In the “Little Haiti” sector, a Port-au-Prince-like area of Brooklyn’s Flatbush neighborhood, once-bustling shopping streets are now noticeably quieter.
Since the start of Donald Trump’s second term, Mahalia Desrosiers, project manager for the local association Little Haiti BK, has seen certain businesses close their doors, even if the neighborhood has not been the target of police raids like in other cities.
But with Haiti participating in the World Cup for the first time in 52 years, the event is likely to “give people a feeling of life, of hope, of energy,” she told AFP.
“Haitians will put their flag everywhere. We are going to paint this city red and blue,” she enthuses.
Before the kick-off on June 11, the municipal teams of the city led by Democrat Zohran Mamdani, himself born into an immigrant family of Indian origin, traveled to the different communities to make them aware of the commercial opportunities linked to the competition.
New customers?
The city’s tourism office is preparing a calendar of events so visitors can experience the games in these neighborhoods, not just the tourist areas of Manhattan. Short videos promoting broadcast evenings will also be posted on social media.
Another program will provide bars and restaurants with free cups in the colors of the competition. Around 600 establishments are registered at the moment.
With the World Cup, “it’s an opportunity to perhaps reach a new market, a new group of people who would not necessarily have frequented your establishment before,” Jacques Brunvil, of New York’s Department of Small Business Services (SBS), told traders.
Multiplying awareness events also in the other popular boroughs of Queens and the Bronx, he sees the city as the setting for a sort of traveling sports festival celebrating New York’s diversity.
“We think that depending on the meetings we will see groups of people migrating to different neighborhoods: “Little Haiti” to watch a Haiti match, or “Little Senegal” (in Harlem) for the Senegal match… People will move to feel the vibration with the supporters of each country,” he wants to believe.
Overall, the economic impact of the migratory tightening carried out by the federal state, which is increasing expulsions, is difficult to quantify, say elected officials.
600 dollars per ticket
Haris Kahn, head of the SBS, recently declared that the World Cup “would not completely erase a year and a half of difficulties for some of these businesses. But it will count.”
At Golden Blue Bar & Restaurant in “Little Haiti,” business since opening in 2020 has been erratic: first the pandemic, then more recent concerns related to immigration enforcement (ICE).
But Amantha Chery, who helps run the restaurant owned by her parents, says she’s confident the community will come out to bars and restaurants for the competition.
Tickets for Haiti’s first match against Scotland, June 13 in Massachusetts, are currently selling for more than $600 on the Stubhub platform. High prices, which are “better for us”, she wants to believe.
The restaurant, known for its plantains and empanadas, has two televisions in the main room as well as a veranda that can accommodate a large screen.
“It was difficult, the way Haiti was presented in the press… the “Haiti is so dangerous” speech, all that,” she laments.
“But there is so much resilience and beauty in our culture, in our people. I’m just happy that we’re finally in the news for something amazing.”
