Haiti's Carnival Shooting, Florida Primary History, Solar Energy & Everglades Black History

By Alejandra Martinez

JEANINE MICHNA-BALES / COURTESY

 

Haiti’s Carnival shooting 

protest in Haiti over police pay and working conditions ended in an exchange of gunfire between Haiti’s National Police force and the country's armed forces.

 

February is meant to be a celebratory time in Haiti, with Carnival bringing tens of thousands of Haitians to the streets of Port-au-Prince, but on Sunday the mood was anything but celebratory. The Miami Herald’s Jacqueline Charles has been following the violence in Haiti and joined Sundial to talk about how the government has responded. 

 

Florida primary election history

On March 17, Floridians will head to the polls and vote in the state’s primary election. More than a decade ago Florida moved its primary day to January, but the state’s delegates were penalized. The Florida primary is now after Super Tuesday, which is usually in early March. 

 

Dr. Susan Macmanus, a University of South Florida politics professor and political analyst, joined Sundial to talk about the history of the Florida primary and share her analysis on this year’s presidential election.

 

Florida’s P.A.C.E Energy Program

Solar investment in Florida jumped 150 percent in part because of the Property Assessed Clean Energy Program or P.A.C.E, a loan-like program that helps Floridians install solar panels, according to a study by the University of South Florida.

 

The Miami Herald’s Alex Harris has been reporting on the program and joined Sundial to talk about the concerns that have been raised about P.A.C.E because of the lack of consumer protections. 

 

Florida’s Maroon Communities 

The exhibition "The Four Moments of the Sun: Hidden Lands of Florida's Maroon Communities," presented by Artists in Residence in Everglades, features photographs and maps of the locations where, during the late 1700s and 1800s, enslaved Africans escaped into the Florida wilderness of the Everglades and formed their own communities.

 

"I have the most utmost respect for the process they [freedom seekers] went through when they had no idea if they would succeed,” says Jeanine Michna-Bales, a Dallas-based photographer who took the photographs. 

 

She joined Sundial to talk about the history of black communities in South Florida and what her photographs represent. The exhibition is on display at the AIRIE Nest Gallery in Everglades National Park until Aug 30. 

Febrero 25, 2020