Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 19, 1993 TAG: 9302190072
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MIAMI LENGTH: Medium
POLYNICE FAST GAINS MOMENTUM
Olden Polynice has lost nearly 6 pounds since joining HIV-infected Haitian refugees in their hunger strike, but the NBA player has gained momentum in his fight to bring attention to the plight of his countrymen.Polynice, a 7-foot, 250-pound center for the Detroit Pistons, is fasting on non-game days in support of 230 Haitian boat people who had been striking for 21 days at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The Rev. Jesse Jackson also joined the strike.
"I just feel that something has to be done," Polynice, a former University of Virginia standout, said Thursday at the Haitian Refugee Center in Miami. "We're talking about the Bosnians and the Somalians and everybody else, but nothing is being said about the situation in Guantanamo, or here in Miami, or the Haitian plight, period."
Polynice, 28, who came to the United States from Port-au-Prince at age 7, started fasting Tuesday. He said he ate only a small pasta salad Wednesday before the Pistons lost 111-107 to Miami. He planned to consume only juice, water and "an occasional pop" through this weekend.
The NBA is on its All-Star break until next Tuesday.
The coaching staff in Detroit has neither deterred nor encouraged Polynice's political protest, he said.
"As far as the coaching staff, whether I had told them beforehand or not, it wasn't going to matter," Polynice said. "If they had said, `No, we don't want you to do it,' I would have done it anyway."
But he said his teammates, despite sometimes taunting him with a chicken leg, have been very supportive. "We're friends and they can do that."
Polynice said he wanted to see ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide restored to power; to have a Democratic government installed in Haiti; and to see changes in the U.S. policy of Haitian immigration to this country.
Keywords:
BASKETBALL