By Diana Morose
Over the last few years, almost 20,000 legal immigrants from Haiti have settled down in Springfield, Ohio due to the low cost of living and abundant job opportunities. The city was previously facing a downturn in population due to a lack of workers, but Haitians helped to revitalize the downtown area by meeting their labor demands around the time of the pandemic, according to The New York Times.
During the second presidential debate held on Sept. 10 between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, the former president made shocking claims that migrants were eating cats and dogs in Springfield, Ohio and proceeded to double down when fact-checked by ABC News moderators David Buir and Linsey Davis. His rebuttal for making these statements? The “people on television” said their dog was eaten by the immigrants.
While these claims have been debunked by Springfield city manager and remain unsubstantiated, this has sparked animosity for the Haitian population within the area, making them more fearful. There have been reports of parents keeping their children home in fear of being attacked.
Due to threats, two elementary schools in Springfield were evacuated and their colleges went virtual for the week. The city has also cancelled their CultureFest, scheduled to be held Sept. 27-28, due to safety concerns, which is ironically an annual celebration of diversity, arts and culture.
Nayanka Michel, a Barry senior majoring in history, shared that the rumors reminded her of the false claims against Black Americans in the past that led to massacres and lynchings, specifically alluding to the Tulsa race massacre.
“It’s not like they can tell that someone is Haitian by just looking at them. So just taking a lie and running with it like that, we’ve even seen in the past that Black people get killed based off of lies pointed at them. Like that one incident in Rosewood or Greenwood,” said Michel.
Kendrina Gabot, a senior majoring in pre-law, found the comment made during the debate funny at first due to how outlandish it was. But as a Haitian herself, she quickly realized how seriously these debunked rumors could negatively impact the Haitian community not only in Springfield, but nationwide.
“I didn’t really take it serious at first because it’s so ridiculous, but then I started to see all these stories about acid being thrown on cars and people being afraid to go outside. Like actual people are being affected and it’s so annoying because you know they are still going to vote for Trump,” said Gabot.
The Republican Vice-Presidential nominee JD Vance attempted to justify the spread of these falsehoods about Haitians eating pets in Springfield and admitted to fabricating the narrative on Sunday, Sept. 15 while being interviewed by CNN’s Dana Bash.
“If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people then that's what I'm going to do,” he said.
As Vance is currently a junior United States senator from Ohio, some believe it is off-putting to see him double down on these claims about his own state. Still, due to their new immigration status, Haitians will not be able to vote for him in the upcoming election. Could that inform the implication of Vance’s statement since he may not include Haitian immigrants among his constituents?
Singer, John Legend, a native of Springfield, Ohio released a video discussing the influx of Haitian immigrants.
“Nobody's eating cats. Nobody's eating dogs. We all just want to live and flourish and raise our families in a healthy and safe environment. How about we love one another? I grew up in the Christian tradition. We said to love our neighbor as we love ourselves and treat strangers as though they might be Christ. So, how about we adopt that ethos when we talk about immigrants moving to our communities and don't spread hateful, xenophobic, racist, lies about them.”
On Sept. 16, the Miami Heat released a statement on social media showing solidarity with the Haitian community, stating their “Haitian employees, fans and friends deserve better.”
Miami-Dade County has one of the nation’s largest population of Haitians. Of the county’s 2.7 million residents, Haitians make up 3.7%, according to the United States Census Bureau.
“The false narrative surrounding them is hurtful and offensive and has sadly made innocent people targets of hateful speech and physical threats,” said the Miami Heat.
As the Haitian population deal with the consequences of these lies, will the people who perpetuate and uplift these false claims face any repercussions?
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