You are probably aware that the growing food crisis in Haiti has been the focus of community leaders and Haitian activists in Miami-Dade County for the past several weeks. But, what they have told us in the past few days must be clear to all. It is time now that people of all nationalities and from all walks of life in our community become greatly alarmed and mobilize to act.
Second only to New York City in this country, Miami-Dade is home to the greatest number of first-generation immigrants from Haiti and a rapidly increasing number of their U.S.-born children. Haiti is the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere and is now suffering what may be the most devastating impact anywhere in what has quickly become a world-wide food shortage.
U.S. Reps. Kendrick Meek and Alcee Hastings, Democrats from South Florida, along with the Rev. Jesse Jackson and other prominent Americans, including South Florida religious and civic leaders, have traveled to Haiti. They have sounded a clear warning that mass starvation may be imminent unless something is done and done quickly. Miami-Dade's Haitian-American leaders are providing guidance to us all on both the short- and long-term needs of the people there.
The challenge that we face now is stark and in our face. We cannot sit back and pretend while human beings living only a few hundred miles away are reduced to eating grass and dirt. We cannot watch idly as our neighbors riot in the streets and commit violence upon each other because they are hungry and are desperate to feed their children and themselves. We cannot remain silent while frantic and terrified people crowd by the hundreds onto rickety small boats and set out to cross the sea in a treacherous and nightmarish gamble leading to either freedom or to death.
Several of our elected officials and community leaders have offered to us a menu of responses that we must undertake. Among these are calls for personal contributions to relief agencies and citizen support for AID Food for Peace, United Nations and other government and nongovernmental food assistance. There is also support for enhancements to the HOPE II Trade Bill that offers duty-free entry to certain clothing made in Haiti and that has created nearly 10,000 jobs in the republic this year.
Immigrant advocates tell us that we need to lobby hard to persuade President Bush, through the Department of Homeland Security, to grant immediate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to Haitian refugees who are currently in this country. There is significant hope for the passage of the federal Jubilee Act that would forgive the debt of impoverished nations around the world for loans funded through world development organizations.
There is much that can and must be done to mobilize action to stop starvation and violence in Haiti. I encourage you to contact your congressional leaders and community organizations to find out more about what you should be doing.
You can join with the members of the Miami-Dade County Community Relations Board (CRB), the Haitian American Grassroots Coalition and the Miami-Dade NAACP who are responding in this community by convening an ``Emergency Summit on Haiti.''
The summit will focus on both short- and long-term solutions to the present crisis and to helping restore economic sustainability to the country. Detailed action plans will be developed and assignments for organizations and individuals will be made with specific deadlines for completion. The summit will convene today from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Historical Museum of Southern Florida, 101 W. Flagler St.
For more information, contact the CRB at (305) 375-5730. I encourage those of you with significant energy, ideas and commitment to participate.
Barbara J. Jordan is the Miami-Dade commissioner from District 1.
