Storming The Court How a Band of Yale Law Students Sued the President--and Won

Chapter One: The CoupPort-au-Prince, September 28, 1991.Antenor Joseph swept into KID headquarters, several men flanking him. The building's courtyard was packed, his wife and fellow democracy activist, Yvonne Pascal, wedged in among the nervous crowd. It was late afternoon, hot and still, with heavy clouds interrupting the sunshine."Tande! Tande!"he yelled. "Listen up! We think there's going to be a coup tonight! Everybody's got to leave!"Yvonne's heart jumped. There was an explosion of protest in Creole."How do you know?" someone called out."Evans got the word," Antenor replied, his voice echoing off the walls. "There's no way to stop it now.Go home!"The shouting continued, but people began streaming out. Rumors had been flying through the city for weeks: President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was in trouble. Antenor's warning only confirmed what everyone had feared.Yvonne fought her way through the crowd to her husband. He pulled her aside."Tonight, tomorrow," he said. "No one knows for sure. But it's coming."Her chest felt tight. She had to get home, find the children."Don't go outside," he said. "Whatever you do.""What about you? Where will you be?""I may not see you for a while," he whispered, holding her close. Everyone at the meeting was in danger, but as a key figure in KID -- the Confederation for Democratic Unity -- Antenor would now be a hunted man.He hurried Yvonne outside, his arm around her. Downtown Port-au-Prince was a circus of hawkers and hustlers, the street choked with dented pickup trucks andtap-tapbuses in frantic colors. Horns blared and thick blue exhaust clouded the air. Antenor signaled for a taxi, something they could not really afford. Several motored by -- beat-up Toyotas and Hondas jammed with passengers -- and he finally broke into a run, flagging one down at a clogged intersection. Yvonne squeezed in, and as the car pulled away, she watched her husband stride back toward the courtyard.The cab careened around open-air markets and abandoned construction projects, then descended into Cite Soleil, a labyrinth of tin shanties and open sewers. Yvonne paid the driver and scurried down a muddy pathway. Shriveled men were hunched over dominoes. Bare-chested children in rags kicked at an empty plastic jug. Dogs scavenged through garbage, their ribs straining against sagging flesh.She reached her three-room shanty, breathless. Her mother, Therese, was cooking rice and beans over a charcoal fire. Her six-year-old son, Jacques, sat on the floor, copying his name on a scrap of paper. Yvonne gave the boy a relieved kiss, then ran out to retrieve her eleven-year-old, Daniel, who was playing soccer in the nearby dirt churchyard. He didn't want to leave, but she dragged him home.With both kids inside, Yvonne ventured out to warn the neighborhood about the coup. There was little need. People already knew. She could feel it around her -- a hard, dark fear. Young men were stockpiling machetes and rakes, shovels and old planks of wood, anything that might serve as a weapon. She grabbed someone's arm. You can't fight bullets with a stick, she argued. They had to resist, the man said. If enough people went to the palace, they could stop the military.She shook her head. This was sheer stupidity. We have to stay alive for tomorrow! she cried. But they wouldn't listen. Resigned, she used the fading daylight to fill extra jars with water at the public stone fountain. It would be too dangerous to go out after dark.Through the evening and all the next day, Yvonne and her family waited, tense, uncertain. Other local organizers rapped on the door, slipped in to talk with her. Theteledyol-- rumor mill -- was churning. But there were no soldiers around. It was strangely quiet.And then, as darkness fell, gunfire erupted.Yvonne raced into a bedroom with the boys and yanked them to the floor,Goldstein, Brandt is the author of 'Storming The Court How a Band of Yale Law Students Sued the President--and Won', published 2005 under ISBN 9780743230018 and ISBN 0743230019.