Platforms over personalities: Haitian American voters eager to see candidates’ plans as campaigns heat up 

A group of volunteers called Ayisyen pou Harris – Creole for “Haitians for Harris” – sprang up last month, mirroring the national trend of energetic support for Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic Party nominee for president of the United States. Last weekend, the group even cut the ribbon on a North Miami Beach office to educate and mobilize Haitian Americans in South Florida.

Yet, despite being “ready, on the ground and fired up” to elect Harris, one key component of the mobilization effort is still missing: The candidate’s policies toward Haiti-US relations. Or other specifics about how a Harris-Walz administration might benefit Haiti and Haitian Americans.

“We want to know the plan,” said Marie-Flore Lindor-Latourtue, a professor who serves as the group’s communications director. “We are still waiting for a statement. We want to hear from her.” 

The days following the abrupt arrival of Harris as the top of the ticket have been dizzying for so many reasons. Among them, the hype around her vice presidential pick, Tim Walz, countless memes of Republican Vice Presidential Nominee J.D. Vance and controversy over Presidential Nominee Donald Trump’s own “she just turned Black” false rhetoric. Looking at it all, some Haitian American voters have been left wishing the focus was less on the personalities and more on their policies. 

With the Democratic National Convention taking place next week, some hope to finally move from the personality-driven campaigning into the specific plans and policies that the candidates are proposing. Even voters like Lindor-Latortue, who have made up their minds want to know where exactly the candidates stand on the issues that matter most to them and how to hold the victor accountable. 

“America is broken. What are we gonna do to fix it. That’s all I want to hear from my potential president,” Stephane “@jemthehaitian” Alce, a Houston-area musician and entrepreneur, said. “ Can you stand up and tell me what we’re going to do. I don’t need to be pizzazz-ed into voting.” 

“I want to see ‘Hey, we have a bunch of problems, we have to get it together. Here’s how we can work together,” he added. “[Instead], I’m hearing political attacks. What I want to hear is ‘America is fu***d up’ and what are we gonna do about it?’ Racism, cops killing Black people — there’s a lot to deal with.”

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A list comparing where Harris and Trump stand on nearly 20 different issues, from abortion to the environment, immigration to Russia and Gaza. Votes.guide via Knight Election Hub

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Specifics on range of issues needed

As eligible voters, Haitians appear to make up about 753,000 voters nationwide, according to a Haitian Times analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data. As a voting bloc, Haitian Americans have historically voted Democratic with other Black groups, drawn mostly by more beneficial stances on immigration and U.S.-Haiti relations. But as the community evolves, so have many families’ needs, researchers have said. In recent interviews and community forums, the top issues they have cited include the rising cost of living, social justice, climate change and civil rights protections.

Steven Baboun, a photographer and creative director, posted on his comedic alter ego’s Instagram account, marie.claude.bebi, that he would vote for Harris. The Brooklyn-based artist, in an interview with The Haitian Times later, said he would not have voted for Trump since right-wing Republicans are endangering civil rights. With Harris, he feels a renewed sense of energy because it “symbolizes an amazing, an amazing opportunity for a systematic and cultural reset.”

Still, he says, “I’m super unhappy with a lot of their international policies – funding wars, not stopping what’s happening in Gaza, not improving or supporting immigration policies and laws when it comes to Haitians. There’s problems at the embassies, problems with visas, problems with papers [documentation], with the Biden [program]… so many people that are seeking asylum.

“They haven’t given us a plan that’s specific enough for me,” Baboun said. [“Something] like, ‘we’re going to reform our immigration policies to make them more ethical or kinder. We’re going to do XYZ. 

“I want to see the platform,” Baboun said. “If you say you’re Jamaican, come on down to Flatbush and be ready for us. Not to sound naive, but c’mon, don’t play with our faces.”

It’s early yet, he added, but he wants to see this platform because Harris is the one most likely to restore the sense of unity and lightness in the country and the humanity he hopes to see injected into policy. 

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Shirley Debrosse, a musician and content creator behind Poli-chic – a politics and fashion forum – similarly said she felt excited when Harris moved to the top of the Democratic ticket. Prior to that, she had decided not to vote at all to teach the Democratic Party to listen to its supporters, she said. Now, she will vote for Harris since Harris has helped organizations she knows stop some deportation flights.

Still, Debrosse’s main concern as a Haitian American is Harris’s views on foreign policy toward Haiti and “scary” feeling she gets looking at party politics playing out sometimes.

“It’s a whole system, not just the person,” said Debrosse, who also goes by “Sherlee Skai.” 

With the questioning of Harris’s identity, for example she said, “Trump [and] the Republicans are doing everything that they did with Obama. They can find anything to attack the legitimacy of you being an American. I cannot take it seriously, I’m more focused on what my concerns are.”

Neither campaign has returned messages seeking comment about Haiti.

Local matters   

While the candidates may be refining their stances broadly, groups such as Avanse Ansanm are looking to have conversations with the community – not only voters – about local issues, not only the top of the ticket. Florida, for one, has 13 measures that may appear on a voter’s ballot based on where they live, from legalizing abortion and marijuana to changing property tax rules and expanding mass transit.

For Haitian Americans, community organizers like Avanse Ansanm Executive Director Santra Denis are focusing on educating people about those local matters to ensure they e understand them well and on a personal level.

“The most regressive policies are coming out of here [Florida],” Denis said of Florida. “People want to feel as if they can make a living wage and not be ripped off by corporations.”

On Aug. 15, Avanse Ansanm will join several groups in Miami to hold a virtual forum — the ‘#NapVote” series on the elections — to discuss issues in depth. It’s one of several efforts underway, including a South Florida Community Survey, to better understand and speak to the community’s priorities as organizers.

“We have a ways to go and work to do to be able to cohere in political talk for our Haitian community,” she said. “In terms of what are our core values? What brings us to what we do? What does equity look like for us? The time is high for us to understand who people are, what their politics are, what are their core values, so we can be able to know how to move.”

Lindor-Latortue plans to attend the forum and the DNC, along with nearly a dozen Haitian American elected officials. She said engaging is important, even without the candidates’ formal plans, because the entire community loses out when Haitian Americans do not participate – as happened when Trump beat Hillary Clinton in Florida in the 2016 presidential elections.

“Haitians weren’t happy with Hillary Clinton, and they didn’t support her or chose not to vote at all. That’s why we got Trump,” she said. “This one is different. We don’t have [in Harris] someone who takes advantage of our ancestral homeland.” 

The post Platforms over personalities: Haitian American voters eager to see candidates’ plans as campaigns heat up  appeared first on The Haitian Times.

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Platforms over personalities: Haitian American voters eager to see candidates’ plans as campaigns heat up  was first posted on August 16, 2024 at 12:21 pm.