Springfield Ohio Is Unfairly Under Siege

Thanks to JD Vance and Donald Trump, the town of Springfield, Ohio is under siege.

Current Events :
Last week, Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance instigated a bizarre fable, claiming Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio were eating dogs and cats and other pets.  

Haitian immigrants are “causing chaos all over Springfield. Reports now show that people have had their pets abducted and eaten by people who shouldn’t be in this country,” he said.

Soon thereafter, his boss, Donald Trump, picked up the ball and absolutely ran with it. In fact, during his debate last week against Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump boldly regurgitated the peculiar story for all the world.

“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs — the people that came in, they’re eating the cats. They’re eating — they’re eating the pets of the people that live there and this is what’s happening in our country, and it’s a shame,” Trump barked.

Officials in Springfield, Ohio, have repeatedly debunked the wild internet story and assured the public there have never been any credible reports of Haitian immigrants abducting and eating pets. Still, despite this attempt at a reality check, Trump and Vance doubled down on their words.

And, that’s when the trouble began.

Thanks to JD Vance and Donald Trump, the residents of Springfield, Ohio have become targets in a racist attempt to rid the town of “dirty, illegal immigrants” who are “infesting” the area. More than 30 bomb threats were made against schools, government buildings, and city officials’ homes, forcing evacuations and closures. Springfield was forced to cancel its annual celebration of diversity, arts, and culture in response to the threats. Members of the Proud Boys –- the extremist group that stormed the US Capitol on January 6th –- descended on the town and marched through the streets with a threatening presence. State police were deployed to protect residents and schools.

On Monday, students at Simon Kenton and Kenwood Elementary Schools were evacuated “to an alternate district location” due to threats of violence in the city. It would have been picture day for the students. Hospitals and other vital services were also shuttered out of an abundance of caution.

“These are the fifth and sixth SCSD buildings to be targeted by recent threats within the last week,” officials said.

Additionally, classes at Wittenberg University were forced to go remote while police assessed emailed threats of a bombing and shooting that specifically targeted “members of the Haitian community,” the university said in a statement. The university has received 5 separate threats since Saturday.

Springfield, Ohio Mayor Rob Rue said he and other officials have personally received threats following the amplification of the fake internet story from Vance and Trump.  

“It would be helpful” if politicians “understood the weight of their words and how they could harm a community like ours,” Rue said on CNN.

Further stoking the flames, Donald Trump said on Saturday he didn’t know of any bomb threats against Springfield, but he was clear “that it’s been taken over by illegal migrants, and that’s a terrible thing that happened. Springfield was this beautiful town, and now they’re going through hell.”

Approximately 12,000 to 15,000 immigrants live in Clark County, where Springfield is the county seat. Despite claims to the contrary from Trump and Vance, Haitian immigrants are in the city legally as part of a parole program that allows citizens and lawful residents to apply to have their family members from Haiti join them in the United States.

“These Haitians that are there are legal, they work very, very hard,” GOP Gov. Mike DeWine said earlier this week. He emphatically denied the false rumors regarding Haitian immigrants eating family pets and added that business leaders feel Haitian immigrants are “really essential to them getting the job done.”

Understandably, Haitian residents in the midwestern city are living in fear.

“Honestly, I don’t feel safe. It’s not good right now,” Jean-Patrick Louisius, a Haitian immigrant and business owner who moved to Springfield four years ago with his wife and two daughters told the New York Times. “I’m not sure if I can stay in business, because people are leaving,” he added.

Mia Perez, a Haitian immigration lawyer in Springfield, told the Associated Press that her 9-year-old daughter came face to face with the fake story in school.

“Kids in school are being asked by other kids: ’How does the dog taste? How does the cat taste?” Perez said. “She’s asking, ‘Are we the kind of Haitians who eat this kind of stuff? Is it true? What’s happening?’ This is a conversation that I was not ready to have with my daughter,” she continued. “I felt disrespected of our culture.”

“I know a woman whose daughter hasn’t gone to school since this happened because at the school the kids are asking her about eating cats and dogs,” Sophia Pierrelus, a Haitian American small business owner in Columbus, told the Columbus Dispatch. “They’re afraid to go into the street because they feel they may be attacked.”

In an amazing show of support toward the Haitian community, Springfield residents of all races and ethnicities filled the Rose Goute Creole restaurant to help bolster the loss of business amid the current attacks.

“Yesterday some people call, I think they make some joke, ask if we have cat, dog. I say, ‘We don’t sell that. We sell chicken, fish, goat, pork, rice, beans,’“ manager Romane Pierre told the Springfield News-Sun.

With active bomb threats and promises to exact violence against Haitians in Springfield, Ohio continuing to rise, JD Vance has since attempted to impress Trump by tripling down on his words.

“All that I’ve done is surface the complaints of my constituents, people who are suffering because of Kamala Harris’ policies. Are we not allowed to talk about these problems because some psychopaths are threatening violence?” Vance said during a contentious appearance on CNN.

“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.”

Spreading a false story about Haitian immigrants eating pets in Springfield, Ohio is irresponsible. Doubling down on the tale while bomb threats and school closures paralyze the city is lunacy. Tripling down on the story while the Proud Boys march through the streets armed and looking for trouble against Black and brown people is just plain racist.

OK WASSUP! covers Current Events:
Springfield Ohio Haitians, bomb threats, and violence.