Another opportunity that should not be lost

What was to be a milestone for Haitians in this country was lost when 4 Haitian-Americans, vying for the vacant 17th Congressional District seat in southern Florida, were defeated in the August 24th Democratic primary. The victory was seized by 68 year-old state senator Frederica S. Wilson who is now virtually assured of a victory next November in the predominantly Democratic district. Some 1400 miles up North, in Brooklyn’s 42nd Assembly District, Michèle Adolphe, is also trying to make history by becoming the first Haitian-American elected to the New York State legislature. Unlike her fellow Haitian-Americans in South Florida, she is facing an uphill battle as her opponent, Rodha Jacobs, a master tactician in the art of using legal challenges against potential opponents also benefits from the power of thirty two years of incumbency and a huge war chest. With this year’s redistricting and the prospect of gerrymandering (deliberate modification of the boundaries of a district for electoral purposes) the opportunity to elect one of its own, if lost, could set back the Haitian community’s prospective representation in the corridors of power in Albany for a decade or more.
With a large percentage of Haitian-Americans, the 42nd A.D, which is 85% non-white and predominantly Caribbean, is an anachronism of the power of incumbency in which the incumbent keeps getting reelected while losing touch with the communities she represents. First elected in 1978, Rhoda Jacobs has no doubt worked hard on behalf of her constituents during her long tenure as assemblywoman, nonetheless she failed to understand the ever changing needs of these communities made up generally of first generation and naturalized Americans whose path to achieving the “American dream” has become narrower in the last decade.
Undoubtedly the 42nd A.D has been adversely, if not disproportionally, affected by the recent economic crisis (2008-?) during which many homeowners have lost or facing the prospect of losing their homes while tuition for their college-bound children continue to rise. These facts notwithstanding, the ever lower quality of education of the District-area’s public High Schools is placing an additional burden on these hardworking folks who are compelled to sending their sons and daughters to private schools and forgo/sacrifice other needs. The division of the venerated Erasmus Hall High School in 1994 into 4 separate schools due to poor academic scores underscores that reality. Indeed these issues need to be addressed expeditiously and complacency is simply not an option for the constituents of the 42nd Assembly District.
Judging the bustling activities along Flatbush, Church and Nostrand Avenues and other commercial arteries within its confines, it is obvious that Brooklyn’s 42nd Assembly District could be to the Caribbean community what Harlem is to African-Americans. What’s needed is a leader that speaks on its behalf in Albany and harnesses its constituencies’ greatest strengths: strong family values and structure, innate sense of entrepreneurship and an infallible belief in the power of education.
Needless to say the 42nd Assembly District needs an infusion of new blood and vision, as its social problems have multiplied since Rhoda Jacobs first got elected in 1978 and her long term incumbency may actually be a handicap to taking a crack at them. On September 14, the Haitian community, one of the District’s largest constituencies, has a unique opportunity to end its unenviable status of a politically impotent ethnic group in New York State by massively supporting Michèle Adolphe, one of its own, in the state Democratic primary.
Numerous Haitian-Americans, namely Jean Vernet, Rubain Durancy and Samuel Nicolas have tried to unseat Rhoda Jacobs and failed. The reasons are too numerous to enumerate in this article. Four years ago, with Michele Adolphe and Zacary LaReche, two Haitian-Americans, running against her, Rhoda Jacobs garnered 60% of the votes. Nonetheless Adolphe’s grassroots campaign, which has gained momentum, could produce an upset this year as Jacobs’ highhanded tactics of using electoral challenges to disqualify potential opponents have alienated many of her own supporters.
Who is Michèle Adolphe? She is a former community organizer and NYC High School schoolteacher, a mother of two daughters and founder and president of Brooklyn Institute for Children (BIC), a not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of the area’s children. Her academic credentials (she holds a degree in management from the State University of New York (SUNY) and a master in Social Sciences from Long Island University (LIU) do not come close to matching her dedication to the 42nd District where she has resided most of her life ever since she emigrated to the U.S with her parents as a young child from Haiti. Most importantly, Michèle Adolphe’s candidacy is not a purported ethnic-based insurgency, as her detractors are inclined to believe, but a genuine attempt on her part at alleviating or solving the myriad of problems facing the constituents of the 42nd Assembly District.
In helping Michèle Adolphe become an assemblywoman for the 42nd Assembly district, Haitian-Americans will finally emulate the feat of this country’s founding fathers by saying no to “taxation without representation” as a clear choice to end their indolence and impotence in U.S politics is essentially in their hands. Indeed, this election matters to Haitian-Americans as it is vital to their assimilation into mainstream U.S politics. For that reason, the community should come out in droves and seize the opportunity to help elect Michèle Adolphe in her noble quest to becoming the first Haitian-American assemblywoman in New York State.