In conversation | As her memoir returns, Karine Jean-Pierre urges Haitian Americans to let passion be their guide

NEW YORK — Few faces inspire or instill as much pride among Haitian Americans as Karine Jean-Pierre’s. From the White House podium, where she delivered daily briefings as Press Secretary and Special Advisor to the President during the Biden Administration, to social media posts and speaking engagements, Haitians across the globe tune in when Jean-Pierre makes an appearance. In her, many are reminded of the talent, dedication and beauty Haiti continues to emit into the world.

Of Jean-Pierre’s many official titles over the years — spokesperson, professor, political analyst, strategist, author, some only see the unofficial “Haitian American role model” badge. And for good reason, based on the Haitian immigrant upbringing Jean-Pierre recounts in “Moving Forward: A Story of Hope, Hard Work, and the Promise of America.” The 2019 memoir, which is being released as a paperback May 20, traces her path from her childhood and teenage years in Queens and Long Island into politics, by way of her passion for environmental justice. Many of her anecdotes are all-too-familiar tales of Haitians making it in America. Other stories highlight the unique experiences, connections and character traits that vaulted Jean-Pierre, 50, into the highest echelons of global power.

Since leaving the White House, Jean-Pierre has been working on another book due out later this year about the Biden administration’s last six months, she told us. She is also reconnecting with supporters from the many communities, encouraging everyone to get involved. On Tuesday, May 20, she plans to speak and sign copies of the paperback at Sister’s Uptown Bookstore & Cultural Center starting at 6:00 p.m.

In April, we sat down with Jean-Pierre, days after she was named as a grand marshal for NYC Pride. She spoke candidly about her history-making role, navigating the expectations of some who saw her as an intercessor on behalf of Haitians and responding to the attacks as a Black, gay, immigrant woman. 

The interview is edited for length and clarity. 

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Moving from Queens to Morningside to politics 

The Haitian Times / Macollvie J. Neel:  Karine Jean-Pierre. Thank you so much for sitting down with The Haitian Times. We appreciate you so much.

Karine Jean-Pierre: I love The Haitian Times. You guys have been fabulous. I’ve always appreciated Haitian Times and how you supported me throughout my career. So it’s my pleasure. 

THT: We’re looking at your memoir being re-released on May 20th. For people who’ve only gotten to know you as the face of the prior administration, can you go through a bit of your early story?

Jean-Pierre: As you said, my paperback version of my book “Moving Forward” is coming out on May 20 — during Haitian Heritage Month, so I’m really excited about that. The book took a long time to go on paperback because I’ve been a little busy over the last couple of years. But I wrote the book originally because I wanted to tell my story, but also to give young people or anyone advice on how to get involved in politics. I used to get that question a lot.

Before I joined the White House and the 2020 campaign, I was on TV a lot. I was on MSNBC as a political analyst. I worked for an organization called Move On, and I ran that public affairs shop. I was in the Obama White House and worked for multiple elected officials. So I wanted to tell a little bit of how I got to where I got to. 

But my story really starts with my family. Of course, both my parents are Haitian. They came for a better life like so many immigrants. In an immigrant household, as so many might know, they see success as either being a doctor or lawyer, or an engineer. And so my parents wanted me to be one of those things. So I grew up, went to college, and I thought I was going to become a doctor — and I realized that it wasn’t my calling. It wasn’t something that I wanted to do. It’s much more nuanced in the book. So if you guys can pick up the book, I tell some personal stories about making that decision, how that transition was actually very difficult, and how my parents were very disappointed.

To share a little bit about my parents, my parents, my mom was a home health care aide. She also had a beauty salon in Far Rockaway, Queens. My dad was a New York City cab driver. He would wake up at 4 a.m. just to get to JFK, to get in the cab line for international flights coming in each morning. These were my parents, who worked very hard – six, seven days a week for something better for their kids. 

