For a long time since 2016, we all have been exposed to Trump’s hateful and racist rhetoric around migrants, Over the years we have tacitly accepted the fearmongering, xenophobic incantations by politicians from the far right as a distasteful, but familiar Republican theme song. This past week, we categorically denounce the Trump/Vance strategy of targeting Haitians, a specific ethnic group with false claims of pets and animals being killed for food by hungry Haitian migrants. To most decent Americans, particularly blacks and browns, this is one more sickening, hateful, offensive, and factually unfounded accusation that exceeds the limit of acceptable behavior from someone seeking to represent us, a melting pot of diverse, multicultural population of the world.
It is a fact that Haiti’s internal socio-political turmoil has driven the once brave men and women of Haiti into the widening camp of desperate refugees seeking personal assistance from “unneighborly” borders, but they are far from being “animal abusers” and “pets eaters”, a designation that has long been a trope that overtly and explicitly reveals the objectionable nature of racism, xenophobia, and discrimination in the “Trump/Vance” white nationalist presidential caravan. Most of the defamatory claims against the immigrant community, including alleged illegal activities, squatting, littering, stealing, and harvesting animals are lies that have been concocted for political gains. It is not only degrading but insulting to the worldwide minority community of browns and blacks who are fleeing from the ravages of geopolitical warfare and the resulting internal conflicts that drive them out of their homeland. I suspect other international thugs, Trump-like demagogues, are spewing the same incendiary, false rhetoric about refugees seeking a better life from other minority communities of Africa, Palestine, Congo, South Sudan, and Ethiopia. Obviously, it is a double standard system where race and ethnicity determine responsible acceptance or outright rejection of the call for help like the Haitians in Ohio.
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As a Haitian American myself, I am imploring all Haitian Americans everywhere in America to go to the ballot box within the next 50 days and let your grievances be heard loudly and decisively. Let Donald Trump and Vance know that you are not “cat and dog eaters”, you can instead act like “spoilers” by using your numerical power as U.S. citizens of Haitian descent with a population of 1,200,000 naturalized citizens and more than 750,000 siblings, all U,S born citizens to vote and vote in swing States like Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Florida to defeat bigots and elect true Democrats, the people’s candidates.
Anti-Haitian rhetoric is nothing new—it stems from centuries of U.S. imperialism and white fear of Black self-governance. Trump and Vance’s remarks targeting Haitian immigrants recycle long-standing stereotypes used to scapegoat Haitians. Now, these criminal politicians use desperate slander and distraction, even to the point where the usually complicit mainstream media had to shut them down.
Springfield, Ohio’s Haitian community, many of whom have authorization to work in the U.S. under Temporary Protected Status, have faced baseless rumors and violence that mirror historical anti-Black and anti-Haitian sentiments. Note: TPS-eligible individuals contribute nearly $31 billion annually to the U.S. economy.
After Haiti’s successful revolution, the U.S. refused to acknowledge Haiti’s independence for decades, fearing it would inspire uprisings among enslaved people within its own borders. In 1915, the U.S. invaded and occupied Haiti, seizing resources and enforcing brutal policies rooted in the racist notion that Haitians were incapable of self-governance. This exploitation and resource extraction didn’t end with the occupation—it continues to this day, driven by international actors, including the U.S., who profit from Haiti’s instability.
This long history of exploitation and resource theft has created the conditions that force Haitian migration today. The blame lies with systems of white supremacy and imperialism. Despite generations of relentless brutality against the Haitian people, our spirit of resistance remains unshaken and indomitable.
