The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Voodoo on the Hudson?

Posted on | April 10, 2011 | 3 Comments

The New York Times does a feature about the persistence of Caribbean superstition among the city’s estimated 300,000 Haitians:

The fire, in a building in Flatbush in February, was ignited by candles surrounding a bed during a ceremony in the apartment of a voodoo priest who the authorities said was hired by a woman to chase away evil spirits. The fire killed a 64-year-old woman in another apartment and left dozens of tenants homeless.
In Queens, a Haitian immigrant, Marie Lauradin, 29, is to go on trial this summer because prosecutors say she performed a voodoo exorcism ritual two years ago during which she lighted a flammable liquid in the form of a circle on a floor and placed her 6-year-old daughter, Frantzcia, within it, engulfing her in flames. Ms. Lauradin is charged with assault and endangering the welfare of a child. . . .
The episodes have shaken the tight-knit and largely secretive voodoo community in New York . . .
Dowoti Desir, a Haitian-American voodoo scholar who has a temple in her home in Harlem, said the episodes were contributing to the demonization of voodoo and forcing people to practice it underground.
“Voodoo practitioners are in the closet for fear of being hounded or suffering reprisals,” she said. “The truth is that voodoo has been a source of empowerment for generations of Haitians.”

And who could be against “empowerment,” right? As a bastion of multicultural tolerance, the New York Times is entirely sympathetic to the “voodoo community.” Now imagine what they’d write if the city had an influx of 300,000 Appalachian hillbilly snake-handlers.

Or even 300,000 NRA members . . .

Category: New York Times, Religion

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