“The Game” is a show on the CW with the popular actress Tia Mowry (formerly of Sister, Sister).  On “The Negotiation” episode, one of the actresses makes a rude comment about Haitians (in regards to their financial position).

A friend of mine pointed this out to me and you can hear it for yourself below.  The comment is made at 1:10.  If you’re having problems viewing the video below, here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xTcypvjVnc&fmt=18.

My friend said that she was going to write a letter to the show’s producers and writers because the comment was “offensive and unnecessary.”    Watch it for yourself and tell me what you think.  Do you think my friend is overreacting and being overly sensitive?  If not, would writing the producers really make a difference?

Redpumpz

SAN PEDRO DE MACORIS, Dominican Republic — Two obsessions define this
country: baseball and Haiti. Ángel Luis Joseph, a teenage outfielder with a
hot bat, is caught between Dominicans’ devotion to the one and disdain for
the other.

So many major leaguers have emerged from this sugar town that agents keep an
eye on even pint-size players with potential. Ángel, 17, was only a lanky
grade school boy when his coach noticed he showed all the signs of becoming a
standout. Before long, the San Francisco Giants came calling with a $350,000
offer, he said.

But then politics interfered with his dream. To obtain a visa to the United
States, Ángel went to a local government office to get a copy of his birth
certificate. Little did he know that the Dominican government had recently
begun a crackdown on the children of Haitian immigrants, even those like him
who have lived their whole lives in the Dominican Republic.

“If your last name is weird, they won’t give you your documents,” he
said. “Same thing if your skin is dark like mine.”

Ángel’s request for his birth record was denied, prompting the Giants to
withdraw the offer.

His parents, like hundreds of thousands of others, moved from Haiti to the
Dominican Republic in the 1970s to work in the sugar cane fields. Their
children were born in the Dominican Republic, grew up here and became, in their
eyes at least, full-fledged Dominicans. They speak Spanish, dance merengue and
play “pelota,” the popular name for the Dominican pastime baseball.

“They don’t play baseball in Haiti,” said Melanie Teff, who has studied
the issue for Refugees International, an advocacy group in Washington. “That
shows how Dominican this guy and many people like him are.”

The government does not necessarily agree, and Ángel awaits a ruling on his
appeal for access to his Dominican birth record.

The issue arose with a fury several years ago when advocates took the
government to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, whose jurisdiction the
Dominican Republic acknowledges, to protest the denial of birth certificates to
two ethnic Haitian children.

While the case was in process, the government changed its migration law in 2004
to specifically exclude the offspring of Haitian migrants from citizenship. The
Dominican Constitution grants citizenship to those born on Dominican soil,
except the children of diplomats and those “in transit.” That has long
meant that the children of immigrants, no matter their legal status, gained
Dominican citizenship.

After the international court ruled against the Dominican government in 2005,
ordering that damages be paid to the two children, the Dominican Supreme Court
said that Haitian workers were considered “in transit” and that their
children were therefore Haitian, not Dominican.

Last spring, the government agency in charge of identity documents, the Joint
Electoral Council, issued a memorandum telling its employees to watch for the
offspring of foreigners trying to identify themselves as Dominican. It now
hangs at every clerk’s office and is shown to people thought to have Haitian
blood.

“The issue of Haiti has become very combustible in the Dominican context,”
said Daniel Erikson, director of Caribbean programs at the Inter-American
Dialogue, a research group in Washington. “You have a deep resentment of
Haiti, and that’s driving these responses that don’t reflect favorably on
the country.”

Government officials point out the strain that poor illegal immigrants from
Haiti put on the Dominican Republic. The two countries share the island of
Hispaniola but have vastly different levels of development.

Of course, Haitians contribute, too. They have long worked in the jobs
Dominicans did not want to do, mostly cutting cane on plantations that supply
sugar to the United States. The government has not just known of their presence
for decades but has in some cases encouraged their arrival.

The Dominican government says the new crackdown is a security matter, aimed at
wiping out fraud. And in some cases over the years, young Haitians who had
crossed the border illegally claimed to have been born on the Dominican side.

But opponents accuse the government of applying its 2004 law retroactively,
which they call an illegal practice that has longstanding societal animosity
against Haitians at its heart.

“The racist beliefs of some are being used to twist our laws,” said
Cristóbal Rodríguez Gómez, a Dominican constitutional law professor at
Ibero-American University, who is acting as counsel for another descendant of
Haitians who lacks documents. “This is a crime, a monstrous crime.”

