Sunday, May 31, 2009

Gerard Jean-Juste, Presente!" by Bill Quigley

Published on Sunday, May 31, 2009 by CommonDreams.org

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/05/31

 

Revolutionary Haitian Priest, Gerard Jean-Juste, Presente!

by Bill Quigley

 

Though Haitian priest Father Gerard Jean-Juste died May 27, 2009, at

age 62, in Miami from a stroke and breathing problems, he remains

present to millions. Justice-loving people world-wide mourn his death

and celebrate his life. Pere Jean-Juste worked uncompromisingly for

justice for Haitians and the poor, both in Haiti and in the U.S.

 

Pere Jean-Juste was a Jesus-like revolutionary. In jail and out, he

preached liberation of the poor, release of prisoners, human rights

for all, and a fair distribution of wealth. A big muscular man with a

booming voice and a frequent deep laugh, he wore a brightly colored

plastic rosary around his neck and carried another in his pocket.

Jailed for nearly a year in Haiti by the U.S. supported coup

government which was trying to silence him, Amnesty International

called him a Prisoner of Conscience.

 

Jean-Juste was a scourge to the unelected coup governments of Haiti,

who served at the pleasure, and usually the direction, of the U.S.

government. He constantly challenged both the powers of Haiti and the

U.S. to stop killing and starving and imprisoning the poor. In the

U.S. he fought against government actions which deported black

Haitians while welcoming Cubans and Nicaraguans and others. In Haiti

he called for democracy and respect and human rights for the poor.

 

Pere Jean-Juste was sometimes called the most dangerous man in Haiti.

That was because he was not afraid to die. His computer screen saver

was a big blue picture of Mary, the mother of Jesus. "Every day I am

ready to meet her." He once told me, when death threats came again. "I

will not stop working for justice because of their threats. I am

looking forward to heaven."

 

Jean-Juste was a literally a holy terror to the unelected powers of

Haiti and the elected but unaccountable powers of the U.S. Every

single day, in jail or out, he said Mass, read the psalms and

jubilantly prayed the rosary. In Port au Prince he slept on the floor

of his church, St. Claire, which provided meals to thousands of

starving children and adults every week. In prison, he organized local

nuns to bring him hundreds of plastic rosaries which he gave to fellow

prisoners and then lead them in daily prayer.

 

When Pere Jean-Juste began to speak, to preach really, about justice

for the poor and the wrongfully imprisoned, restless crowds drew

silent. Listening to him preach was like feeling the air change before

a thunderstorm sweeps in. He slowly raised his arms. He spread his

powerful hands to punctuate his intensifying words. Minutes passed as

the Bible and the Declaration of Human Rights and today's news were

interspersed. Justice for the poor. Freedom for those in prison.

Comfort for those who mourn. The thunder was rolling now. Crowds were

cheering now. Human rights for everyone. Justice for Haiti. Justice

for Haiti. Justice for Haiti.

 

To the rich, Jean-Juste preached that the man with two coats should

give one to the woman with none. But, unlike most preachers, he did

not stop there. Because there were many people with no coats, Pere

Jean-Juste said, no one could justly claim ownership of a second coat.

In fact, those who held onto second coats were actually thieves who

stole from those who had no coats. In Haiti and the U.S., where there

is such a huge gap between the haves and the have-nots, there was much

stealing by the rich from the poor. This was revolutionary preaching.

 

During the day, people streamed to his church to ask for help. Mothers

walked miles from Cite de Soleil to his parish to beg him to help them

bury their children. Widows sought help. Families with sons in prison

asked for a private word. Small packets of money and food were quietly

given away. Visitors from rural Haiti, people seeking jobs, many

looking for food, police officers who warned of new threats, political

organizers with ideas how to challenge the unelected government,

reporters and people seeking special prayers - all came all the time.

 

Every single night when he was home at his church in Port au Prince

Pere Jean-Juste led a half hour public rosary for anyone who showed

up. Most of the crowd was children and older women who came in part

because the church was the only place in the neighborhood which had

electricity. He walked the length of the church booming out the first

part of the Hail Mary while children held his hand or trailed him

calling out their part of the rosary. The children and the women came

night after night to pray in Kreyol with Mon Pere.

 

Pere Jean-Juste lived the preferential option for the poor of

liberation theology. Because he was always in trouble with the

management of the church, who he also freely criticized, he was

usually not allowed regular church parish work. In Florida, he lay

down in his clerical blacks on the road in front of busses stopping

them from taking Haitians to be deported from the U.S. For years he

lived on the run in Haiti, moving from house to house. When he was

arrested on trumped up charges, he refused to allow people with money

to bribe his way out of jail, he would stay with the poor and share

their treatment.

 

He dedicated his entire adult life to the revolutionary proposition

that every single person is entitled to a life of human dignity. No

matter the color of skin. No matter what country they were from. No

matter how poor or rich. No matter woman or man.

 

His last time in court in Haiti, when the judge questioned him about a

bogus weapons charge against him, Pere Jean-Juste dug into his pocket,

pulled out his plastic prayer beads, thrust them high in the air and

bellowed, to the delight of the hundreds in attendance, "My rosary is

my only weapon!" The crowd roared and all charges were dropped.

 

Gerard Jean-Juste lived with and fought for and with widows and

orphans and those in jail and those being deported and the hungry and

the mourning and the sick and the persecuted. Our world is better for

his time among us.

 

Mon Pere, our brother, your spirit, like those of all who struggle for

justice for others, lives on. Presente!

---------------------------------

By Bill Quigley.  Bill represented Pere Jean-Juste many times in Haiti

along with the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux in Port au Prince and

the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti.  Bill is on leave

from Loyola University College of Law in New Orleans serving as Legal

Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights.   He can be

contacted at quigley77 at gmail.com.

 

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