I had promised them that I would certainly go into a profession and go back to school. And so I spent probably a year or two working, doing not-for-profit, trying to figure out what was next, and I decided to get my master’s degree. In the process of getting my master’s, I had mentors. One was a former Mayor of New York City,

Moving past the culture wars 

THT: Here’s another thing I thought was interesting, sort of like a career accident — right? In the media realm, it was a video about bullying that actually led you to being open about who you are, and that’s how you ended up doing TV. So there’s something to be said too about having the authentic you, being really in tune with yourself when you’re following those paths. 

Jean-Pierre: Yes. I have been part of the LGBTQ community throughout my entire adult years. Someone had asked me this question recently: Where did you find the strength or the courage to just be who you are? And I said to them, I think it’s because of where I come from. I think it’s because of my ancestors. I think it’s because of my parents. I think it has been embedded in my DNA to be unapologetic about who I am. It is not my problem if people don’t feel me or vibe with me. It’s their problem. That is something that I have lived with my entire life. So I have always been authentically who I am in my adult life. 

I mean, we have to think about who we are as people. We are the First Black Republic, right? We are people whose ancestors fought for over a decade to make sure that they got their freedom. They fought in a revolution, and were the first. I think that says a lot about who we are in our core, our DNA, how we move through life, how I watch my parents sacrifice and survive, again and again. And I think that says a lot. I mean, we started a revolution, not just in Haiti, but beyond. And I always say, in order to truly understand Black history, you have to know Haitian history, because they’re connected. And so that is everything for me — understanding my history. 

When I was growing up, I was teased for being an immigrant. I was teased for being Haitian. There were all these names that we were being called. But the moment that I learned my history is the moment that I took my power back. All of that is connected to who I am right now, currently, and how I’ve been able to go and take on all of the challenges in my life.

THT: So you mentioned, the time right now that we are in, what we’ve been going through as a community of Haitians in the United States. We saw everything that happened last year. In many ways, we’ve been both a target and an asset of the far right. And there have been a lot of real consequences for many, many families. First, how have you felt watching this unfold? Secondly, as we try to build up the community – how can we do that from your vantage point?

Jean-Pierre: Anybody who’s watched me knows I’ve been unapologetic and very real and true to who I am. I’m black, I’m a black woman, I’m queer, I’m an immigrant and I’m Haitian American. Yes, I was born in Martinique, but I don’t have a connection to Martinique. I was born there. A year later, my parents left. I am connected to the place my parents came from, which is Haiti. And so through my career, that has always been prominent who I am. 

During that period of time of the general election, where we were scapegoated, when there was an awful conversation, rumors, conspiracy theory that was elevated by the right wing, by Republicans, by the person who was leading the Republican Party, and what we were seeing Ohio, and how devastating that was. I had to carry that myself, right? I had to talk about it at the podium.

There was a moment when I was about to speak at the White House, and I was going to speak before the President. The President comes up to me and he says: ‘I want to talk about the conspiracy theories that’s being said about your community, about Haitian Americans, about Haitian immigrants in Ohio. Are you okay with that?’ I said, ‘Absolutely.’ He gave me a hug and basically apologized. He felt sorry. 

As a leader, he felt that he needed to say something, and he did. He lifted me up, and he talked about the Haitian community. He talked about how his press secretary was Haitian American and I got to speak about it as well – and that matters.

THT: It’s funny too that he gave you a heads-up. 

Jean-Pierre: He asked for my permission. [Laughs] Because he knew how personal that was to me. And what it was partly is that he was checking in. That mattered that I was there, for him to speak up. It gave him a personal connection to say, ‘I have a Haitian American person who speaks for me.’ That made him want to speak out even more forcefully.

What I will also say to the community is that we have always been scapegoated. I remember when this happened in the 80’s, when I was really young. But we have this strength and this love for our people, this love for our community, that we need to continue to endure and carry on. In this political climate, we have to make sure that we don’t forget our community, continue to grow in community and protect our community because we are going to continue to be targeted. We have got to get involved in the political process.

THT: Yes, so how do we do that? 