In a recent report, two United Nations experts found “a profound and
entrenched problem of racism and discrimination” in the Dominican Republic,
mostly affecting people of Haitian origin. The report said Haitians and their
descendants face “extreme vulnerability, unjustified deportations, racial
discrimination, and are denied the full enjoyment of their human rights.”

The Dominican government rejected the conclusions, portraying the relationship
between the neighbors as one of solidarity.

Ángel is one of many who find their lives in limbo under the new rules. Emildo
Bueno Oguis, 33, a college student who recently married an American woman,
could not get his birth certificate either and therefore cannot apply to the
American Embassy for residency to join her in Florida.

Mr. Oguis, whom Mr. Rodríguez represents, challenged the government’s
decision in court, accusing the council of denying his rights. But his claim
was rejected, despite the fact that he had previously been issued a Dominican
identity card and a Dominican passport.

Confusing the matter, a lower court judge ruled in favor of another descendant
of Haitian immigrants, Nuny Angra Luis, who had been denied her birth
certificate. That decision was announced the same week in April as the other,
diametrically opposed ruling.

Demetrio F. Francisco de Los Santos, a government lawyer, dismisses the notion
that anyone’s rights are being violated. Descendants of Haitians, he argues
in court documents, can simply go to the nearest Haitian consulate for their
documents.

While Haitian law does grant citizenship to the offspring of Haitians, the
issue is complex. Ángel’s parents would have to prove they are Haitian for
him to get citizenship in Haiti, a country which he has never visited.

While some are indignant about the Dominican crackdown, Ángel seems
surprisingly calm.

Before a recent practice, in which he flagged fly balls and then fired them
into the infield, Ángel said his mother could not sleep after he lost the
Giants contract. (“Ángel Luis Joseph is one of a number of players in the
Dominican that clubs are finding do not have the proper paperwork to prove
their identity or age,” the Giants said in a statement, indicating that the
team had been forced to look for someone else.)

Ángel may have another shot. The Cleveland Indians have come calling, he said,
visiting the humble shack that he shares with his parents and seven siblings
just outside a sugarcane field.

The Indians’ offer was about a third of that put forward by the Giants, but
still a windfall for a boy from a batey, the name for the workers’ camps that
grow up around sugar cane plantations.

But while he awaits a ruling, he acknowledges worrying that he will see his
dream disappear a second time.

“God wants me to be a baseball player — that I know,” he said. What he
does not know is whether the Dominican Republic, the country he considers
himself from, agrees.

Source:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/25/world/americas/25dominican.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida (AP) — A former teacher was sentenced Tuesday to more than seven years in prison for forcing a Haitian girl to work as a slave for years in her South Florida home.

Maude Paulin, 52, admitted that she had made mistakes in bringing Simone Celestin to the U.S. and apologized for what happened but insisted that she wanted only good things for the girl.

“I love Simone with all my heart,” Paulin told Senior U.S. District Judge Jose A. Gonzalez Jr. at a sentencing hearing. “I regret it. I blame myself.”

Paulin’s ex-husband, Saintfort Paulin, was sentenced to house arrest for a lesser role.

The sentence imposed by Gonzalez on Maude Paulin was at the low end of federal guidelines but is still higher than prison terms in many similar cases. Prosecutor Edward Chung of the U.S. Justice Department’s civil rights division said a stiff sentence was important to deter others.

“This is an extremely serious crime,” Chung said.

Paulin, her 74-year-old mother, Evelyn Theodore, and Saintfort Paulin were convicted in March for their roles in forcing Celestin to work 15 hours a day at their Miami home. Celestin, who was living at a Haitian orphanage, was brought to the U.S. in 1999 at age 14 and escaped from the home in 2005.

Prosecutors said Celestin is one of thousands of Haitian children, known by the Creole term “restaveks,” who are forced into involuntary servitude both in Haiti and in the U.S. UNICEF has estimated that up to 17,500 such people are brought to the U.S. each year to become slaves.

Testimony showed that Celestin got virtually no schooling, was frequently threatened and beaten, and was forced to sleep on the floor. Celestin testified that she thought about killing herself.

Saintfort Paulin, who was convicted only of harboring an illegal alien without financial gain, was sentenced to 18 months’ probation, including six months of house arrest. He told Gonzalez that he left the home in 2001 and that Celestin’s treatment was his ex-wife’s idea.

“I ended up going along willingly. I’m sorry for what transpired,” said Saintfort Paulin, who now lives in New Jersey.

Sentencing was postponed for Theodore because she suffered a stroke shortly after the jury verdict and is incompetent for court proceedings, court papers show.

