[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 201 (Thursday, December 20, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1717]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





                      HONORING JACQUELINE CHARLES

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. FREDERICA S. WILSON

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, December 20, 2018

  Ms. WILSON of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of 
Jacqueline Charles, who reports on the Caribbean for the Miami Herald 
and is a recent recipient of Columbia University's prestigious Maria 
Moors Cabot Prize for outstanding coverage on the Americas. Maria Moors 
Cabot Prizes are the oldest international journalism awards and are 
presented to journalists in the Western hemisphere who have made 
significant contributions to upholding freedom of the press in the 
Americas and Inter-American understanding.
  ``Charles' great contribution has been as a narrator of the agonies 
of Haiti, the hemisphere's poorest country, crippled by misgovernment 
and battered time and again by nature,'' the judges wrote in their 
citation.
  Charles was born to a Haitian mother in Turks and Caicos and grew up 
in Miami's Overtown neighborhood. As a child, she frequently traveled 
to Haiti to visit her grandparents and other relatives. She began her 
reporting career as a 14-year old intern at the Miami Herald. As a 
journalism student at the University of North Carollna Chapel Hill, 
Charles co-founded the Carolina Association of Black Journalists.
  Charles has worked as a journalist at the Miami Herald since 1994 and 
has covered the Caribbean for the Herald since 2006, with a special 
focus on Haiti. After the catastrophic earthquake in 2010, Charles was 
the first foreign reporter to reach Haiti. She remained in Haiti for 
the next 15 months to report on the reconstruction process and the 
ongoing struggles of those living in displaced persons camps. Her work 
on Haiti was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2011, the same year 
she was named the National Association of Black Journalists' 
``Journalist of Year.'' Additionally, Charles co-produced a documentary 
on Haiti, titled Nou Bouke (We're Tired): Haiti's Past, Present and 
Future, which earned a regional Emmy Award and was broadcast 
nationally.
  In addition to covering ongoing humanitarian challenges in Haiti, 
Charles writes about Haitian politics, music, and immigration. As 
restrictive immigration policies have prevented many Haitians from 
seeking a better life in the United States, Charles has taken her 
reporting on the Haitian immigrant experience to Mexico, Canada, and 
Chile. Her work has greatly added to everyday Americans' knowledge and 
understanding of Haiti and its people.
  Haitian Americans form a vital part of our community in South Florida 
and we are fortunate to have an outstanding reporter like Charles 
covering Haiti-related issues at the Miami Herald. I wholeheartedly 
commend Jacqueline Charles for her outstanding journalism on Haiti and 
the Caribbean and congratulate her on receiving this honor.

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