Racism up close and personal

The Boston Herald

Beverly Beckham

Yves Alexandre writes simply and truthfully; I do not want to change her words. I want to repeat them because they beg to be heard; but I have to compress them because of space.

The 17-year-old student at Somerville High wrote her story for the September issue of the 21st Century, a newspaper published in Newton, written entirely by teens. Alexandre's story is compelling, a disturbing first person account of racism.

She begins with a short history of her family, Haitians who waited for years to come to the United States. Like many others they came in search of a better way of life.

"My father has been here since 1978; six years later my mother came; two years later my three sisters and I came; two months later my big brother came.

"When we were in Haiti, we used to think of this country so much, we could not wait to get here...we used to say that the rich people in Haiti were like the poor people here, and then we would say we didn't care if we were poor in the American way. We did not think of how hard my father would have to struggle to get us here. It's not like we were selfish; it's just that we thought he had it so easy here. Were we wrong!"

"My father worked the night shift; he had two jobs in order to support us. We hardly saw him. My mother had to work from 8 to 4, and leave early to get to work on time."

In February 1987, the family moved to Somerville across the street from a park. "The landlords warned us not to go to the park. We did not understand why, but we listened to them."

But as they became more comfortable with their neighbors and their new life, on hot summer nights, the children would often play there.

"One night in July, 1988, at about 10:50 p.m. we went to McDonald's to get ice cream. We decided to go play in the park where my brother and my cousin played basketball; my little sister was riding her bike while my big sister, Surline, and I watched. At first we noticed a bunch of white males on the other side. They seemed to be having a good time just like we were.

"For no apparent reason they seemed not to like us. We heard them using some racial slurs; we did not know if they were talking about us, but then they started approaching us, saying racial slurs. As my little sister was riding her bike, one of them kicked her... `Niggers, get the f--- out of here, go back to your country where you belong.' `You do not f----- belong in the park...' When my brother realized what they were doing and saying, he ran toward them, thinking he would stop them, but he found himself on the ground getting beaten up.

"The rest of us could not do anything, especially my cousin, Michael, because he didn't have his green card yet. Any person in his position had to be extremely careful not to confront authority. Somehow my brother managed to get up, and my sisters and I ran toward the house. My brother could hardly walk. As we got to the house, they threw a barrel of garbage at us."

An ambulance arrived and took Alexandre's brother to the hospital. The police found three of his attackers, wrote down their names, "but none was arrested."

A few days later the three were charged with assault. "Nobody in my house, including me, wanted to go to court, but I was chosen by the lawyers as the key witness. I hated it; I had to miss a lot of school, but if I did not go to court, who would help my brother?

"I don't know what happened to those three boys... My brother told me that one of them got two months probation. I used to see one of them at my high school. He graduated; I am glad for him; I hope that in the future he will realize that what he did was wrong and maybe he will change...

"After the incident, we tried to live our lives as if nothing had happened; we never even talked about it...

"If people really want this country to be `America the beautiful, land of the free, land of opportunity'... they should teach the youngsters about hatred and racism, and how they affect other people," Alexandre concludes.

"Why don't they help the newcomers and make them feel at ease?"

Why don't they, instead of shouting insults, throwing punches, hurting and hating people they don't even know.