Pastor David Pironneau is preaching from the New Testament’s book of Colossians on a recent Sunday morning at The Kingdom Church Kreyol in Pine Hills. The passage calls on Christians to be “bonswa kodiyal’’ – “graciously cordial’’ – when confronted by people who are angry with them.
Gliding gracefully between Haitian Creole and English, Pironneau’s message to the 80 congregants in front of him – many of them Haitian immigrants – strikes a chord.
Outside the walls of his church, voters angry over illegal immigration, along with high costs of living, elevated President Trump to the White House. In addition to promising mass deportations of people without documentation, Trump immediately halted the country’s refugee and asylum program, which benefits thousands of Haitian immigrants, whose country is racked by poverty and gang violence. He is attempting to do away with birthright citizenship by executive order and on Thursday ended temporary protected status – known as TPS – for 500,000 Haitians in the United States…