Gonzalez said Maude Paulin and her mother are liable for more than $162,000 in restitution to Celestin. They were convicted of conspiring to violate Celestin’s 13th Amendment rights to be free from slavery, of illegally forcing her to work for them and of harboring an alien for financial gain.

About two dozen of Maude Paulin’s friends and relatives jammed the courtroom for the hearing, where she was seeking a lenient sentence, possibly even probation. Daughter Erica Paulin said her mother was generous and caring, especially for the plight of children in poverty-plagued Haiti.

“My mother is an inspiration to her friends and her family, to so many people,” Erica Paulin said. “She is not a monster.”

But Chung said the defendant simply won’t admit that she did something wrong.

“Maude Paulin does not to this day acknowledge that she committed this crime,” Chung said.

Maude Paulin, who taught middle school in Miami-Dade County, will be forced to surrender her Florida teaching certificate. Partly because of her mother’s illness, Gonzalez agreed to allow her to remain free until July 30.

Children like this 15-year-old girl have suffered abuse at the hands of some UN soldiers and aid workers.

Children as young as 6 have been forced to have sex with aid workers and peacekeepers in return for food and money, Save the Children UK said in a report released Tuesday.

After interviewing hundreds of children, the charity said it found instances of rape, child prostitution, pornography, indecent sexual assault and trafficking of children for sex.

“It is hard to imagine a more grotesque abuse of authority or flagrant violation of children’s rights,” Jasmine Whitbread, chief executive of Save the Children UK, said.

In the report, “No One To Turn To” a 15-year-old girl from Haiti told researchers: “My friends and I were walking by the National Palace one evening when we encountered a couple of humanitarian men. The men called us over and showed us their penises.

“They offered us 100 Haitian gourdes ($2.80) and some chocolate if we would suck them. I said, ‘No,’ but some of the girls did it and got the money.”

Save the Children says almost as shocking as the abuse itself, is the “chronic under-reporting” of the abuses. It believes that thousands more children around the world could be suffering in silence.

“People don’t report it because they are worried that the agency will stop working here, and we need them,” a teenage boy in southern Sudan told Save the Children.

The charity’s research was centered on Ivory Coast, southern Sudan and Haiti, but Save the Children said the perpetrators of sexual abuse of children could be found in every type of humanitarian organization at all levels.

Save the Children is calling for a global watchdog to tackle the problem and said it was working with the U.N. to establish local mechanisms that will allow victims to easily report abuse.

“We are glad that Save the Children continues to shed a light on this problem. It actually follows up on a report that we did in 2002 with Save the Children. I think every population in the world has to confront this problem of exploitation and abuse of children,” said Ron Redmond, chief spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva, Switzerland.

“The United Nations has a zero-tolerance policy. It’s one that UNHCR takes very, very seriously. In refugee camps, we have implemented very strong reporting mechanisms so that refugees can come forward to report any abuses or alleged abuses.”

In 2003, U.N. Nepalese troops were accused of sexual abuse while serving in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Six soldiers were later jailed.

A year later, two U.N. peacekeepers were repatriated after being accused of abuse in Burundi, while U.N. troops also were accused of rape and sexual abuse in Sudan.

Last year, the U.N. launched an investigation into sexual abuse claims in Ivory Coast.

The vast majority of aid workers were not involved in any form of abuse or exploitation, but in “life-saving essential humanitarian work,” Save the Children’s Whitbread said.

But humanitarian and peacekeeping agencies working in emergency situations “must own up to the fact that they are vulnerable to this problem and tackle it head on,” she said.

The aid agency said it had fired three workers for breaching its codes and called on others to do the same. The three men were dismissed in the past year for having had sex with girls aged 17 — which the charity said is not illegal but is cause for loss of employment.

Other UK charities said they supported Save the Children’s call for a global watchdog.

“Oxfam takes a zero-tolerance approach to sexual misconduct by its aid workers. All our staff across the world are held accountable by a robust code of conduct,” Jane Cocking, Oxfam charity’s humanitarian director said.

“We support Save the Children’s calls for a global watchdog. We will do all we can to stamp out this intolerable abuse.”

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) – U.N. officials pledged Friday to pursue those responsible for slaying a Nigerian peacekeeper during food riots in the Haitian capital.

U.N. Nigerian peacekeepers carry the coffin of Cpl. Nagya Aminu during his funeral service Friday in Port-au-Prince.

Cpl. Nagya Aminu was dragged from his vehicle and shot in the neck April 12 in the first execution-style slaying of a U.N. peacekeeper in Haiti since the multinational force arrived to restore order in the troubled Caribbean country in 2004.

