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magbana (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore | Wed Jun-10-09 08:16 PM Original message |
HAITI LIBERTE: Coverage of Pere Jean-Juste's Funeral and Tribute by Ira Kurzban |
HAITI LIBERTE
"Justice. Verite. Independance." * THIS WEEK IN HAITI * June 10 - 16, 2009 Vol. 2, No. 47 MIAMI: THOUSANDS TURN OUT FOR JEAN-JUSTE'S FUNERAL by Kim Ives They came from Port-au-Prince, New York, Montreal, Orlando, Cap Haitien, West Palm Beach, Washington, DC, Chicago, Tampa, Stamford, Boston, and Atlanta. Thousands of Haitians from all over North America and Haiti descended on Miami, Florida last weekend to pay tribute to Father Gérard Jean-Juste, who died in that city on May 27 after almost three months on life support in Jackson Memorial Hospital (see Haiti Liberté, Vol. 2, No. 46, 6/3/2009). *The Wake* On Friday, June 5, Jean-Juste's body, dressed in a priest's robes, was displayed at Notre Dame d'Haiti Catholic Church on NE 62nd Street in Little Haiti starting at 6 p.m. Despite several violent thunderstorms that evening which flooded many parts of Miami and Miami Beach making travel impossible, thousands nonetheless turned out. Some 3,000 Haitians packed shoulder to shoulder into the church, filling the aisles and exits, while thousands more sitting on folding metal chairs watched the service on television screens set up outside the church. Hundreds more followed the service at a rally eight blocks away at the headquarters of Veye Yo, the local grassroots action organization which Jean-Juste founded, on NE 54th Street. A long line of colleagues, activists, and politicians offered tributes to the late priest. Among the speakers were former U.S. Congresswoman Carrie Meek and the son which took over her seat, Congressman Kendrick Meek; Dr. Paul Farmer, who secretly diagnosed Jean-Juste's leukemia in a Port-au-Prince jail in December 2005; Margaret Trost, a Californian woman who set up the What If Foundation which helps feeds 1000 children weekly at Jean-Juste's church St. Claire's in Haiti; local Miami Haitian politicians Jacques Despinosse and Philippe Derose; Cheryl Little, a former lawyer at the Haitian Refugee Center (HRC); community activist Marlene Bastien of Haitian Women in Miami; popular radio show host Yeye Boul, who sang; unionist Monica Russo; and former HRC activists Jack Lieberman, Marty Goodman and Len Kaminsky. The climax of the evening was a long eulogy by Notre Dame's Father Reginald Jean-Marie in which he praised Jean-Juste and warned against "false prophets" and "hypocrites" in the community whose conduct threatened Jean-Juste's legacy. "It was the power of love that guided him, not the love of power," Father Reginald said. The priest went on to tell the thousands assembled "You must respect this man. You must imitate his values. Always cherish his memory." Father Reginald also recalled the terrible trials Jean-Juste endured in Haiti during his final years. "They put Gerry in prison but they were not able to put the love in his heart in prison," he said. The evening ended around midnight with the thousands assembled in the church and outside filing orderly past the body to pay their final respects. Occasionally a mourner would break down in tears, but most simply crossed themselves, saluted, or blew a kiss. After the service, hundreds of mourners gathered at Veye Yo, where food was served and people sat and stood around sharing memories about Jean-Juste. *The Funeral* The next day, the funeral for Jean-Juste began at 1 p.m. Once again, rainstorms did not prevent thousands of Haitians from turning out, filling and surrounding Notre Dame with a sea of humanity. A large Parliamentary delegation from Port-au-Prince arrived shortly after the start of the service. It included Senators Kelly Bastien, Evalliere Beauplan, Michel Clerié, Lebon Fritz Carlos, Jean Joseph Pierre-Louis, Wilbert Jean-Jacques, Yvon Buissereth, Andris Riché, and Nenel Cassy. Also there were many Deputies including Steven Benoit, Pierre Eric Jean-Jacques, Clédor Myril, Sainvil Lucas, Valciné Pierre Jerome, and Charles Pierre Miolin. Although the Catholic Church had a rocky relationship with Jean-Juste during his life, it had to recognize his importance after his death and sent the Miami Archbishop John C. Favalora to the service. Other priests from Miami and Haiti also gave eulogies which were followed by eulogies from friends and comrades including old friend Fritz Boutin, lawyers Ira Kurzban and Steve Forester, Marlene Bastien, Veye Yo leader Lavarice Gaudin, Aristide spokeswoman Maryse Narcisse, and local businessman Ringo Cayard. The final eulogy came from members of Jean-Juste's family, primarily his nephews and nieces. The church was too crowded to perform communion but the