by Sylvia Maria Gross
NARRATION: With a half-dozen radio stations and three newspapers, Haitian communities in Brooklyn, Queens, and Long Island are always tuned in to their nation's politics. They know the situation is becoming dire when they begin to see reports of the bloodshed in their homeland on NBC and CNN.
Most of Dr. Marie Pierre-Louis' family lives in the capital Port-au-Prince.
TAPE: PIERRE-LOUIS: It's sad. My father's there ...
NARRATION: Unlike Pierre-Louis, most Haitian Americans are not shocked by the recent violence. Whether they support Aristides or not, they've been watching the government disintegrate over the past few years. But through the turmoil, many still traveled back and forth between New York and their hometowns. Now that link may be severed as commercial airlines stop flights to the country.
Karen Josselin, director of the Haitian Women's Program, says that Haitians send millions of dollars to their home and are crucial to their country's financial survivor. She says those in the diaspora have an important role.
TAPE: JOSSELIN: What needs to happen is the diaspora needs to come to a consensus about what they want in Haiti - they need from the outside have their voices heard ... senate people at large.
NARRATION: Consensus has been difficult since Aristide's landslide election 1990. There was a coup against him in 1991, and the United States used the military to bring him back to power in 1994. Supporters of Aristides want to see the United States government and the international organizations back up what they see as a democracy.
Community advocate Yvon Rosemond is disillusioned with Aristides, and he sees the need for intervention.
TAPE: ROSEMOND: I think there is a role for the United States because they returned - but - they have a moral duty
NARRATION: Dr. Pierre-Louise, on the other hand, feels the United States has been too involved in Haitian history.
TAPE: PIERRE-LOUISE: Although the Haitian people...sometimes what you don't see is what's hurting the government the most.
NARRATION: This year, many Haitian Americans planned to commemorate this year as the bicentennial of Haiti--the world's first black republic. But instead of celebrate the past, they've trying to sorting through present divisions to have a unified opinion on Haiti's future. For Columbia Radio News, this is Sylvia Maria Gross.
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