Racist claims by right-wing Republicans about Haitians in Springfield, Ohio, are giving way to physical attacks against Haitian families, some of whom are keeping their children from school today to protect them.

The morning after former President Donald Trump repeated racist claims about Haitians in Springfield, Ohio, some Haitian families are keeping their children home from school for their safety, according to an area activist. Those who allowed their children did so, but with heavy hearts.

“She [my niece] was scared, but I told her to go, that God would protect,” said one Haitian resident, who asked that she not be identified publicly for fear of reprisal.

“We’re all victims this morning,” said the woman, who moved to Springfield six years ago. “They’re attacking us in every way.”

Aside from the anxiety caused by Tuesday night’s debate, the woman also said her cars have been vandalized twice in the middle of the night. She woke up one morning to broken windows and another to acid thrown on the vehicle. She’s added cameras to her driveway and tried to report the incidents to the police to no avail.

  • andrew_bidlawEnglish
    27·
    2 months ago

    A policeman walks to the corner of the building and, distracted by his phone, clashes into an italian coming from the other side. Both fall on their asses confused. Then, out of nowhere, a hooded person appears and starts to attack an italian. A policeman stands up and pulls them apart, asks a hooded man what this is about. Looking geniunely frustrated, they answer: ‘I saw you and him, and I thought that it’s finally happening.’

    There are a lot of variations of this anecdote* that, for me, puts it pretty great. A dire and exaggerated social situation creates a minority group of short-fused people who are just one inch from acting on their frustration and biases or\and even dreams, they just need a call to action or\and a guarantee they won’t be persecuted. And their orange monarch just mumbled something in his rant, accidentially this time unlike the Jan 6 coup attempt, and it enabled them to act. In spite of the nurturing the MAGA cult does to this group, they aren’t enough to cause a snowballing effect just yet, but the ripple effect of his another random bullshit rant shows they are listening and can do covert, sneaky shit to other humans after just a whistle. It’d take a long time for the US to recover from trumpism.

    * I believe the original one was about the nationalistic Black Hundreds and how they, enabled by tsarist police and the wealthy, started a string of chaotic pogroms, torching houses and hurting\killing hundreds of thousands.

    • Cosmonauticus@lemmy.world
      16·
      2 months ago

      While I agree whole heartedly with everything you typed. I just find it incredibly ironic that the story features an Italian. A group known for being persecuted but became famously racist as hell (Italian Americans included) with a prime minister with a hard on for facism.

      • Asafum@feddit.nl
        10·
        2 months ago

        Can confirm. From Italian American family, have no shortage of racism here…

        My goddamn grandma never forgets to chime in on political conversations with the “and diseases! Don’t forget the immigrats bring disease into our country!”

        …ughhh