Let’s pray that false and racist rhetoric about Haitian immigrants by Trump and Vance don’t lead to racist violence

OPINION: The false claims have already resulted in bomb threats at medical facilities and the evacuation of several schools.

Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.

Former President Donald Trump’s false claim that Black immigrants from Haiti are eating dogs and cats kept as pets by their neighbors in Springfield, Ohio, is dangerous incitement that I fear could lead to racist violence. 

The false claim resulted in bomb threats to three medical facilities and another site in Springfield on Saturday, led a college in the city to cancel activities Sunday and forced the evacuation of two elementary schools and the closure of a middle school last week.

Bomb threats were emailed “to multiple agencies and media outlets,” the City Commission reported. Police and bomb-detecting dogs searched the threatened buildings, along with City Hall, the county courthouse and driver’s license bureaus. Thankfully, no bombs were found.

Republican presidential nominee Trump made the fake news about Haitian immigrants eating pets a top global story when he discussed it at last week’s ABC debate with his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris. About 67 million people watched.   

I pray that the threats in Springfield don’t turn into something more, resulting in injury or death to anyone, just as I pray that Trump remains safe after an apparent assassination attempt against him Sunday at his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida — the second this year. 

I share the view of Harris, who said in a tweet Sunday about Trump: “I am glad he is safe. Violence has no place in America.” We need to settle our differences peacefully.

Contrary to Trump’s claim that the estimated 12,000 to 15,000 Haitians in Springfield are in the U.S. illegally, most came to Springfield legally beginning in 2017, when Trump was president.

The Haitians arrived under a federal humanitarian program that allowed them to enter the U.S. from their home country, which is wracked by violence, crime and poverty. Haitians hold jobs, own businesses, pay taxes and have revitalized Springfield after population losses in the 1960s. 

“I’m angry about illegal Haitian migrants taking over Springfield, Ohio,” Trump said Friday. He added: “I’m angry about young American girls being raped and murdered by savage criminal aliens that come into our country very easily, but very illegally.” Springfield authorities say Haitians have not created a crime wave. But Trump said: “We will do large deportations in Springfield, Ohio.”

Funny how Trump has never demanded deportations for his paternal grandparents who came to the U.S. from Germany, his mother who came here from Scotland or his two immigrant wives. Nor has he described any of them as “savages.” His family members are all white.  

The lie Trump told about Haitians in Springfield eating pets was repeated Sunday by his vice presidential running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, in appearances on “Meet the Press” on NBC and “State of the Union” on CNN. 

In addition, Vance shared a video on X Saturday falsely claiming to show African immigrants preparing to grill dead cats in Dayton, Ohio, about 30 miles from Springfield. 

Top city and police officials in Dayton and Springfield, along with the governor of Ohio, have said claims about Black immigrants eating cats and dogs are baseless. 

Politics

Dayton Mayor Jeffrey J. Mims Jr. issued a statement calling the claim about his city “totally false” and said it was “dangerously irresponsible of politicians aiming to sow division and fear.” Springfield Mayor Bob Rue said “Your pets are safe in Springfield, Ohio” and added “We don’t need this misinformation.”

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican who has endorsed Trump, appeared on “This Week” on ABC Sunday and called claims that immigrants in his state are eating cats and dogs “garbage.”

“Hate groups coming into Springfield, we don’t need these hate groups,” he added. “I saw a piece of literature yesterday that the mayor told me about from purportedly the KKK.”

News that the Ku Klux Klan has joined with Trump and Vance to spread the lie about Black immigrants eating cats and dogs brings back frightening memories from my childhood when I was growing up near New Orleans in the 1960s. 

Back then, the KKK posed a very real threat to Black people who dared to vote or stand up against segregation and other racist practices. I know systemic racism still exists, but I had hoped the days of KKK terror were an ugly part of our history. 

I knew Haitian immigrants when I was a young girl. Some were our neighbors. They were good, hardworking, law-abiding people. Apart from their accents, they were no different from other Black folks I knew, except that they liked some Caribbean foods we didn’t eat at my house — but those foods didn’t include dogs and cats.

When I was older, I was inspired when I read about how enslaved Africans in Haiti rebelled against their French colonial slave masters and fought for their freedom and independence from 1791 to 1804, when Haiti became a Black-ruled sovereign nation where slavery was illegal.    

In addition, Haitian Americans have long been part of our country, serving in our armed forces and making other important contributions to our nation. One of them was Jean-Baptiste-Point Dusable, the Haitian son of a white French father and an enslaved Black mother. He is credited with being the founder of Chicago in 1779 when he built a home and trading post there. 

The November election is one of the most consequential in American history. We should focus our attention on the qualifications of Harris and Trump to lead our nation and their positions on important issues — not on a crazy trumped-up claim about Haitians eating family pets.

The Haitians residing legally in Springfield and other cities across our nation deserve their shot at the American Dream, without facing threats based on lies. They are not savages and rapists. 

As someone who Vance would probably call a “childless dog lady” and who considers my dog, Miss Zora, a dear member of my family, I hope Trump and Vance will stop making up stories to divide Americans from each other and to endanger the safety of the targets of their vitriol. The dogs and cats of Springfield are as safe from Haitians as Miss Zora is from me.

Donna Brazile is a veteran political strategist, Senior Advisor at Purple Strategies, New York Times bestselling author, Chair of the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, and sought-after Emmy- and Peabody-award-winning media contributor to such outlets as ABC News, USA Today and TheGrio. She previously served as interim Chair of the Democratic National Committee and of the DNC’s Voting Rights Institute. Donna was the first Black American to serve as the manager of a major-party presidential campaign, running the campaign of Vice President Al Gore in 2000. She serves as an adjunct professor in the Women and Gender Studies Department at Georgetown University and served as the King Endowed Chair in Public Policy at Howard University and as a fellow at the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School. She has lectured at nearly 250 colleges and universities on diversity, equity and inclusion; women in leadership; and restoring civility in American politics.

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