I encourage people to run for office. We need to see our faces in important positions because it is important who is sitting around the table and making the decisions, policy decisions, legislative decisions. And we also got to get involved in our community, not just the Haitian community, but the community abroad. 

Now, how do we get involved? How do we make sure we elect people that are good for us, for what we want to do in our community? We cannot hide, we cannot sit quietly. And if there’s a community that knows how to do that, and are leaders in that, it is the Haitian community.

THT: Yes, we’ve been through this before.

Jean-Pierre: Just going back to that period of time in Ohio, what was being said – the awful, awful conspiracy theories that were being said, when I heard it, I remember thinking, “Yes, it’s awful, but it’s not surprising, because we are always scapegoated as an immigrant community. As a Black immigrant community, we tend to get scapegoated. It’s easy to do for some reason, even though we are incredibly powerful in our history and what we have been able to do. And maybe that’s why, right? Maybe there’s still a little bit of a ‘Stay in your place’ mentality.

THT: Yes, punishment for our temerity. The temerity tax.
Jean-Pierre: Facts. Continuous punishment because we stood up. Our ancestors stood up and said, ‘We need to have a revolution. This is not okay, and we need to get our freedom.’

Moving ahead with pride 

THT: You have a child, and I remember you saying that when she’s old enough, you will start to teach her this history.

Jean-Pierre: I already started, you know. There are these great children’s books now about Toussaint Louverture, Dessalines, all of the amazing heroes of our time, of our history. And so I’ve gotten those books for her. People have gifted them to me. She’s read them. She’s asked me questions about them. And so that has been starting since she was four or five years old. 

We’ve always had very honest conversations about the moment that we’re in. If she asks. I don’t push it. She’s 10, [and] as she’s asking, as she’s wondering, as she’s finding her way and trying to figure out her own identity, we do have these conversations. And she’s very close to my parents, to my family.

THT: You know, we look around and we see so many new generations of Haitian American kids, Haitian Mexican kids, Haitian-hyphen-everything. And the thing that ties us together is that rootedness in Haiti.

Jean-Pierre: It’s a powerful history. For the young people here, once you learn and understand your history, your power, you will be even more powerful. You will reclaim that power, because no one can take away your history. They may try. And they are trying. They are trying to pull books off the shelves, erase history. But if you know it and understand it and can speak to it, that is your power.

THT: So let me ask you this, Karine. As you’re watching what’s happening, what’s unfolding in the White House these days, what’s being said from the lectern, what goes through your mind?

Jean-Pierre: I have not watched a briefing. I have not even watched cable news since January 20. I avoided it because I needed to have self-care, and I just was not going to do that to myself. 

What I will say is one of the reasons I was very proud to have had an honor, to have had the position that I had, was because it was an example of democracy. That’s what was happening at that lectern. At the podium in that briefing room for an hour almost every day – we were exercising in democracy. The United States televised, domestically and globally, what democracy looks like. This is what having freedom of the press looks like, and this is what accountability looks like. For the press to hold us accountable is so critical and important in our history, and how we move forward and who we’re supposed to be. 

When you lead an administration, it doesn’t matter if you have an R [for Republican] or a D [for Democrat] behind your name, and you are looking forward to being a dictator, attacking the freedom of the press— that is not democracy. We are in a five-alarm fire because what is happening is the Constitution is under attack. The rule of law is being abused by the person who is supposed to protect all of us, everyone in this room, everyone in this country, and we should be very worried about that. The institutions that are supposed to uphold the Constitution are being attacked. So we have to make sure we take care of our communities, because if they come for one, they’re going to come for all. That is the reality that we are in. 

I read a Coretta Scott King quote today. She said something like ‘Freedom is not won. We don’t win our freedoms. Every generation has to fight for it.’ And that means like, that’s why it’s important for what our ancestors have done, because we learn from them, we watch how they fought for freedom. But we have to continue to do that. That didn’t stop in 2008 when Obama became president, or 2012 when he was reelected, or 2020 when Biden was elected. It continues. We have to continue to fight it. When we got the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, or when Haiti became the First Black Republic– It continues. It continues. And you’ve got to fight for it. And that’s where we are today.

