Haitian candidates team up to raise funds

Five Haitian-American candidates running for City Council seats in Boston, Malden, Brockton, and Randolph are teaming up to shovel some cash into their coffers. A 6 p.m. fundraiser is planned for Aug. 30 at Lantana in Randolph.

Jean-Claude Sanon, a Mattapan community activist, is running for one of the four City Council At-Large seats in Boston, while Fred Fontaine and Marc Lucas are both looking at seats in Brockton. Nekita Lamour is running for a seat in Malden, and Ricardo Bonachy Telemaque has his sights set on a council slot in Randolph.

One of the organizers is a former Boston Haitian Reporter contributor, Yolette Ibokette, who wrote a July 2009 article on the five candidates.

“It’s just not something we do in our culture,” she said. “We might support candidates, but taking money out of our pockets, it’s just something that’s really foreign to us. Those of us who have been here for a while, we are aware you have to do this. But many, many Haitians don’t realize the importance of that.”

In Boston, Sanon is running against 14 other candidates. A Sept. 22 preliminary will whittle the field down to eight contenders.

The money raised from the fundraiser will be split equally five ways, according to organizers. Tickets are $20.

Ibokette is organizing the fundraiser with singer Mirlande Butler.

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