It's Halloween, an appropriate time for a horror story. This one's horror is that lies are being passed around as truth.
For weeks, Donald Trump has been railing about Haitian immigrants in Ohio eating dogs and cats, a claim that is based on a Facebook post. And we all know what a bastion of truth and accuracy social media is. These claims have been amplified in statements by his running mate, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance.
This all started with an actual case in Canton, OH--nearly three hours east of Springfield. A woman named Alexis Ferrell was accused of killing and eating a cat in front of several other people.
Here is the problem. According to WPXI news in Ohio, Ferrell is not a Haitian immigrant. She was born in Ohio and graduated from high school in Canton.
(Reference: https://www.wpxi.com/news/local/woman-accused-killing-eating-cat-ohio-is-not-an-immigrant-was-born-canton/CNKQDHSCUVF75HKKPODXURQSXQ/)
The city has seen a rise in Haitian immigrants, but they are not there illegally. According to Ohio Governor Mike DeWine (R), about 15,000 Haitian immigrants have relocated to Springfield under a Temporary Protected Status program due to instability in their country.
The city faces challenges, no doubt. Public hospitals, which by law must treat everyone (citizen or non-citizen) regardless of their ability to pay, have been stressed by the influx. The governor is sending additional state troopers into the area not because of an increase in crime but because many of these immigrants are unfamiliar with traffic laws. Tragically, a Haitian immigrant was involved in a traffic accident with a school bus, which led to the death of a young boy. But more about that later.
DeWine, whose family operates a charity in Haiti in honor of their daughter who was killed in a car accident, has called the Haitian immigrants hard-working, family-oriented people who escaped the gang violence in their country to work toward a better life.
(Reference: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/ohio-is-sending-troopers-and-2-5-million-to-city-where-many-haitian-migrants-have-relocated)
So, naturally, we now have the starting point to spread false rumors that are ripe with racist undertones.
According to an article in the Columbus Dispatch, Springfield City Manager Brian Heck has released a statement saying there is absolutely no evidence that Haitian immigrants have kidnapped or harmed pets. Nor is there any indication they are participating in illegal activities, including "squatting or littering."
In addition to eating people's pets, Trump then insisted Haitian immigrants are stealing and eating ducks out of parks in Springfield. This accusation is based on a viral photo showing a Black man (no evidence exists that he is even Haitian) carrying a dead goose.
First, according to the newspaper, this photo was taken in Columbus, OH, not Springfield. Second, the individual who took the picture in July and wishes to remain anonymous told the reporter that he "regrets taking the photo and did not expect it to be used by right-wing accounts to weaponize against Haitian immigrants.
(Reference: https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/2024/09/17/springfield-ohio-truth-latest-since-trumps-haitian-pet-eating-claims-fact-check/75260318007/)
Combine that with the regret of the woman whose now-deleted Facebook post sparked the entire incident. Ericka Lee heard through the local grapevine that a neighbor's cat had disappeared, so she naturally posted the rumor that a Haitian immigrant might have taken the animal.
After the post began circulating, Lee checked in with the neighbor to determine whether the claims were true. Turns out they were not.
The alleged missing cat did not belong to her neighbor's daughter, as Lee had claimed. It supposedly belonged to a friend of a friend of the neighbor's daughter.
The "eaten" cat is actually named Miss Sassy. After Miss Sassy disappeared in August, her owner, Anna Kilgore, did indeed file a police report insinuating that her Haitian neighbors had something to do with her cat's disappearance.
A few days after filing the report, Kilgore discovered Miss Sassy hanging out in the basement of her house. A picture of Miss Sassy has even appeared in several newspapers, showing her where she was found, alive and well, in a camping chair.
Kilgore told the Wall Street Journal that she has apologized to her Haitian neighbors not only for filing the false report but for the role she played in perpetuating the hateful lies now circulating in right-wing circles.
But the ball of hate was already rolling long before Kilgore's apology. Once Lee's Facebook post found its way into the hands of J.D. Vance and the right-wing media. It took on a life of its' own, much to the horror of Lee. "I was not raised with hate," Lee told the New York Times. "My whole family is biracial. I never wanted to cause problems for anyone."
The false nature of the claims is either lost on Trump and Vance, or they simply don't care as they continue spreading the lies. As a result, an entire community is now in right-wing crosshairs.
(Reference: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/17/us/springfield-haitians-pets-facebook-rumor.html)
Worst of all, Vance knew the rumors were false before spreading them. According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, a member of Vance's staff called Springfield City Manager Heck on September 9 to ask if the rumors of Haitian immigrants eating pets were true.
“He asked point-blank, ‘Are the rumors true of pets being taken and eaten?’” Heck told the Journal. “I told him no. There was no verifiable evidence or reports to show this was true. I told them these claims were baseless.”
