Predictably, in the days after his debacle of a performance at the presidential the debate, the former president has been successful at distracting the public from his utter defeat at the debate by giving the world another shinny object to focus on: This rumor of Haitians eating people’s pets.

I don’t want to go down a rabbit hole of how this rumor came to be presented as fact by both the former president, his running mate, and Ohio representative Jim Jordan.  What I would like to do is take a bird’s eye view of such a clear disgusting, and unfounded racist statement and other statements directed at people who I strongly believe the former president considers as “less than.”

Clearly Haitians are not alone in his contempt for people outside of his limited circle of homogeneous intimates.

Let’s look at his public track record dealing with people apart from his closed circle of intimates:

Some incidents that readily come to mind are:

1. His full-page ads in several prominent NY newspapers calling for the execution of five Black and Latino teenagers who were wrongly convicted of rape in Central Park in 1989 and later all exonerated. Matter of fact, one became an influential politician and motivational speaker, Yusef Salaam.
2. In his first run for president, he demonized Mexican immigrants crossing our borders. In his words, “they are, in many cases, criminals, drug dealers, rapists, etc.”
3. Of course, there was the ongoing attack on Asians in America who were scapegoated for the Covid pandemic resulting in Asians, especially older Asian women being victims of unprovoked physical attacks on NYC streets.
4. Let us not forget that in 2018, he referred to Haiti, African countries, and El Salvadore as “shithole” countries, and wondered why the US could not have more immigrants coming from Norway.

Every group that is different than the predominant culture has been subjected to this former president’s scowl so there is a big umbrella for this horrible focus of attention. He inarguably traffics in hate, division, xenophobia, misogyny, and racism, although he has tweeted that he does not have a racist bone in his body.

Now the focus of attention has returned to Haitians, specifically on Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, who were, recruited to help the town revive as an economic powerhouse. To provide a background to how the Haitians are in Springfield, Ohio, Haiti is among 15 countries that qualify for Temporary Protected Status (TPS), a federal immigration designation that allows immigrants to legally live and work in the country for up to 18 months. Many who come under TPS also apply for asylum.

The Haitians in Springfield are migrants who have come under this legal covering and are filling jobs that need to be filled. Although this does not meet JD Vance’s definition of legal migrants, let it be known clearly that they came legally.

According to Charles King, the CEO of Housing Works, “the influx of new residents to Springfield has put pressure on the local public school system, the local health care system and on housing costs. But most importantly, it has generated resentment by folk who were used to living in an almost completely white town. This resentment has been expressed in many ways over the last two years, and most recently in a pernicious Facebook post accusing Haitians of stealing people’s pet cat and dogs and eating them.”

Although this negative focus of attention is not new, this attack on the Haitian community resurrects the age-old racist thought that Black people are primitive animals ruled by uncontrolled base urges. Often accompanying such thoughts is the fear for one’s personal safety, fear for the lives of one’s children, partner, etc. It is a common racist tool used effectively by the former president to cause communities to resist any settlement by those who appear to be different from them.

I was in Haiti in August and listened to the stories of what the folks in Port-au-Prince are going through due to the infestation of gangs that have overtaken the country since the assassination of Haiti’s president in 2021. Their stories of trauma were heartbreaking to hear. Due to the constant danger that they are living with, Haitians are fleeing Haiti to find a safer place to live that would also grant them opportunities for financial stability for themselves and their families, like immigrants have been doing for hundreds of years.

There is a direct correlation between the statements of the former president along with his running mate to the recent bomb threats, force evacuations institutions, closures of public schools and municipal buildings that have transpired since their statements were made. This undue attention has been referred to as stochastic terrorism, which is political violence instigated by holistic public rhetoric, which is directed at a group or an individual, in this case, Haitians.

This old but ever-present dangerous trope of Blacks, (and here the focus is specifically on Haitians), is historic and shamefully being resurrected to cause fear, chaos, and ultimately, for political gain. It has contributed to the innumerable lynching of Southern Blacks during that very dark period of US history shrouded by the Jim Crow laws.

I would like to end focusing on the small but powerful and timeless universal message of empathy in the words of German Pastor Martin Niemöller who wrote “We are guilty of having been silent when we should have spoken” after his release from a Nazi concentration camp.

It is about the power of silence among good people, which can lead to very horrible things.

Sometime later, he elaborated on this statement and wrote a few more words entitled:

The danger of indifference; Then they came for me.

First, they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

—Martin Niemöller

We need to support one another when that horrible scowl of racism turns its attention on one of our brothers and sisters. I know that we have an advocacy department who does amazing work, but today I am appealing to each of you who is hearing me to continue to stand up for our brothers and sisters whenever such racism rears its putrid head.

Ironically, and I believe this shows God’s sense of humor, the US attorney prosecuting the suspect involved in the trump near assassination is Haitian-American. He is a US Mrine Gulf War veteran and the first and on Haitian-American US Attorney. He came to the US when he has 16 years old, brought by his impoverished mother.