[EL] Interesting info re: Desiline Victor (102-year old woman in SOTU speech)

[Doug Hess]

As soon as I saw the name Desiline Victor, I thought that is a PERFECT name
for a voting rights story!

I used to live and work in Haiti (I also had the incredible honor to be an
official election observer for Haiti's first free and fair elections in
1990).

Desiline most certainly, especially for a first name, would be derived from
Jean-Jacques Dessalines, one of the key military leaders in the Haitian
revolution. Of course, her last name Victor gives you "conqueror".   Add to
that the fact that Haiti was the 2nd revolution in the hemisphere (and
aided some of the other revolutions in Latin America) and the only slave
revolt to lead to the founding of a state (and signaled the start of the
end to the Atlantic slave trade).

So, what a great name for somebody that conquered the barrier to casting
her vote!!

Because of this history, Haitian culture has an extremely determined streak
in it when it comes to defying authority on matters of dignity. I can see a
strong elderly woman from rural Haiti (news reports say she was a
farmworker) not standing down on a vote. I have some great slides from my
election work in Haiti of people standing in amazing lines to vote in 1990.
A large oil painting on my wall shows crowds celebrating in Haiti after
those first elections.

Haitians have a much closer connection to US history than most
Americans understand. Haitians fought in the US revolution, one was the
founder of Chicago, and hundreds of thousands live here now. When I worked
on farmworker issues briefly in the 1990s you would hear stories of farms
where they would try not to hire Haitians because it was believed (or
experienced) by some farmers that Haitians were more likely to organize
resistance to poor conditions.

Just some quick thoughts before the speech.

Douglas R. Hess, PhD
Washington, DC
ph. 202-277-6400
douglasrhess at gmail.com

Starting Aug. 2013:

Assistant Professor
Department of Political Science
Carnegie Hall
Grinnell College
Grinnell, IA 50112-1670
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