priests delivered the last rites with a swinging, smoking thurible. Then the ceremony was closed by singer and Veye Yo leader Farah Juste who gave a moving rendition of "Yo bay nou kou a, kou a fe nou malo" (They hit us and it hurts) and then the Haitian National Anthem. (The priests asked Farah to also sing the U.S. national anthem but she declined. A member of the church choir was recruited to sing that.) All during the ceremony, leading members of Veye Yo sat sadly in the front rows. Lavarice Gaudin, Jean-Juste's right-hand man for many years, sat next to the coffin, often with tears streaming down his face. Both services were well-organized and orderly. Although mourners often cried out in grief, the demonstrations of mourning were never show-stoppers. *The March & Rally* Despite heavy rain that beat on the church roof during the service, forcing people outside the church to seek shelter under trees, tents and umbrellas, the sun came out and shone brightly just as the service ended. The mourners then took the closed casket, loaded it in a hearse, and slowly marched, chanting militantly, from Notre Dame to Veye Yo's headquarters. Thousands more, solemnly sympathetic, lined the route, some watching, some chanting, some crying. In front of Veye Yo, a small stage was set up where well-known activists like Farah Juste, Alina Sixto, Lucie Tondreau and Tony Jean-Thénor led the crowd in militant chants for about two hours. The community contributed to the funeral in many ways. Emmanuel Funeral Home contributed a $65,000 coffin, $5,000 for Jean-Juste T-shirts, and $2,000 for water, as well as providing free funeral services. Restaurants like Miami Beach's Tap Tap and 54th Street's Peter Li Restaurant contributed food. Activist Jack Lieberman's network and Haitian Women in Miami put together hundreds of funeral programs. Crowing Rooster Arts, which had a film crew covering the events, distributed posters and wallet picture cards of Jean-Juste. In short, an avalanche of solidarity and fraternity brought together all the communities - Haitian, North American, Latin American - whose lives Jean-Juste had touched. *Haiti* Despite reported early disagreements within his family about his final resting place, it is now agreed and official that Jean-Juste's body will be buried in Haiti, next to his mother in the southern town of Cavaillon. The planned program is for the body to be flown to Haiti on June 16. There will be a wake on June 18 at St. Claire's church in Ti Plas Kazo, part of the capital's Delmas district. Finally there will be a funeral at the Port-au-Prince Cathedral on June 19 at 8 a.m., and then Jean-Juste's remains will be transported in a large funeral procession to Cavaillon, to be buried that evening. A TRIBUTE TO FATHER GÉRARD JEAN-JUSTE: JUSTICE BEGINS IN THE HEART by Ira Kurzban *The following eulogy was delivered at Father Jean-Juste's funeral ceremony on June 6 at Notre Dame d'Haiti Catholic Church in Miami, Florida.* What can we say about a man who spent his entire life in the pursuit of justice for the disenfranchised? What can we say about a priest whose ministry was the entire community? Who spent every waking hour finding a way to serve; a way to help those who were the least well off here and in Haiti? What can we say of a man who was fearless in the face of danger; fearless in the face of a wall of hatred that he constantly had to climb; and fearless of his own mortality. Can we say just that he was a good man? A moral man? A community leader? Or that he was a saint? There was an intangible quality of goodness about Jean-Juste that drove him, as it did Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and Dom Helder Camara to cherish and dedicate his life to his community. He shook off the trappings of power and politics in the conventional sense, and instead served his community from the grassroots. He concretely, every day of his life followed the path of non-violence and service to the poor that made their lives and his so remarkable. He did it with a smile, not in anger toward anyone. He knew in his heart and in his actions that each person was a human being - tout moun se moun - to be cherished and respected. He led not by words, but by deeds. By acting every day in a way that meant that he believed in the holy sanctity of all mankind. He would confront the enemies of justice with respect, with humility, and with patience. I knew Father Jean-Juste for over 30 years, and I never saw or hear him raise his voice in anger. He shouted for justice; he demanded that the poor be treated with dignity and respect. He called on all to help. But he never scolded; never denigrated, and never sought recriminations against those who opposed his views. Father Jean-Juste knew that justice begins in the heart and its