FREE Face À Un État Défaillant, La Population De Bayonnais Se Prend
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FREE Thanks to our ADVERTISERS Please Support SOUTH FLORIDA’S MOST READ HAITIAN NEWSPAPER THEM! July 16 - 31, 2019 | Vol. 19 No. 437 www.lefloridien.com PHONE: 305.610.7481 Face à un État défaillant, la population de Bayonnais se prend en charge MIAMI, 14 Juillet -- En tout temps, la d’aide de l’État. population haïtienne a su s’organiser pour contrer l’adversité et surmont- Face à l’inaction de l’État, la pop- er les moments difficiles. Que ça soit ulation de Ravine-à-Couleuvres se pour mieux gérer les récoltes, travaill- prend en main er la terre, bâtir des routes ou venir en aide à un malade de la communauté, À chaque élection présidentielle ou les Haïtiens ont inventé un système législative, c’est toujours la même ren- de solidarité sophistiqué qui porte un gaine que débitent les politiciens aux nom : la combite. Les habitants de Ra- populations de Ravine-à-Couleuvres : vine-à-Couleuvres/Petite Rivière de «nous allons vous construire des routes Bayonnais, 3è section communale des et des ponts, des écoles et des hôpi- Gonaïves, ont récemment eu recours à taux, mais pour ça, il faut d’abord voter cette solution atypique pour construire pour nous». Une fois l’élection passée, un pont afin de sortir de l’isolement les promesses s’évaporent aussi vite et améliorer leur quotidien. Un pro- qu’elles ne sont apparues. jet réalisé entièrement par les locaux Photo d’un pont construit avec les contributions de la population de la Ravine-à-couleuvre, Bayon- nais, 3e section communale des Gonaïves avec 17 millions gourdes. Crédit: Le National qui n’ont pas reçu le moindre centime Suite à la page 14 ICE has begun raids to round up undocumented ÉDITORIAL Le gouvernement immigrants, official says veut profiter de la Washington (CNN) -- Immigration The raids, which will focus on re- Immigration and Customs Enforce- authorities have begun conducting cent arrivals to the country, are slat- ment said it would suspend opera- notoriété des raids, a senior administration offi- ed for Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, tions through the weekend in areas Grenadiers Page 4 cial said Sunday, in an operation Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Mi- hit by Tropical Storm Barry. expected to target about 2,000 un- ami, New York and San Francisco, documented immigrants ordered by a senior immigration official said. Continued on page 5 Miami’s Little Haiti courts to be removed from the coun- New Orleans is also on the list, but try. the city tweeted last week that US wasn’t a target for developers. Page 2 Trump tells Dem congresswomen of color: What kind of Divorce Go back where you came from do I Qualify For? Page 6 WASHINGTON DC -- President and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.). Donald Trump, jumping into the middle of a feud among House Dem- “So interesting to see ‘Progressive’ Don’t fall for the fake ocrats, called out progressive con- Democrat Congresswomen, who gresswomen in xenophobic terms on originally came from countries whose $80 Publix coupon Sunday, saying, “Why don’t they go governments are a complete and total circulating on social back and help fix the totally broken catastrophe, the worst, most corrupt Page 8 and crime infested places from which and inept anywhere in the world (if media they came.” they even have a functioning govern- ment at all), now loudly and vicious- While he didn’t mention them by ly telling the people of the United Lebron James name in his series of tweets, Trump States, the greatest and most powerful was presumably targeting some of Nation on earth, how our government c o n t r a i n t d e g a r d e r the caucus’s best-known freshman is to be run,” the president wrote. le numéro 23 Page 18 women of color: Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Ilhan Omar Continued on page 7 (D-Minn.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) LE FLORIDIEN 2 CLIMATE GENTRIFICATION JULY 16 - 31, 2019 | VOL. 19 NO. 437 Miami’s Little Haiti wasn’t a target for developers. Until the seas started to rise. By Bill Weir, CNN Miami (CNN) -- In a city where “sunny day floods” increased 400% in a decade, rising seas are chang- ing the old real estate mantra of “location, location, location.” In Miami these days, it’s all about elevation, eleva- tion, elevation. And long before melted ice caps wash over Ocean Drive, one of America’s most vulnerable big cities is becoming a test case for the modern problem of climate gentrification. While some scientific models predict enough po- lar ice melt to bring at least 10 feet of sea level rise to South Florida by 2100, just a modest 12 inches would