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| Juan
Pierre
OF Florida Marlins' has many Haitians embracing baseball Nick
Sortal, Sun-Sentinel | |
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| | Not
only does he spark the Marlins' offense, but Juan Pierre unknowingly ignited a
passion for baseball among South Florida's Haitian community -- by his last name
alone.
"JP is absolutely No. 1 in the Haitian community, and there is
no No. 2," says Jean Marc Louissant, a financial aid administrator from Coral
Springs, who like many fans, refers to Pierre as "JP." "There's a lot of pride
there, and it's just based on hope alone."
Although Pierre and his family
are grateful for the support, they say all they share with their Haitian fans
are different dialects of Creole and two centuries ago, the same landlord: France.
The Pierre family tree has been rooted for generations in Louisiana, although
Juan was born in Mobile, Ala. Soon after, his father moved the family to Alexandria,
La.
Often asked if he's Haitian, Pierre politely says no.
"But
if someone's rooting for me, it's all good. It means they respect my game," the
center fielder says.
He joined the Marlins via a November trade with
Colorado, and this year he scored 100 runs, batted .305 and led the major leagues
with 65 stolen bases. As the team's fan base has grown, so has the talk of his
background.
"We just assume that he's Haitian," says Louissaint's brother,
Claude, of Fort Lauderdale.
There's plenty of confusion,
say the center fielder's parents, Derry and James Pierre, who were in town this
week for the games. Some fans think the ballplayer is Dominican because his first
name is "Juan." But actually, James Pierre's father's favorite player was former
Giants pitcher Juan Marichal. And Derry Pierre picked the middle name of "D'Vaughn"
for JP because, "it has a good rhyme to it ... `Juan D'Vaughn.'"
Says
James Pierre, who arrived at Pro Player Stadium two hours before the Wednesday's
game: "As long as they're cheering for him -- whoever is cheering -- that's fine
with me."
Fitting in
That certainly includes
the area's 184,000 Haitians counted in the 2000 census. They came from a country
where factory workers, mainly women, were paid meager wages to hand-stitch American
baseballs. The factory moved to Costa Rica in 1990 after about 20 years in Port-au-Prince.
Although baseball is wildly popular in Cuba and the Dominican Republic, which
shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, America's national pastime never crossed
the mountains to the French side. The bats, gloves and other equipment needed
to play were beyond the means of the average Haitian. Instead, soccer became the
national sport.
But once moved to South Florida, Haitians have taken
to baseball as a way to assimilate, says Marvin Dejean of Minority Development
and Empowerment Inc., a Fort Lauderdale social service agency. Juan Pierre gives
them an "in" to join their fellow South Floridians. Having someone perceived as
their own has Haitians talking baseball, he says.
"We could use a hero,"
he says. "And it's a way of being part of this magical thing that's going on.
They've adopted him whether he's Haitian or not, with that name, that's the way
for them to get a piece of this and be accepted."
Two Creoles
When James Pierre talks about his family tree, some Haitians turn
it into a kinship.
He explains that he's a "full-blooded" Creole. Louisianians
of French and Spanish descent began referring to themselves as Creoles after the
Louisiana Purchase in 1803, to distinguish themselves from newcomers moving into
the territory, notes Sybil Kine, a historian at Louisiana State University.
The Pierres have spoken the Creole language for generations. Although Louisiana
Creole and the Haitian Creole differ, they share a French foundation, enabling
James to chat with Haitians on his South Florida visits.
That fires up
Jean-Robert Lafortune, executive director of the Haitian-American Grassroots Coalition
in Miami. He points to the early 1800s, when about 14,000 Haitian refugees settled
in New Orleans because their country was fighting for independence from France.
"So if we go through his family tree, that tree will indicate that a great-great-great-great
ancestor was from Haiti," Lafortune says.
Like most people, however,
James Pierre doesn't take his family history back that far.
Knowing heritage
The Haitian/non-Haitian issue runs deeper than
those from other nationalities might think, Lafortune says.
The public's
misperceptions linking Haitians with voodoo and violence, as well as insecurities
about Haiti being the poorest nation in the hemisphere make some Haitians deny
their origins, he said, which makes him think that he and the Pierres have a common
culture.
Times have changed, though, says Sony Fenelon, a patron of Bamboche,
a storefront food stop in East Miramar.
"It's all different now, we've
come so far," he says. "All of racism is less prevalent than it used to be."
Another Bamboche patron, Marjorie Legagneur, says public knowledge of Pierre
and fans' Louisiana-Haitian connection theories are important for another reason:
"It's always good to talk about your heritage, to ask your relatives about
your grandparents and the people before them," she says.
Nick Sortal
can be reached at nsortal@sun-sentinel.com or 954-385-7906.
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