Is this the *Face of the Revolution*? Unbelievable! A man is killed on the streets of Port-au-Prince during Father Jean-Juste's funeral march. The head shot is a favorite shot of the UN occupying force in Haiti. It is used as a deterent of sorts -- want to protest the occupation or any other injustice, this could happen to you. More details on the shooting here and here.
The UN is attributing the shooting to a Haitian. This attempt to blame a Haitian among the mourners gathered at Father Jean Juste's funeral is not credible. These UN soldiers have a history in Haiti. They have committed massacres, rapes (more), murders and other crimes during their brutal occupation since the US sponsored coup of the democratically elected president (Aristide).
The MSM in the US turn deaf ears and blind eyes to Haitians suffering these kinds of indignities and injustices just miles from their unfriendly shores.
These Black voices are not heard. All eyes and ears are fixed on what is happening many thousands of miles away in Iran.
Haitians Under Constant Surveillance
This photo was taken on August 15th, 2007, across from the Presidential Palace during a demonstration calling for the safe return of Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine. These UN soldiers were among a group who were surrounding the presidential palace, photographing the demonstrators.
How many are dead from this UN occupation? Many thousands now since the US sponsored coup of Aristide in 2004. The Lancet reports over 8,000 murdered and over 35,000 raped -- but that is just the conservative estimate. Note: the US also sponsored a coup in 1991.
Once again the criminal(s) walk away free with the blood of a Haitian on their hands.
"Why are the missiles called peace keepersWhen they're aimed to kill...Love is hateWar is peaceNo is yesAnd we're all freeBut somebody's gonna have to answerThe time is coming soonWhen the blind remove their blindersAnd the speechless speak the truth"-- Tracy Chapman
Gade Sa Neg D'Ayiti fè Mwen! - Look at What Haiti's Tyrants Did To Me!
Ezili Danto has written an account of the trials of Father Jean Juste in seeking medical attention in a Miami hospital. Father Jean Juste endured cruel treatment when he was ill and dependent. It is indicative of the manner that the poor are treated in general in this world. A sad and last irony that he was not afforded the dignity to die in peace. He fought against ill treatment of the poor only to have the same treatment visited on him in his last days. Father Jean Juste first contracted Leukemia while held for seven months as a political prisoner by the US appointed de facto government of Gerard LaTortue in Haiti.
"During his last hospitalization in Miami, in January of 2009, when the hospital insisted Father Jean Juste had to give up the hospital bed and leave without the medication he couldn't afford, even though he was almost at death's door unable to breathe with a respiratory problem, these women of Veye Yo, who sat with him, took turns sleeping in the hospital to comfort him, relayed this to be close to his very last words, said with some strength before he would fall into semi-consciousness. Jean Juste, a fighter to the end, told the Miami hospital that was refusing him medical care that he could not leave without three things - he asked for a wheelchair, medication for the pain and gas for his respiratory tank. The hospital refused because they said he owed too much money already and needed to pay at least half of "perhaps more than $60,000, I am not sure but he owed a lot" recalls Veronique Fleurime of Veye Yo. No Church official was there. Father Jean Juste had been fighting for human rights and equal treatment in Miami for Haitians since before 1979 when he headed Miami's Haitian Refugee Center. Ultimately it was "Ben" from Veye Yo who would hurry and apply for Medicaid to stop Jyeri from being thrown out of the hospital without any medication while so ill. Reportedly, the hospital's social worker, charged to do this task, never put the Medicaid papers through." Read more.
The article also blasts the uneven and biased coverage by the Miami Herald of the Father's death. Ezili points out that, "For every good word they are forced to say about him, there's an awful jagged-edged pen-knife-stabbing ahead or below it. To wit: ''The jail time, the illness brought a lot of wisdom,'' Jean-Mary of Notre Dame said. ``I wish he had developed it earlier. At the same time, you have to respect his convictions. He was a fighter.'' (Miami Herald, June 7, 2009)"
The Funeral Walk and Memorial Service demanding justice for Pere Gerard Jean Juste
The Funeral Walk demanding justice for Jean Juste June 6, 2009 during final walk, after Church memorial, to Veye Yo behind hearse that carried Father Jean Juste's body. Photo Credit: Norluck Dorange ____________________
Father Jean Juste's family mourns. An inconsolable Lavarice Gaudin, head of Veye Yo, Father Jean Juste's grassroots Miami organization struggling for human rights for Haitian in the US and in Haiti is seated with the family, third from right. June 6, 2009 at Church memorial for Father Jean Juste Photo Credit: Didi Crevecoeur ____________________
Mourners listening to service under tent outside crowded church. June 6, 2009 at Church memorial for Father Jean Juste. Photo Credit: Norluck Dorange ____________________
