front of City Hall. Organized by the New York Immigration Coalition, activists and immigrants at the rally said when newcomers vote, their concerns have a better chance of being addressed.
Several immigrant groups plan to follow the same strategy that NCHR has mapped out so that the United States could respond to the needs of their home countries and in neighborhoods here. The broader, more long-term goal of getting immigrants to participate in the political process at local and state levels is also part of the agenda. At the very least, the advocates hope to persuade politicians seeking office to become sensitive to problems such as the agonizing backlog of the status adjustment process which becomes a teeth-grinding experience for applicants.
Experts said they believe some policies drawn up to secure U.S. borders after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, has affected whether the foreign-born come to vote in November.
"The importance of immigrant voters has never been more important or in such sharper focus as it is this year," said Margaret McHugh, executive director of New York Immigration Coalition. "We are working to make sure that immigrant voters come out."
McHugh said service organizations, unions, and volunteers working in the mobilization campaign during the next six months would knock on doors to educate immigrant citizens about the presidential candidates. Besides the NCHR, the Council on American Islamic Relations, Asian Americans for Equality, and Alianza Dominicana are among the service organizations that have signed on to the campaign.
McHugh said naturalized citizen voters should contribute to the national election in November because they comprised a significant portion of the total number of voters who cast ballots in recent mayoral and City Council elections.
"Immigrants are one of the key groups who have an understanding of how important voting is," said Ludovic Blain, associate director of the Democracy Program at DEMOS, a Manhattan-based policy and advocacy group. "They know that politicians matter in their everyday lives."
Immigrant electorate experts said policy decisions that concern immigrants – such as the controversial detention of Arabs under the Department Homeland Security's quest to curb terrorism – may draw more foreign-born voters. "I am sure immigrant voters are especially concerned about the potential for an anti-immigrant backlash in the wake of 9/11, and I think they will be particularly interested in this election," said John Mollenkopf, director of the City University of New York Graduate Center.
Each immigrant advocate who spoke at the rally pointed to the challenges they face in persuading their constituents to become voting U.S. citizens. "Voting is not only a civil right, but a religious obligation," Ghazi Khanzan, executive director of the Council on American Islamic Relations, said, citing the passages from the Islamic Hadif and a sura [passage from the Koran] that says a country's rulers should be aligned with their people's sentiments. "As you are, so shall your rulers be."
Echoing the rationale that Haitians use to not vote, Khanzan said many Muslims believe that America "is not my country," even though they've lived in the United States for years and pay taxes. Consequently, he said, the tax dollars are used for wars that cause famine, and unfair detention of Arabs and Muslims.
Khanzan said immigrants must shirk excuses for failing to vote. "We as new citizens must work together to bring this new community," he said. Of the 524,107 Caribbean immigrants in New York City, 265,000 are of voting age, making up 6 percent of all city residents who could vote, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report released in 2002. About 118,769 Haitians live in New York City, according to the census.
To Haitians, their motherland's deterioration is the major concern, but issues in the United States also are a preoccupation. A 2002 exit poll conducted by Barnard College during the New York State and congressional races found that immigrants' top issues were similar for
foreign-born and U.S.-born residents. Employment, schools, and health care were ranked as the top three issues, said Lorraine Minnite, principal investigator.
"Immigrants work in this country, and we pay taxes; they have to respect that," said James Joseph, a Haitian-American hospital housekeeper who became a citizen in 2000. Joseph said he votes for Democrats because they "have more courtesy, they know the art of explaining things." Joseph has chosen a candidate, U.S. Sen. John Kerry (D-MA).
Of about 10 Haitian residents interviewed about the upcoming election, most failed to name the presidential hopefuls. Many said they would vote, but a couple wondered whether their votes would make a difference, referring to the Florida showdown in 2000 when Vice President Al Gore lost the presidency to rival George Bush.
"In many states [like Florida], the vote is going to be very close," Blain said. "If one group turns out more than the other, it could really make a difference."
Blain said New York immigrant residents' votes are essential this year because they will determine what issues are addressed in the next two years for the senatorial and mayoral elections. "If many immigrants come out, the chance of candidates sensitive to immigrant issues increases," Blain said. "What kind of people vote this year will determine who comes out as candidates next year."
Jude Pierre-Paul, a U.S. citizen since 1989, said he doesn't understand Republicans nor Democrats. At least in 1992, he voted for Bill Clinton because the former president was clear on what he would do for Haiti, if elected. "There's a lot of confusion," Pierre-Paul said. "I don't understand what's happening either in Haiti or here. We don't know yet where to stand."
Minnite said local parties used to encourage voters and bring them out, but since many of New York City's neighborhoods are Democratic, there is no competition – and therefore, no motivation – for them to continue doing so because the party's candidate is assured victory.
"It's a social process," Minnite said. "People just don't decide to do it individually. Usually there's some kind of [motivation from] the community, families, and friends and then it becomes more familiar."
Minnite said approaches such as that of the New York Immigration Coalition's way of working through the community groups "is the best way to do it," because it helps them develop the capacity to reach voters. Minnite added that voter registration on the street is not as fruitful because those registered have no reference point afterward. But when registration is done through a church or large cultural event, they have a place to return for more information.
Exit polls conducted by researchers at Columbia University's political science department found that at least 25 percent of New York City voters are foreign-born. They make up two-thirds of first-time voters in the 2000 and 2002 elections.
"The expansion of New York City's electorate is being fueled by immigrants and immigrant voters," said Suman Raghunathan, coordinator of the New York Immigration Coalition’s (NYIC) Immigrant Voter Mobilization Campaign. "Voters from the Caribbean, which includes Haitians, accounted for 33 percent of immigrant votes."
Raghunathan said 14 groups have signed on to NYIC's voter education and registration campaign, “Immigrant votes making the difference”, NCHR being the only one from the Haitian community. As a joint force, she estimates they will reach 130,000 immigrants during the months leading to Nov. 2. Advocates say the main goal is to educate immigrants about the candidates, how to vote, where to register, and not to garner votes for a particular candidate.
Thompson said NCHR is working on a pamphlet that summarizes issues of importance to Haitian Americans and the position that presidential candidates have taken on those issues. It would be written in Haitian-Creole and English, she said. Pressure is building because the group has six months to produce materials encouraging people to vote, distributing them, persuading 10,000 Haitians to register to vote and finding staff members to do it all. "That is not a lot of time," Thompson said.
Since the organization is struggling to get back on its feet financially, NCHR's two staff members are relying on volunteers to man phone banks, canvass targeted areas, and to host forums in their homes for candidates and community residents.
"What we want to see happen is that people get involved," she said. "Nobody is going to come along and say: 'We want to make this happen for you.' Haitian-Americans have to make their voice heard and say to the politicians: 'We want you to make this happen for us.' "
This article is written as part of IPA-New York's Ethnic Press Fellowship.