make 15% of Miami uninhabitable, and much of that beachside property is among America’s most valuable. Marleine Bastien, center, protests with residents and activists against the Magic City plans. (Photo Joe Raedle/Getty Images) Even now, as more frequent “king tides” bubble up through Florida’s porous limestone, pushing fish through sewers and onto streets, residents are becom- After her community center and day school were able housing policies have to come from the govern- ing more aware that their city is built on the rippling priced out of three different buildings, she caught ment.” shelves, ridges and canyons of a fossil seabed. wind of plans to build the sprawling $1 billion Mag- ic City development on the edge of Little Haiti, fea- “(Climate gentrification) is something that we are “Water is simply going back to the same places it turing a promenade, high-end retail stores, high rise very closely monitoring,” Miami Mayor Francis Su- flowed ages ago,” says Sam Purkis, Chair of the Uni- apartments and imagined by a consortium of local arez tells me. “But we haven’t seen any direct evi- versity of Miami’s Geosciences Department. “The investors, including the founder of Cirque du Soleil. dence of it yet.” irony is what happened 125,000 years ago is going to Magic City developers insist that they picked the site dictate what happens to your house now.” based on location, not elevation. Suarez is the rare Republican who passionately ar- gues for climate mitigation plans and helped champi- The fickle undulations between city blocks could They promised to preserve the soul of Little Haiti on the $400 million Miami Forever bond, approved mean the difference between survival and retreat, and give $31 million to the community for affordable by voters to fund action to protect the city from the and the rising cost of altitude is sparking a noticeable housing and other programs, but it wasn’t enough for ravages of higher seas and stronger storms. shift in community activism and municipal budgets. Bastien. “This is a plan to actually erase Little Haiti,” she says. “Because this is the one place where immi- “We actually created in our first tranche of Miami In Pinecrest, artist Xavier Cortada installed murals gration and climate gentrification collide.” Forever, a sustainability fund for people to renovate showing how many feet above sea level intersections their homes so that they can stay in their properties are. She fought the development with all the protesters rather than having to sell their properties,” he says. and hand-lettered signs she could muster, but after Neighbors in Pinecrest formed America’s first Un- a debate that went until 1 a.m., commissioners ap- But that fund is a relatively small $15 million, not derwater Homeowners Association (complete with proved the permit with a 3-0 vote at the end of June. enough to dent a housing crisis that grows with each elevation yard signs) and named a marine scientist “The area we took was all industrial,” says Max Sk- heat wave and hurricane, in a city where over a quar- as president. lar, VP with Plaza Equity Partners and a member of ter of residents live below the poverty level. the development team. “There was no real thriving Miami Beach is spending millions elevating roads, economy around these warehouses or vacant land. What’s happening in Little Haiti could be just one upgrading pumps and changing building codes to al- And so our goal is to create that economy. example of a “climate apartheid” that the United Na- low residents to raise their mansions by five feet. tions warns is ahead, where there will be a gulf be- “Can we appease everybody? Not 100%, that’s not tween the rich who can protect themselves from the But in working-class, immigrant neighborhoods like feasible. It’s not realistic. But we’ve listened to impact of climate change and the poor who are left Little Haiti, year-to-year sea level rise gets lost in the them.” behind. day-to-day struggle, and most had no idea that they live a lofty three feet higher than the wealthy folks on He repeats a promise to deliver $6 million to a Little Philip Alston, the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme Miami Beach. Haiti community trust before ground is even broken poverty and human rights, said there was already ev- and, as a sign that he listened to at least one demand, idence of how the climate crisis affects the rich and They found out when developers started calling, acknowledges that the complex will now be called poor differently. from everywhere. Magic City Little Haiti. And he pointed out that those hurt most were likely “They were calling from China, from Venezuela. But while Bastien mourns the defeat, her neighbor those least responsible.