A mourner outside the crowded church June 6, 2009 at Church memorial for Father Jean Juste Photo Credit: Norluck Dorange ____________________ The final walk, after Church memorial, to Veye Yo behind hearse that carried Father Jean Juste's body. Photo Credit: Norluck Dorange ____________________ The funeral walk. The casket that carried Father Jean Juste's body. Photo Credit: Didi Crevecoeur ____________________ The Funeral Walk Signs display displeasure with the Catholic Church for its treatment of Father Gerard Jean Juste Photo Credit: Norluck Dorange ____________________ Sign displays displeasure with the Catholic Church and the Haitian Oligarchy. Placards read "Revolution is the only solution for the liberation of Haitians." "Judas betrayed Jesus, the Catholic Church with Group 184 steals, sacrificed Father Jean Juste." "Down with the collaborators and imperialists for liberation" Photo Credit: Norluck Dorange ____________________ The Funeral Walk Father Reginald, far right, (holding the arm of a parishioner) gave the only memorable Church sermon during the wake, on Friday, June 5, 2009, about the hypocrisy of those who persecuted Father Jean Juste, yet now can't rush to the frontlines fast enough to praise him at his funeral in order to leverage his reputation in the community for their own political capital. Photo Credit: Norluck Dorange ____________________
The Funeral Walk in traditional Haitian Karabela dress with a button on her headress for Jean Juste. Photo Credit: Norluck Dorange ____________________ Crowd is watching funeral on-screen outside Church, some in traditional Karabela Haitian dress proclaiming Father Jean Juste a Haitian Hero. Photo Credit: Norluck Dorange ____________________
A Haitian woman in traditional karabela Haitian dress with a Zaka hat waiving the Haitian flag, remembering Father Jean Juste. Photo Credit: Norluck Dorange ____________________
Wall Memorial Mesi Anpil - Thank you much Photo Credit: Norluck Dorange ____________________ The Funeral Walk - Sign displays displeasure with President Preval and with the Coup D'etat folks of Haiti Photo Credit: Norluck Dorange ____________________
Sign accuse Coup D'etat folks in death of Father Jean Juste -
Andre Apaid, Charles Baker, Lilliane Pierre Paul, Herve St. Hilus and de facto Culture Minister, Magalie Comeau-Denis whose false accusations imprisoned Jean Juste and who, speaking during the funeral for Jacques Roche, wrongly pretended Jean Juste had something to do with Roche's death, going as far as to call Jean-Juste "a symbol of the reign of violence in Haiti." Photo Credit: Norluck Dorange
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Placards accuse Coup D'etat folks/Group 184 and Church of crucifying Father Jean Juste. Photo Credit: Norluck Dorange ____________________ Katherine Kean, documentary filmmaker, owner of the Tap Tap Haitian Restaurant in Miami and Crowing Rooster Arts. Photo Credit: Norluck Dorange ____________________ Gathering at Veye Yo June 6, 2009 the gathering at Veye Yo, Father Jean Juste's grassroots organization on 54th Street. Photo Credit: Norluck Dorange ____________________
Gathering at Veye Yo June 6, 2009 the gathering at Veye Yo, Father Jean Juste's grassroots organization on 54th Street. Photo Credit: Norluck Dorange ____________________ Veye Yo's - Farah Juste, Lucie Tondreau, Lavarice Gaudin - address the crowd Photo Credit: Norluck Dorange ____________________ Veye Yo. June 6, 2009 memorial procession gathers at Veye Yo on 54 Street, Miami, Florida. Photo Credit: Norluck Dorange ____________________ Veye Yo. June 6, 2009 memorial procession gathers at Veye Yo on 54 Street, Miami, Florida. Photo Credit: Norluck Dorange ____________________ A final farewell at Veye Yo June 6, 2009 memorial procession's gathering at Veye Yo, Father Jean Juste's grassroots organization on 54th Street. Photo Credit: Norluck Dorange ____________________
Father Jean Juste – Father of the Just by Professor Bell Angelot May 27, 2009
"Like Jeremiah the prophet, he knew the inside of a prison. Like Martin Luther King, Jr. he preached love. Like Mahatma Gandhi he lived non-violence and overcame violence. Just as Moses never reached the Promised Land, he too, did not see the day of the complete liberation of the Haitian people."
Father Jean Juste was always coupled to what’s just and morally right.
A powerful spirit has left this earth, and our mourning darkens the whole city. A griot left for eternity and the whole tribe is in tears. But though the prophet is gone, his light remains. The Haitian community of Miami has just rung the toll to announce in pain, and in a flood of tears the departure from this planet of Reverend Father Gérard Jean-Juste. Father Jean-Juste was one of the pioneers of Liberation Theology alongside Jean Bertrand Aristide of Haiti, Leonardo Boff of Nicaragua and Oscar Romero of Salvador.
Father Jean Juste was the spoke-person of the poor, the homeless, and for all who thirst for justice. Father Jean Juste was a megaphone for the victims of exclusion, those hungry for love, those suffering from the selfishness of others and inequalities of all sorts. Father Jean Juste was the flag bearer for Haitian immigrant rights, for those without papers, for those who braved the shark-infested seas and for whom Temporary Protected Status (TPS) is still denied. Father Jean Juste was a man of justice, his very name called forth what’s just.
One can well compare the struggle of Father Jean Juste to that of the biblical Moses who delivered his people from the persecution of slavery. ("Let my people go!" Moses said to the Pharaoh of his time). This cry of Moses came often of the lips of Father Jean Juste, the Prophet from Petite Place Cazeau, Haiti: “I have certainly seen the affliction of my people, I have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows.” (Exodus 3:7).
