Hot 97 DJ Cipha Sounds suspended over Haiti slur

(CARIBBEAT - Jared McCallister)
As the dust settled last week on the latest episode of the Hot 97 DJ Cipha Sounds debacle, at least three points were made clear - New York's Haitian community is organized, it has clout and it WILL be taken seriously.

Cipha Sounds, whose real name is Luiz Diaz, incensed Haitian New Yorkers and their supporters by saying that he's remained HIV-negative because he does not "mess with Haitian girls."

As soon as the half-witted comment left his lips, the station was flooded with phone calls and the social networks Twitter and Facebook were abuzz.

The deejay apologized for what he called a "tasteless joke" but his pleas have fallen on deaf ears.

(A video of his apology can be seen on Rockmasters, a popular Haitian entertainment website at www.rockmasters.com/page2.html.)

Last week, calls for Cipha Sounds' firing could still be heard.

Haitian community leaders and supporters gathered outside the radio station's Manhattan headquarters last Monday to express outrage over the insensitive remark.

Station officials finally took decisive action by suspending Cipha Sounds indefinitely and declaring he "will immediately undertake sensitivity training focused on the Haitian community and specifically, the challenges the Haitian community has faced in terms of the HIV epidemic."

The officials also vowed to "work with local community leaders to utilize the influence of Hot 97 to increase awareness of HIV and community programs to address the HIV epidemic."

"The Haitian community is an important part of our listenership whom we respect and value," said Alex Cameron, senior vice president and market manager for Emmis-New York which runs Hot 97.

"The suspension is an indication of the importance we place on delivering a product that respects our Haitian audience," he said, putting a bright spotlight on the economic and political power a unified Haitian community has in New York City.

US resumes deportation of illegal Haitian migrants

(jamaicaobserver.com)

NEW YORK, USA — The Obama administration has quietly resumed the deportation of illegal Haitians since the French-speaking Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country was devastated by an earthquake on January 12 this year.

Haitian activists and lawyers say that the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency has, in recent weeks, begun rounding up Haitian immigrants, including some who had been released earlier this year.

Barbara Gonzalez, an ICE spokeswoman said, without elaborating, that the agency was deciding whom to deport in a manner “consistent with our domestic immigration enforcement priorities”.

The Obama administration has said it is focusing immigration enforcement efforts on catching and deporting immigrants who have been convicted of the most serious crimes or who pose a threat to national security.

Officials said that Haitians who have been granted a special immigration status, known as temporary protected status (TPS), will continue to be shielded from deportation.

TPS, which was granted for 18 months to Haitians, and is set to expire in mid-July. Haitians who have committed felonies or at least two misdemeanours were not eligible for the programme.

Immigration officials declined to disclose how many Haitians they plan to deport but confirmed that 351 Haitians are in detention.

“I don’t think Haiti can handle more challenges than what it has right now,” said Dr Mathieu Eugene, the first elected Haitian official in the New York City Council.

“The earthquake, the cholera, the election — everything’s upside down in Haiti,” he added.

US federal officials had suspended deportations to Haiti immediately after the massive earthquake.

TPS, which is sometimes granted to foreigners who are unable to return safely to their home countries because of armed conflict or natural disasters, was extended to Haitians in the United States, permitting them to remain temporarily and work.

US immigration officials said many Haitians, including some with criminal convictions, were also released from detention centres across the country.

Now, officials say they would deport only Haitians who had been convicted of crimes and had finished serving their sentences.

But Eugene said Haitians in New York are bracing for broader deportations, despite the US government’s seemingly limited plan.

“The people in the community are worried because they don’t know what the next target population is going to be,” he said.

Ricot Dupuy, the manager of Radio Soleil, a Creole-language radio station in Brooklyn, said he had been “flooded with calls” about the plans for deportations.

Officials said about 300,000 people were killed and 1.5 million left homeless by the massive earthquake in January.

In addition, in recent months, Haiti has been afflicted by a cholera epidemic.

Yesterday, Haiti’s health ministry said that 2, 535 people have died since the outbreak begun in mid-October.

It said almost 57,000 of the 114,497 people infected have been treated in hospitals.

Haiti Reconstruction Projects OKd

(CARIBBEAT - Jared McCallister)

Four major reconstruction projects in Haiti - with a value of $102 million - were approved last week by the steering committee of the Haiti Reconstruction Fund (HRF), said a group spokesman.

The projects are neighborhood housing reconstruction ($65million) through the World Bank, building demolition and debris removal ($25million) through the United Nations, a $10million education project to be implemented by the Inter-American Development Bank, and the strengthening of Haiti's disaster-and-risk-management capacity ($2million) by the UN.

The HRF is a partnership between the international community and the government of Haiti, designed to help finance post-earthquake reconstruction.

The financing effort was requested by the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission last week at its board meeting, chaired by former President Bill Clinton. The approval was given at a meeting of the HRF held simultaneously Wednesday in Santo Domingo and Port-au-Prince. For information, visit www.haitireconstructionfund.org.

Hot 97 DJ Makes Derogatory 'Joke' About Haitian Woman

On Friday Dec 17, 2010, Hot 97 Morning Show Co-host K-Fox mentioned that she had brought back condoms with her from a benefit for Haiti held the night before. The condoms were given out to prevent the spread of AIDS. Co-host Cipha Sounds then made the following derogatory statement: "I don't have to worry about AIDS because I don't mess with Haitian women". Almost immediately after his comments, all over facebook & twitter, tempers were flaring and people were/are calling for the dismissal of Hot 97 on-air radio personality Cipha Sound. As a direct result of this, later in the day during the 'Throwback At Noon Show' Cipha Sound came back on air to apologize about the "joke" he made earlier. The apology seemed to be an attempt to save his job. No word yet as to what course of action [if any] will be taken by Hot 97. Let's see what happens next...

(NOTE: some sources are quoting Cipha Sounds as saying: "I'm HIV negative because I don't mess with Haitian girls".)