Haitian migrants line up as they
wait for a QR code to register their
migratory situation, in Tapachula,
in Chiapas state, Mexico Dec. 29,
2021. REUTERS/Jose Torres
By Reuters
OTTAWA (Reuters) – Haiti‘s allies
must act immediately to help tackle
a spike in violence that is worsening
an already precarious humanitarian
situation, Canadian Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau said on Friday.
The international community also
needs to address deep governance
problems that are fueling a political
and security crisis in the western
hemisphere’s poorest country,
he told a group of foreign ministers
holding a day of talks to discuss the
crisis. Canada is hosting the virtual
meeting.
Gangs have extended their control
of territory in Haiti since the assassination
in July of President Jovenel
Moise. One gang coalition in October
created a nationwide fuel shortage by
blocking access to storage terminals,
and kidnappings are rife.
“In order to address Haiti‘s humanitarian
needs, we must also address
the challenging security situation.
The increase in violence is only worsening
the already precarious humanitarian
situation,” Trudeau said.
“This will require immediate
action to mitigate violence … we
must also address the deep governance
problems that are fueling the
current political and security crisis.
That includes taking action against
corruption.”
A jump in kidnappings, added to
worsening economic conditions, has
prompted a growing number of Haitians
to seek better opportunities in
other countries.
The number of asylum applications
in Mexico nearly doubled in 2021
from two years earlier, with most
applications being from Haitian and
Honduran migrants. L1N2TJ21W
Caribbean Life, JAN. 28-FEB. 3, 2022 27
<span class=”image-caption”>Colin Moore’s daughter, Taylin, also known as Tsedey (left), and wife, Ela, in front
pew before casket.</span> Nelson A. King
Tributes to prominent lawyer,
political activist Colin Moore
By Nelson A. King
Civil rights activist the Rev. Al
Sharpton Friday night joined the Caribbean
community in New York in
paying glowing tributes to prominent
Guyanese-born attorney and political
activist Colin Moore who died on Jan.
9. He was 80.
“Colin didn’t care about factions, If
it was right, Colin was there,” said Rev.
Sharpton, an internationally-renowned
civil rights leader, founder and president
of the Harlem-based National Action
Network (NAN), which has more than
100 chapters across America, in eulogizing
Moore at First Baptist Church on
Eastern Parkway, near Rodgers Avenue,
in Brooklyn.
“If there’s a portrait of a Black woman
to stand by his man it’s Ela,” added
Sharpton, referring to Moore’s Guyanese
born wife, seated in the front pew
near the casket, of over 50 years.
“Colin, you didn’t have to make up
anything,” he continued. “His life spoke
for himself. Colin lived his eulogy. He
never let his guard down. In order to
understand Colin Moore, he came from
good stock, and he came to New York
with the royal outlook
“Colin never allowed America to
make him a boy,” said Rev. Sharpton,
hailed by former President Barack
Obama as a “champion for the downtrodden”;
and host of “Politics Nation”
on MSNBC; a nationally-syndicated
daily radio show “Keepin’ It Real”; and
a nationally-broadcast radio show on
Sunday, “The Hour of Power.” “He saw
law as a calling. He believed deep down
in his heart.”
Sharpton said Moore, a long-standing
Brooklyn resident, was among a
handful of Black lawyers, including C.
Vernon Mason and Alton Maddox, Jr.,
who took on controversial civil rights
and other cases.
“Black Lives (Matter) started with
Colin and Mason and Maddox,” he said.
“He stood up for Wise; yet, he believed
in those five boys.”
Rev. Sharpton alluded to Korey Wise,
then 16, who was among five Black
and Latino youths, renowned as the
“Central Park Five,” falsely accused,
prosecuted and convicted for the rape
and assault of a white woman in Central
Park in Manhattan.
The youths were eventually exonerated
after spending six to 13 years in
prison.
“He stood by them (those) boys,” said
Sharpton, referring to Moore. “That
self-esteem he brought from Guyana.
There was something from Colin that
you knew he had in him — that Colin
had that innate sense.
“It took 14 years for them to prove
them (boys) did not rape that woman,”
he added. “That was a real man, this
was a real warrior, this was a royal
Black man.
“You had no idea the weight he
(Moore) had on him in that Central
Park case,” Sharpton continued. “He
was a pillar in the community. He never
became bitter. He believed in the end
that everything will be right.
“We come this far by faith,” he said.
“I come tonight to salute a warrior.
Whatever I or anyone of us accomplished,
we could not get there without
Colin Moore.”
Rev. Sharpton said Moore “never
shamed his community,” stating that
he “fought a good fight.”
“We owe a depth of gratitude (to
Moore),” he said. “I had to thank a man
whose shoulders we stood on.
“Colin was always restless,” Rev.
Sharpton added. “So, finally, he’ll get
some rest.”
Dr. Ewart Thomas, a Guyanese-born
professor of Psychology, Emeritus, at
Stanford University in California, said
Moore’s passionate advocacy 30 years
ago, on behalf of the “Central Park
Five,” would “ultimately fall on the
right side of history.”
“Colin has left us with an inspiring
legacy of community activism as
a teacher, preacher and journalist,”
he said. “But it was his advocacy of
civil liberties that, perhaps, is the most
important part of this legacy.”
The late Caribbean attorney and political
activist, Colin Moore. Gerry
Hopkins
Haiti’s allies
need to help
tackle spike
in violence
-Canada PM