trajectory rests in the infinite lives of all mankind. We cannot obtain justice, without providing justice for all. After all, justice is not the province of the privileged. It is not a safe harbor for the rich. It is and always will be the justice that says we cannot let one person go hungry while others sit at the table of plenty; we cannot allow one child to sleep in the street when the world can build roofs for everyone. We will not allow one person to die of malnutrition or disease when we have food to feed them and drugs to heal them. We will not let one child be uneducated because it deeply wounds all of us to ignore generations of future genius. He, like all great leaders, was also color-blind. He called upon all of us - white, yellow, red, black, mulatto, Christian, Jew, Moslem, Buddhist - to break the chains of our own prejudices and unite to help all mankind, in all ways, for all time. I knew this great humble man for all of both our professional lives. His legacy is not only his humility; his sensitivity, to those who are most vulnerable such as the children of St. Claire and the children of poverty wherever they live. His battle for justice for Haitian refugees here revolutionized the law on asylum for everyone. He changed the law by motivating Haitians to demonstrate and demand their rights when their undocumented status made them understandably fearful. He motivated his young lawyers to do the impossible: to fight against the INS that was not enough, against the White House and the President. And fight we did. In case after case, with Father Jean-Juste in the streets and we in the courthouses, we went to the highest courts in this land to say that Haitians cannot be incarcerated or denied the right to work, or denied the right to a fair hearing because of the color of their skin or their nationality. And when we won these cases, we changed forever the law of asylum for all refugees. In this incredible struggle, he also transformed our city and the State of Florida. When we began, local leaders were told that all Haitians would be deported, that the cities and counties need not worry because soon the Haitians would be gone from South Florida. When he finished this struggle, a Haitian community was created in South Florida. I have said it many times and I will say again here today: there would not be a Haitian community in South Florida if it were not for the work of Father Jean-Juste, the Haitian Refugee Center and the refugees who fought for the right to be here. After completing his work here, he turned to Haiti in support of the people of Haiti. Like Jean Bertrand Aristide he believed in the vision of dignity for all Haitians. In many ways he gave his life for that vision. When the elite and the Army, with the nod of the Bush White House, engaged in the first coup against democracy in Haiti, he remained in Haiti until President Aristide returned. When the French, Canadians and the second Bush White House installed the puppet government of Gérard Latortue, he chose to go back and confront those who would try and assassinate democracy in Haiti. Although they incarcerated him, and in ways subtle and not-so-subtle tortured him, his spirit and his will could not be broken. Even in his most ill moments in prison in Haiti, or when Latortue and his thugs allowed him to be attacked, or in illness here, he rose, again and again to the challenges before him. He stood then and will always stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the great heroes of the Haitian revolution. For like Toussaint, it can be said of Father Jean-Juste that he knew how to confront danger to obtain justice and he knew how to confront death to preserve it. Father Jean-Juste would never let me end any statement about him without talking of the future. It was Father Jean-Juste's will that the struggle for justice and democracy in Haiti and here continue without respite. In between breaths in his oxygen tank, we spoke of organizing demonstrations to support Temporary Protected Status Lavalas and Jean Bertrand Aristide to Haiti. So as we lay his body to rest, we are all challenged to continue his indomitable spirit, to carry forward the heavy burden of the fight for justice, and to struggle for each child that feels the pains of hunger in a world of plenty, that thirsts for knowledge in a universe of information, and that seeks freedom from pain and sickness in a world where all things are possible. This is his legacy. A legacy of love and of struggle. And may he know the peace that comes from knowing his good works will not die and his dreams for a better Haiti will one day be fulfilled. All articles copyrighted Haiti Liberte. REPRINTS ENCOURAGED. Please credit Haiti Liberte. |
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