US Marshals step up hunt for murder suspect Janvier

Jean Weevens Janvier: Wanted for murder of Emile sisters in 2011. Jean Weevens Janvier: Wanted for murder of Emile sisters in 2011.US Marshals are teaming up with Boston Police to find a Dorchester man who has been on the run since he allegedly murdered two sisters in their Harlem Street apartment in Nov. 2011. The United States Marshals Service is offering a reward for tips that will lead to the capture and successful prosecution of 32 year-old Jean Weevens Janvier, a naturalized US citizen who was born in Haiti and who is the only suspect in the killings of Stephanie and Judith Emile.

Janvier was indicted in the double murder by a Suffolk County Grand Jury last April. Prosecutors said that Janvier had been in a previous romantic relationship with Stephanie Emile, 21, who was found shot to death alongside her sister, Judith, 23, in their Harlem Street apartment on Nov. 14, 2011. When police responded, a toddler was found in the apartment with the two deceased sisters.

Linda Dorcena Forry wins historic victory in State Senate primary

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State Rep. Linda Dorcena Forry of Dorchester hardly flinched in the mid-evening hours of Tuesday as The Boston Globe and the Associated Press were reporting that state Rep. Nick Collins, her opponent from South Boston, would win the Democratic nomination in the special election to represent the First Suffolk District in the state Senate.

Despite those calls by the local media, all the ballots in 77 precincts across South Boston, Dorchester, Mattapan, and parts of Hyde Park had not yet been counted, and when the unofficial results were posted a few hours later, it was Dorcena Forry who was on top, by 378 votes out of 21,730 cast.

See a precinct-by-precinct breakdown of the election returns (PDF).

Boston Haitian woman among those hurt in marathon bombings

A 30 year-old Mattapan mother is among the victims recovering from a terrible injury sustained in Monday's terror attack on Boylston Street. Marie Daniel lost her leg when one of two explosions tore through a crowd of innocents standing near the finish line.

Her husband, Richardson Daniel, said that she is now in stable condition thanks to heroic work of first responders and caregivers at Massachusetts General Hospital, who saved her life.

Freedom Rising: Danny Glover, Edwidge Danticat will shine spotlight on Haiti's role in America's emancipation

Toussaint L'Ouverture portrait by de GirardinIn commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation and of the first black Civil War troops from the North, several Greater Boston educational, historical, and cultural organizations are collaborating to present Freedom Rising: The 150th Anniversary of The Emancipation Proclamation and African American Military Service in the Civil War from May 2 through 4, 2013.

On Saturday, May 4, a special performance called "Roots of Liberty – The Haitian Revolution and the American Civil War" will be staged at the Tremont Temple Baptist Church, 88 Tremont St., Boston at 5 p.m.. Produced by Underground Railway Theater, in residence at Central Square Theater, the performance will include special guests Danny Glover, author Edwidge Danticat, and Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Danny Glover will be performing one of the key historical figures in Roots of Liberty.

The first-ever performance celebrates the Haitian revolutionary hero Toussaint Louverture and the impact of the Haitian Revolution on the American Civil War – the antislavery movement and African American soldiers. It is set in Boston’s historic Tremont Temple, where the Emancipation Proclamation was read in 1863.

Study finds quake aid largely went to US groups

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — A new report on American aid to Haiti in the wake of that country's devastating earthquake finds much of the money went to U.S.-based companies and organizations.

The Center for Economic and Policy Research analyzed the $1.15 billion pledged after the January 2010 quake and found that the ``vast majority'' of the money it could follow went straight to U.S. companies or organizations, more than half in the Washington area alone.

Just 1 percent went directly to Haitian companies.

Getting to Zero: HIV in my Haitian backyard

The conversation about HIV stigma is well overdue in the Haitian community. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) surveillance data for HIV, from 2001 to 2007, Haitians accounted for 66.9 percent of the estimated 100,013 black adults and adolescents diagnosed with HIV infection in the United States.

Now is the time to initiate the dialogue about the stigma that infiltrates our beloved Haitian community.

Nostalgia for Duvalier is misplaced: He destroyed the country

Jean-Claude'Baby' Duvalier
Editor's Note: Jean-Claude Duvalier died at age 63 on Oct. 3, 2014 in Port-au-Prince. This article by Patrick Sylvain was written in 2013.