(References:
https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/20/politics/springfield-ohio-vance-campaign-wsj-report/index.html
https://www.wsj.com/us-news/springfield-ohio-pet-eating-claims-haitian-migrants-04598d48)
None of this matters to Trump or Vance. As recently as last week, they have continued perpetuating the rumors that Haitian immigrants in Springfield are eating family pets. Vance's staff even waved a copy of the now-denounced police report around as "proof" even though the woman who filed it has admitted it was based on false information.
Vance even doubled down on those lies after being called out on them while also chastising the media for reporting on his lies.
"The American media totally ignored this stuff until Donald Trump and I started talking about cat memes," Vance told CNN's Dana Bash in an interview on September 15th. "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 am going to do."
Bash then asked Vance to clarify what he meant about "creating stories. "Dana, it comes from first-hand accounts of my constituents. I say that 'creating a story,' meaning that we're getting the American media focus on it."
Vance continued to perpetuate the lie by saying that "people who shouldn't be in the country" were eating pets.
Even though there are no credible reports or evidence that this is happening. Even though pets disappear every day for various reasons that have nothing to do with people eating them. He also continues to ignore the fact that the Haitian immigrants he is accusing of eating pets are actually here legally.
Vance has lost sight of the fact that he is putting his own constituents in danger. Numerous bomb threats have been called in on Springfield buildings, including 33 bomb threats on schools. All the threats have been determined to be hoaxes, some even coming from bots that originated internationally. However, buildings must be evacuated and searched each time a threat is received.
And each time Trump or Vance repeat these lies, the threats against Springfield ramp up again.
Highway patrol officers sweep each Springfield school building for bombs every morning before students are allowed inside. All as a result of rumors that Trump and Vance clearly know are lies but don't care.
It is worth the collateral damage to paint an entire community in a false and negative light to score political points. And if a few people get hurt in the process--whether they are innocent school children or a group of black legal immigrants--it matters very little. It is the price they are willing to pay to gain an advantage through misinformation.
We should all be disturbed by this, but those who care little about facts and prefer to cast whatever their political biases deem "truthful" are clearly on board with spreading misinformation.
The parents of the young boy killed in the bus accident have every reason to be angry at the Haitian community in the Springfield area. But they are not.
Although Trump did not mention Aiden Clark--the child killed in the accident--during the debate, Vance has used the child's death as a talking point on several occasions alongside the false claims of Haitians eating pets and spreading tuberculosis and HIV around Springfield. He claimed that the boy was "murdered by a Haitian migrant who had no right to be here."
Speaking in front of the Springfield City Commission on September 10--the same day Trump accused Haitian immigrants of stealing and eating people's pets--Nathan Clark, Aiden's father, blasted the far right for using his son's death for political gain.
"You know, I wish that my son, Aiden Clark, was killed by a 60-year-old white man," Clark told the Commission. "I bet you never thought anyone would ever say something so blunt. But if that guy killed my 11-year-old son, the incessant group of hate-spewing people would leave us alone."
"Using Aiden as a political tool is, to say the least, reprehensible for any political purpose," he continued. "And speaking of morally bankrupt...politicians like (Ohio Republican Senate Candidate) Bernie Marino, (Texas U.S. House Representative) Chip Roy, JD Vance, and Donald Trump then spoke in my son's name and used his death for political gain. This needs to stop now."
Clark went on:
"My son...was not murdered. He was accidentally killed by an immigrant from Haiti. This tragedy is felt all over this community, this state, and even the nation. But don't spin this towards hate."
"There is nothing moral and Christian about lying and deliberately putting people in danger. There is nothing moral and Christian about spewing hate towards anyone, even if their beliefs are different from yours. There is nothing moral or Christian about discrimination and hate-mongering. Jesus died on the cross to prove that."
(Reference: https://fox2now.com/news/national/his-son-died-in-a-crash-with-a-haitian-immigrant-he-says-politicians-are-using-it-for-political-gain/ )
No, it is not moral or Christian to deliberately lie and put people in danger. But it resonates with those who don't distinguish fact from fiction. And that translates to political gain that makes lying well worth it.
Suppose they are willing to lie about something as ridiculous as a group of legal immigrants eating pets while knowingly putting an entire community--including school children--in danger. What else are they willing to lie about for political gain?
Well, hurricane relief, for one thing. Trump and Company are spreading false rumors that there is no hurricane relief money because it was all spent on "housing illegal immigrants" and that FEMA is seizing property and homes. They also claim that there are no representatives of FEMA in North Carolina and Georgia and that all of the cleanup work is being done by independent groups. All lies.
Threats against FEMA workers have sometimes caused the agency to pull its people out of various regions. Explain to me how this helps the people who have lost everything?
These lies have been debunked by the governors of both states and many Congressional representatives, Democrats and Republicans. But again, the lies are worth the collateral damage.
The fact is that many who will be voting next week do not care about these lies. Anything that fits in with their political ideology and biases is deemed truth, no matter how bizarre and unlikely or who it hurts.
Some horrors, sadly, are all too real.