The skyline of Springfield, Ohio. Right-wing activists have spread lies about the town’s Haitian community. (Getty Images)
The man standing at the door to the second-hand goods store seemed confused. Like me, he was apparently surprised the store was empty; unlike me, he couldn’t read the sign saying the store was closed Mondays but would be open the following day.
He was slender, tall, and very dark, holding the hand of a girl maybe four or five years old. She was cute as a button, wearing a frilly pink dress and, like her father, Haitian. Not so long ago, that was not a big deal here in Springfield, Ohio.
I came to the Habitat For Humanity store to drop off old but functioning light fixtures. He was there to — I don’t know. Maybe to find inexpensive furnishings for his home, maybe to buy clothing or even a gently used toy for his daughter. I opted to leave my donation under the shelter of an awning; as I did so he smiled at me and, in an uncertain voice, said, “Closed?”
“Yes,” I replied. “Closed, but open tomorrow.”
The man nodded, although it was clear he hadn’t understood. I tried again, this time running my fingers along the posted hours as if that would make a difference. Eventually, we resorted to pantomime, the little girl watching quietly as her daddy and this stranger tried to communicate the passage of time through gestures.
Eventually, his face lit up; he repeated “tomorrow” and smiled his gratitude. When I drove away, he had his hands cupped against the glass so he could see inside the dark store. His daughter held onto his pants leg, smiling at me, her innocent-child eyes wide open and taking it all in.
Bullseye of hate
Two months have passed since then, and I find myself thinking about that man and his little girl. Are they still in Springfield? Does he dare take his child to church, to kindergarten, to one of Springfield’s many parks? Can he even take her out shopping without fear he is risking both of their lives? Does that little girl still smile at strangers? I couldn’t blame her if she did not.
Springfield was once a bustling city on the grow, home to manufacturing, industry, and a dynamic vaudeville scene. In 1983, Newsweek magazine went looking for a “typical” American town and dedicated an entire issue to Springfield.
By that time, it was already a town in trouble, many of its industries moving overseas in search of cheap labor and quick profits. When I moved here from Tallahassee in 2000 to join the faculty at Wittenberg University, I found a town still struggling with the loss of its industrial base but beginning to find its footing. Today it has a bustling downtown area, a growing arts and music scene, and an industrial and business climate that is once again on the grow.
It also has as many as 20,000 Haitian immigrants among its 60,000 or so residents. And, thanks to the lies started by Sen. J.D. Vance and presidential candidate Donald Trump, Springfield has a bullseye of hate painted squarely across its heart.
Swastikas in the streets
Let’s be clear about this: Those immigrants are here legally, most under a federal program that grants temporary visas to people fleeing dangerous homelands such as Haiti. By all accounts, they have been an important driver in Springfield’s economic recovery. Most have jobs, they create and buy goods and services, they pay taxes. They do not eat their neighbors’ cats and dogs, nor snatch geese from city parks for their stewpots.
There are problems — that’s inevitable when you try to integrate that many people from a different culture into a town as small as Springfield. The city’s schools and health care system struggle to accommodate the influx of people who don’t speak English. Many of the newer immigrants have little experience with America’s traffic laws and norms; that came to a head last year when a Haitian man hit a school bus, killing one child and injuring 23 others.
(The father of the deceased child has denounced the lies and called for Trump and Vance to leave his son out of their “reprehensible” games).
Those are serious problems, but problems people of good intent can and will work out, given time. Or could have worked out, had Trump and Vance not made Springfield a shining jewel in their crowns of hate. Since Vance first posted his outrageous claim, Springfield has had to close schools and civic offices because of bomb threats, public officials have received death threats, masked Nazis carrying guns and swastikas marched through town during a jazz festival that drew visitors from as far away as Kentucky and Illinois, and city commission meetings overflow with frightened people parroting absurd conspiracy theories.
Climate of fear
Many of those legal immigrants who came here to escape the violence in their own country now fear to leave their homes or let their children play or attend church and school. Some have left town or say they may do so soon.
The damage done by these venom-filled lies don’t stop at the city’s borders. Springfield is mentioned frequently on news and talk shows, by late-night comedians, in political ads and, although they cannot say they don’t know the truth, in the venom-filled speeches of Trump, Vance, and their fellow con artists.
My sister-in-law’s real estate agent just informed her that housing prices are down because people are hesitant to move here. A friend recently returned from Ireland; when the people there learned she is from Springfield they wanted to know all about the cat-eaters. This particular Great Lie has spread that far, and the damage is that great.
Because Springfield is at its heart a good place, there are also positive things happening here. Haitian support groups have been formed, some by churches or civic groups, others by those who simply cannot stand silent in the face of injustice. Haitian restaurants overflow with customers who come to show support as much as for the food, and “Hate Has No Home Here” signs sprout on local lawns like mushrooms after a rainstorm.
Those things give me hope in the face of this gaslighting onslaught. Trump and his minions will pass, truth will eventually overcome the lies, Springfield will continue to prosper. Life here will return to normal.
But I don’t know if that quiet man at the Habitat store will still be here, or if his precious daughter will ever unsee the evil these heartless men have done.
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