Father Jean Juste was a martyr. While distributing food to hungry children, he was arrested and tortured by the political dictators in 2005. Some months later, even in the deepest bowels of a church, The Sacred Heart Church of Turgeau, the very same church where Izmery was assassinated, draped in his priest cassock, Father Jean Juste was brutally beaten almost to unconsciousness, manhandled and humiliated, afterwards waking up in prison.
Like Jeremiah the prophet, he knew the inside of a prison. Like Martin Luther King, Jr. he preached love. Like Mahatma Gandhi he lived non-violence and overcame violence. Just as Moses never reached the Promised Land, he too, did not see the day of the complete liberation of the Haitian people. The passing of Father Jean Juste brings us tears, this is a painful severance for us. Of course, the lost of Father Jean Juste brings us grief, but we believe that Father Jean Juste lives on.
Again in the years to come, we shall hear, all across Little Haiti in Miami, the echo of his voice denouncing discriminatory immigration laws. Through time, his voice shall still wholly resound on Haiti, saying no to violence, no to exile, no to arbitrary arrests, indefinite detentions, no to Coup D’etats. Jean Juste lives on and it is now that his butchers will tremble. For without confessing their wrongs and without altering their ways they allowed their victim to die, a man whose heart was filled only with compassion and tolerance.
Father Jean Juste left us on an assignment to meet up with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to whom he shall say that love amongst the races and race equality is still a dream; to meet up with John Fitzgerald Kennedy to whom he will say that Democracy and Peace are still the big challenges of our peoples; to meet up with Father Jean Marie Vincent, to whom he shall say that the movement to bring literacy to our people has fallen by the waste side; to meet up with (Haiti’s founding father) Jean Jacques Dessalines to tell him that our country has been sold, it’s been torn apart, its been bloodied - peyi a vann, peyi a fann, peyi a tonbe nan sann - and we’ve been divided. He is not dead/He lives on! His body succumbed to the vicissitudes: to pains that even defied science, to evil his heart and his brain could no longer bring order to, to political shocks that his conviction and his morale could no longer endure.
In the name of the larger Lavalas Movement, we bid farewell to Father Gerard Jean Juste and wish him a good journey. In the name of all the cadres, the grassroots/popular organizations, in the name of the Lavalas vision of inclusion, we say thank you Father Jean Juste. Thank you very much brother/compatriot, we shall continue to be the Sentinels – (to watch out - veye yo - look out for the enemy).
The Haitian Center of Research and Social Science Investigations, bows in great reverence, before the remains of the greatest tree (Mapou) to be cut down in the forest of the just. May your demonstrations of faith, lessons in courage, messages of patriotism, forever be the oil that lights our lamps to bring the light in the darkness of realms, serve us all as the chorus of hope, songs of resistances, hymn of love and friendship. For, as the (Haitian author, Jacques) Roumain said in his book, Governors of the Dew - "The fruit that rots nourishes the hope of the new tree."
Professeur Bell Angelot Directeur du Centre Haïtien De Recherches et d'Investigations En Sciences Sociales
YON SÈL NOU FÈB, ANSANM NOU FÒ, ANSANM, ANSANM NOU SE LAVALAS. "Alone we are weak, together we're strong, together, together we are Lavalas (the flood)" www.fanmilavalas.net 954-670-9209 PO BOX 2252 FORT PIERCE, FLORIDA 34954
In the Dominican Republic dispossessed Haitians are under armed guard on plantations harvesting sugarcane, most of which ends up in US kitchens. Cutting cane by machete, they work 14 hour days, 7 days a week, frequently without access to decent housing, electricity, clean water, education, healthcare or adequate nutrition.
Link to full length movie here: The Price Of Sugar
HLLN in partnership to help transfer solar engineering skills to Haitian women. Solar power will make Haiti's rural women and urban poor less dependent on USAID/ UN /NGOs.
Support Zili Dlo's solar programs for clean water and generating power from the sun. Clean Water is life and HealthSupport Zili Dlo – Clean Water for Everyone in Haiti
Join our fundraising committee, or book an Ezili Danto presentation. Help Ezili's HLLN raise funds to finance education for Haiti's solar engineers and water trucks for more clean water delivery for our communities. Write to erzilidanto@yahoo.com.
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Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network
The Seizure of Haiti by the US: A Report on the Military Occupation of Haiti and the
History of the Treaty Forced Upon Her
Issued by The Foreign Policy Association
Endorsed & distributed by The National Popular Government League - April 1922
"Hearings before a Select Committee of the U.S. Senate pursuant to Senate Resolution 112, authorizing an inquiry into the occupation and administration of the territories of the Republic of Haiti."
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Haitian Peasants Against Monsanto
A large demonstration of at least 10,000 farmers had occurred in central Haiti on Friday, June 4. organized by "Mouvman Peyizan Papay" or MPP, the peasants and a contingent of youths from the capital marched for three hours to the town of Hinche to protest the American multinational company Monsanto and demand the burning of 475 tons of roundup ready genetically modified seeds the company was trying to "give" Haiti.