“We will pursue the authors of this crime with the strongest determination until they are brought to justice,” U.N. envoy Hedi Annabi told dozens of peacekeepers who gathered at a military hospital for a memorial service for the slain Nigerian police officer.

The 36-year-old, who was married and had one son, had been in Haiti since December as part of the 9,000-member force of international soldiers and police officers.

At least seven people were killed during violent protests this month over food prices.

Schools and businesses have since reopened and the mass demonstrations have ended, but U.N. and Haitian officials say the impoverished country remains unstable. E-mail to a friend

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Friday, April 11

Protesters Retreat in Haiti _ for Now

By JONATHAN M. KATZ – 14 hours ago

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Peacekeepers cleared roadblocks and businesses reopened in Haiti’s debris-littered capital Thursday, but protesters warned that chaos will return quickly if the government fails to rein in soaring food prices.

Three days of protests and looting in the capital brought a swift political response, with 17 of Haiti ’s 27 senators calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis. Protesters said President Rene Preval should be replaced as well if he does not find a solution.

“If you can’t take care of the country, you are like a leaf and you should fall,” said Fortune Metilien, a 42-year-old garbage collector.

Metilien and many of the other protesters carried tree branches to symbolize their support for former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who has vowed to return since a 2004 revolt sent him into exile in South Africa . Many demonstrators sang a popular song that includes the refrain: “If Aristide were here, it wouldn’t be like this.”

And some people in the Cite Soleil slum, a bastion of Aristide support, said envoys of the Aristide-aligned Rev. Gerard Jean-Juste visited Monday and told them to protest peacefully.

But while some blamed Aristide supporters, others attributed the protests to drug smugglers bent on creating chaos. The unrest began last week in Les Cayes, the base of fugitive rebel leader Guy Philippe who is wanted in the U.S. on drug-smuggling charges. Five people died there.

Robert Fatton, a Haiti expert at the University of Virginia , doubts there is any political motive to the protests, describing them as a spontaneous reaction to food prices, which have risen 40 percent globally since mid-2007.

“The protests themselves are very logical given what’s happening to the cost of living,” he said.

Haiti is particularly affected by the rising prices because people are so poor, and almost all their money goes into buying food.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called this week for emergency aid, and France said Thursday it will send US$1.6 million (euro1 million), including US$1.2 million (euro800,000) worth of food.

Preval, in his first public comments since the unrest began, pledged Wednesday to help farmers and appealed for a halt to the violence.

Three U.N. peacekeepers from Sri Lanka were shot while on patrol Wednesday in the Martissant slum by unknown gunmen. Their injuries were not life-threatening, U.N. mission spokeswoman Sophie Boutaud de la Combe.

On Thursday, some protesters threw rocks at a U.N. building in the Martissant slum, and tires burned elsewhere in the city. But routine business resumed across most of Port-au-Prince , an impoverished capital of 2 million people, as cars and motorcycles formed long lines at gas stations that had been closed for days.

A Haitian policeman was injured in the northwestern town of Gonaives , Haitian police spokesman Frantz Lerebours said. In the south, rioters clashed with police in Jacmel and at least 2,000 people marched peacefully in Nippes.

It was clear people expected Preval to act fast. Young men in Martissant shouted that the protests will resume quickly if Preval does not bring down the price of rice.

“We heard the speech, but the speech is empty,” said student protest organizer Herve Saintiles, 37. “We are going to hold the president responsible for all these problems.”

Alexis, Preval’s second-in-command, was in a precarious position. He survived a confidence vote over the government’s handling of the economy in February, but the senators said they would call another censure vote on Saturday.

Preval was once a protege of Aristide, a popular priest driven from office amid accusations of corruption and that he supported brutal gangs. But Aristide supporters who backed Preval are now turning away from him.

Marie Carmel Jean-Baptiste, a 35-year-old resident of Cite Soleil, said she voted for Preval — but not because she thinks he’s a good president.

“I voted Preval to hold on until Aristide comes back,” she said.

Jacques Edouard Alexis sacked as prime minister

The Associated Press

2:22 PM CDT, April 12, 2008

More articles

Police officers disperse demonstrators in Port-au-Prince, Wednesday, April 09, 2008. Haiti’s President Rene Preval is calling on Haitians to quit riots over high food prices, telling them “I’m giving you orders to stop.” In his first public remarks since the unrest began last week, Preval told Haitians that the soaring food prices are a global phenomenon. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

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