By: Guinsly Etienne - HaitiAnalysis.com

NEW YORK - In February, a special election was held in the 40th district of Brooklyn in order to elect a new member to the city council. Councilwoman, Yvette Clark, previously held this seat; who now serves as a representative in congress. On the night Mr. Matthieu Eugene won his election, Haitian radio in New York lit up with discussion. Although there are Haitian-American elected officials in Florida, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, this was a first in New York.

Prior to the election, some non-Haitian politicians predicted that Mr. Eugene would not win; although they admitted Haitian-Americans in that district had the numbers to propel Eugene to the City council. In a way, their pessimism was justified; since during previous races the vote was usually divided due to the fact there are always more than one Haitian-American candidate. This time it was different; the other candidates dropped out as to not divide the vote; and it worked. But the joy of Haitians and others was about to be short lived; at least for the moment.

Some newspapers started publishing stories claiming that Mr. Eugene was not a resident of the district. The speaker of the city council, Christine Quinn, also made statements to the effect that this residency issue had to be resolved before Eugene could be sworn in. The time for swearing in dragged on; but Mr. Eugene was not permitted to be sworn in and take his seat in the city council. Staff from Eugene’s campaign stated on Haitian radio, there was a similar residency situation involving a Caucasian man in the Borough of Staten Island New York; but the council allowed the white-Anglo candidate to be sworn in. This led to many Haitians claiming that the council’s response to Eugene was racially motivated.

Mr. Eugene on the other hand stated that he did not lie about his place of residency; on the application, he wrote that he was living in the nearby Carnasie section of Brooklyn. But he also had an apartment in the 46th district. Technically, the law allowed him to have such an arrangement as long as he had the apartment prior to filling out the application. Things got worse for Mr. Eugene when there was a question in regards to the exact date the lease was signed or submitted. Both Eugene and his campaign manager brother, Maxi Eugene claimed there was a “conspiracy” from on high involving the apartment owner. But that’s not all; they also claimed his high-paying lawyer, with more than 20 years of electoral law experience may also have provided him the wrong advice.

On March 8 2007, International Women’s Day, Mr. Eugene presented himself to the city council in Manhattan to be certified. After the proceeding was over, he came out to the steps of city Hall where a crowd of about 50 of his supporters and local media were waiting. Mr. Eugene stated that the city council did in fact certify him. However, he explained that he would not take the seat, as to not fall into a trap, as all the electoral issues were still not resolved. He then called for a new election; which will take place on April 24, 2007. Some who came to the press conference felt very indignant about how things turned out.

Jeanette Pierre, a Haitian community activist who helped in the campaign stated: “In Haiti, we are familiar with coup D’etats, but I didn’t expect to see something similar happen here.” 45 year-old Vernon Parker, an African-American said: “Mr. Eugene won fair and square. Here you have George Bush who lost both elections, but was allowed to come into office; yet Mr. Eugene won the majority of the votes and they are trying to block him based on technicalities; it’s a racist system.” Jean Caude Telfort, a 65 year-old Haitian man with a cane sitting on the steps stated: “I have arthritis and cannot stand on my feet too long; but I took a bus to go out and vote for Mr. Eugene. But now they want to steal our vote. We need another (20 avril).” Referring to April 20th 1990 when over 50,000 Haitians walked across the Brooklyn Bridge to Manhattan demanding the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) take the names of Haitians off the list as being the carriers of AIDS; which the FDA subsequently did do.

After the press conference ended, at the insistence of his campaign manager, Mr. Eugene left abruptly without taking questions from reporters. The challenge facing him now is will he be able to mobilize the community a second time to go out and vote for him. There is another Haitian-American woman as well as a couple other non-Haitian candidates who have now presented themselves as candidates for the same seat in this month’s second special election.

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