THT: So for the day to day person who’s thinking, you know, ‘Politics isn’t for me. I don’t want to run for office.’ How do we continue, in your view, to actually stay engaged?

Jean-Pierre: Don’t give up. Don’t roll over. You don’t have to go into politics. You don’t have to run for office to have a voice, you don’t. But you have to care about something that moves you, that is actually helpful and makes a difference in making lives better, and whatever that is. 

We also have to know that resistance looks very different. There’s joy and resistance. It doesn’t have to be nitty gritty or hard and heavy on your heart and your body. So there’s a way to be involved. I can’t tell you what that is, but I can encourage you to find what that piece is for you. 

THT: Since your term in the White House ended, is there any one thing, or a few things, either personally or within the community or society in general, that you view differently? 

Jean-Pierre: I have to think about that one, because I’m still processing being out of the White House, processing a different life, processing what’s next. I’ll say this: When I was leaving the White House, I thought I was going to miss it, miss the adrenaline. And the thing that surprised me is I haven’t missed it at all. I was honored and privileged to have that job, and I would do it all over again, but I don’t miss it. 

You know, these are big jobs. There’s a lot on your shoulders when you are a public servant, or the President of the United States, or the Vice President, or whatever your position is in a government. You’re supposed to feel stressed. You’re supposed to know that the job you’re trying to do is to make lives better. So it is really, really hard because you have the pressures of the world on your shoulders. And so when I left that, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m back to being a normal citizen. 

The jobs that we have were so critical, so important. Because with the wrong leader at the top, everything shifts. Everything changes. Vulnerable people are now being terrorized and sacrificed. And that is the thing that reminds you of the importance of an election. Elections have consequences. You’ve got to stay involved. You’ve got to be paying attention.

THT: In a way, your message from when you first wrote “Moving Forward” in 2019 – that seems like it would resonate even more now?

Jean-Pierre: It does, even if you’re not a political person. “Moving Forward,” a book that I wrote almost six years ago, the message is just as critical now as it was in getting involved in your community. And how do we do that? How do we find a move forward? 

THT: While you were in the White House, there were so many people who saw you and thought “Oh, Karine, she’s going to help our community.’ I’m sure many asked you to help Haiti. So, how did you respond to that?

Jean-Pierre: It was hard. I mean, I get it. When you see someone who has your background, they get what I’m going through. The hard part about that is: things take time. We can’t fix everything all at once. When we came in, there was Covid. We had to deal with an economic crisis. We had to undo all the damage of the previous administration. So we had to do immigration TPS, a lot of things. Some of it happened very quickly, others didn’t. A lot of times, my heart broke because I knew there wasn’t much that I could do at that moment on that particular issue. 

What I can say is that I worked with a lot of really smart policy people who were trying to do the right thing, and it’s never going to be perfect. Sadly, that is the way politics works. That’s why I tell people to run themselves. I say, it doesn’t stop with one election cycle. If you get involved in 2020, you can’t stop in 2020. You have to get involved again in 2024 and in 2028 because the work takes time. And, again, this is why I tell people to run. To get involved. 

THT: Finally, having worked with the media for so long, any thoughts for us in this landscape?   

Jean-Pierre: We need good journalists right now. We need people who believe in the freedom of the press, who believe in holding powerful people to account. We need people who are going to talk about the truth, who will seek the truth, and who are going to be fair. Now, more than ever. We need lawyers more than ever. There’s so much more that we need because of the media institutions being attacked. 

It’s tough. It’s not going to be easy, because when we are being led into a dictatorship, having truthtellers who are going to dig for the truth in a fair way, in an honest way – that’s going to be harder. So we need good journalists more than ever.

THT: Well, thank you so much for those words. You’ve been a joy. 

Jean-Pierre: I appreciate it. Thank you, thank you Haitian Times.

THT: Good luck with the book.

Jean-Pierre: Thank you.

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