Senator Clinton out of line

Dear Editor,

Thank you for your cover article, "It's Wrong to Downplay King's Legacy" (National Weekly 1/17 - 23). Senator Clinton's attempt to downplay Dr. King's legacy indicates at worst her severely limited knowledge of the Civil Rights Movement and at best her feeble attempt to reinvent history.

It is a matter of historical fact that Dr. King's tireless work and social momentum led Johnson to sign the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This country made it abundantly clear, both explicitly and implicitly that it expected those of African descent "to wait", as it "wasn't the time" to legally ban apartheid.

The Civil Rights agenda had been stalled for years, during several administrations. To lay the passage of this act at the foot of President Johnson is an insult not only to Dr. King's work, but to the countless men and women who jeopardized and lost their lives for its passage. Johnson himself was a latecomer to the Movement. He was undoubtedly spurred on by wanting to leave a legacy, but to attribute the success of this movement to him is in itself a "fairytale".

-T. Herbert

In defense of Haiti’s image

Dear Editor:

As I'm sure most of you are aware, another study has surfaced linking

Haitian immigrants to the introduction of AIDS in the US. The study was conducted by professors at the University of Miami and the University of Arizona. Clearly, the results of this study put a stain on Haiti's reputation in the US and make things more trying for Haitian immigrants.

You may recall that several years ago, a similar study was put forth and the strong negative reaction from the Haitian community prompted the US government, namely the Center for Disease Control, to come out and denounce the findings.

I believe we again need to take action and raise awareness of this issue within the US government. Having Haitian leaders visit Washington to raise this issue and provide the facts to the US officials will go a long way in accomplishing that goal and protecting and defending Haiti's image.

To that end, if members of the community are interested in considering a trip to DC to help get this message out, I would be more than happy to help arrange meetings with the appropriate officials, including the Center for Disease Control, the Department of Health and Human Services, Members of Congress, and others.

We need to strike fast and efficiently on this topic before this misinformation has a chance to sink into the psyche of Americans and US officials. I believe your involvement would be greatly helpful on this front. I would strongly encourage you to make the trip -- it is certainly a worthy cause!

Stanley Lucas
President
Washington Democracy Project
The Haitian Coalition USA

Dear Editor

Eddy Edwards could not have said it better in the “Correct Me If I’m Wrong” in the Sept. 13 issue, when he called for organizers to educate officials on the event. When Carnival started in London-Brixton/Stephen Bush in the early 60s I remember the London police men that were interested were taken to Trinidad to experience the culture firsthand and to also learn about crowd control. My uncle was a part of that mission for a number of years while I was a teenager growing up in London.

It worked well as not only did those cops learn what carnival is really about but they were able to bring back their knowledge and teach their counterparts that the Caribbean people are out to have a great time.

Then, in ’69, I immigrated to Canada to witness the start of Caribana, and that too really made the culture spread. Nowadays, it’s all kinds of government bands, corporation floats, etc that have taken over the carnival.

I emigrated here in 1985, the start of the Miami carnival and I foresee that it would, over the years, turn into something big because of the demographics and the great mix and influx of Caribbean people to South Florida.

Though in recent years I have not been able to jump and prance like I used to, because of the arthritic knee, I still enjoy the anxiety of Carnival – even if I left Trinidad & Tobago over 50 years ago for all those cold climate, but I am ‘Trini to the bone’ as the calypso said. I was a little disappointed as to the decision by Miramar not to allow them this at the last minute. However, with time and hopefully in 2008 will be able to have a permanent home on all eyes ore on the new park at 411 and Sunrise. Thanks again for sharing your well written article with the general public.

Patsy Jones (Community Activist)
Lauderhill,
Broward County