As the country rapidly disintegrated into institutionalized chaos, with Port-au-Prince, the epicenter of disorder, Haitians of a certain dispositions are always complaining about yesteryears of “order” that never were.

Order is often confused with lawfulness.

The nostalgia for “order” under the Duvalier regimes have always been a problematic reading, forgetting that the reign of terror that brought about fear, did not cultivate respect in an ethical way. I am referring to an ethic of civility for the nation, and for citizenship, one that would establish a sustainable order because the nation have had viable institutions that raised and sustained ethical beings, not predators. The order that the Duvalier regimes imprinted upon the land was one of sheer terror, a colossal madness unleashed like a ticking bomb. Each government since 1986, wired their own fuses and imploded the nation to the chaos that has Duvalier asking, “What have you done with my country?”

Patrick SylvainMr. Duvalier, what they have done to “your” country is what your terror-obsessed father, and your narrow-minded macoutized self had done with it since 1957, a structural uprooting of institutions and of talents that left the country bare, diseased, vulnerable, and acrid. The distance past so often seems better than the present, especially when the past is never fully linked to the present. Mr. Duvalier, the corrupt and dictatorial President that we have today, or the inept President we had yesterday, or even the stubborn and one man presidency we had prior to that, is part of the same tumor, the malignant cancer your father had exacerbated.

Of course, to be fair, your father was also a part of another cancer that’s been growing in Haiti since independence. You are “a son of a great nationalist” you boasted, forgetting that nationalism creates and have created phobias. The nationalistic version of your father, and yourself for that matter, was a monstrosity of the Macoutized state that created a schizophrenic nation that hacked itself as if confronted with external mortal enemies.

‘Kreyol’-flavored bazaar takes roots at Erick Jean Center for the Arts

This Saturday, March 23 from at 4-8p.m., former Mattapan resident I AM KREYOL: Joëlle Jean-Fontaine I AM KREYOL: Joëlle Jean-Fontaine is heading up the first of what she hopes will become a monthly event, the “I AM KRÉYOL” Bazaar. She bills it as “a monthly arts’ market showcasing a variety of creative disciplines, including but not limited to fashion, visual art, music, culinary, and film.”

This 32-year-old designer and entrepeneuse is experienced at organizing free arts afternoons to attract customers to her fashion shows and displays. For example, she held one such event at the Great Hall in Codman Square during the 2011 Dorchester Open Studios.

The four-hour sale will take place at the Dorchester Arts Collaborative’s brand-new the Erick Jean Center for the Arts at 157A Washington Street, a multipurpose space named for the late Haitian community activist and lawyer.

Jean-Fontaine, who also offers styling services for photo shoots and music artists, says her KRÉYOL fashion line is inspired by her native land. "It is very important to me to show the Haitian people, especially Haitian women, as very strong, very passionate, very sensual."

Stand up for justice for Haitian cholera victims

On March 23, 2013, the Boston Haiti community will have an opportunity to join and amplify the fight for justice for Haiti’s cholera victims by participating in an event organized by the Boston-based Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti (IJDH) from 5-7 p.m. at Mildred Avenue Middle School, 5 Mildred Avenue in Mattapan.

Rep. Forry to seek State Senate seat in special election

State Rep. Linda Dorcena Forry, the second Haitian-American elected to public office in Massachusetts and the only one still at the State House, is making a bid for the upper chamber. If elected, Dorcena Forry would be the Bay State’s first Haitian-American state senator.

Rep. Forry is part of a field of candidates aiming to replace former state Sen. Jack Hart, who left for a job at Nelson Mullins, a top law firm. State Rep. Nick Collins, a colleague in the House, is also running, as is fellow South Boston native Maureen Dahill. All are Democrats, and a Republican, Joseph Ureneck, has pulled nomination papers.

The heavily Democratic district will likely mean that the April 30 Democratic primary will determine the eventual occupant of the First Suffolk Senate seat. The general election is set for May 28.
Dorcena Forry is the daughter of Haitian immigrants who live in Uphams Corner. She is married to Reporter publisher and editor Bill Forry of Lower Mills.

Boston Haitian Reporter