Now it wasn’t that long ago – October 2001 to be exact – that I wrote, “Rubbernecking Haiti” (we’ll get to defining “rubbernecking” and two other important concepts shortly). But today here we are we’re rubbernecking as it relates to Springfield, Ohio.
Now what prompted that rubbernecking piece three years ago was a picture that went viral, that of a ranger on horseback cattlelike bullwhipping two Haitian men attempting to cross the southern border. Scores of people – count yours truly among them – swore at our TV sets and turned away in rage.
Which takes us to “rubbernecking,” the act of staring at something that got our attention. It’s craning one’s neck to get a better view, a human trait associated with morbid curiosity and is often the cause of traffic jams. After a few seconds of rubbernecking, we drive on – or in the case of the bullwhipped Haitians – thankful that “it didn’t happen to me” with our convenient “thoughts and prayers.”
Which takes us to Springfield, a town in Ohio that was going about and minding its own business before getting thrust into in the headlines based on outrageous lies about its Haitian citizens, among them the economic lifeblood of any city, engineers, doctors, lawyers, teachers and small business owners who were not – c’mon give us a break – dining on dogs and cats on backyard barbeque grills.
Now it’s critical to understand that the Haitian immigrants in Springfield are legal – let me say that again LEGAL – immigrants who came at the invitation of Springfield’s local government and industry. Why? Because Springfield had experienced an exodus of citizens and needed the Haitians to work in its factories and fill other positions. And guess what? There was no corresponding increases in crime, particularly nonsensical reports of theft of dogs and cats,
Shifting now to “stochastic terrorism,” language that’s ripping at the seams of a nation, let alone a city that’s on the brink of economic recovery thanks in some part to its Haitian citizens.
Stochastic terrorism is political violence that’s instigated by hostile public rhetoric that is directed at a group or an individual. The attacks are often repeated and amplified inside a media echo chamber. However, what cannot be denied is the fact that since a former president’s and his running mate’s false statements alleging dogs and cats being eaten by immigrants, Springfield has experienced a spate of bomb threats – 30 as of this writing – targeting Haitian immigrants, schools and government entities.
To me all this nonsense begs the question of what do those who spew nonsense that even they don’t believe have against Haiti and why do they make them the convenient scapegoat to appeal to fears about immigration? For the intellectually honest, the question answers itself.
In his compelling article, “What Does the United States have Against Haitians?” William Spivey offers part of a more complex answer. “It’s easy to have a negative impression of Haiti when all that’s presented in the media are negative images of earthquakes and gangs.”
Now if there’s such a thing as an upside to denigrating Haitians, it’s an opportunity to retrieve them from asinine caricatures and present them more accurately as a red-blooded human being, no different from any of us save for the color of their skin. So, let’s “visit” the nation of Haiti and learn a little bit more about its history and people.
Haiti is located to the east of Cuba and Jamaica and south of The Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Haiti is the third largest country in the Caribbean and has an estimated population of 11.4 million, making it the most populous country in the Caribbean.
The first Europeans arrived in Haiti in 1492 during the first voyage of Christopher Columbus. The island was claimed by Spain and named La Española, forming part of the Spanish Empire until the early 17th century. French colonists established sugarcane plantations, worked by vast numbers of slaves brought from Africa, which made the colony one of the richest in the world. In the midst of the French Revolution slaves and free people of color launched the Haitian Revolution, led by a former slave, Toussaint Louverture.
After 12 years of conflict, Napoleon Bonaparte’s forces were defeated by Louverture’s successor, Jean-Jacques Dessalines who declared Haiti’s sovereignty in 1804—the first independent nation of Latin America and the Caribbean, the first country to abolish slavery, and the only state in history established by a successful slave revolt.
After a brief period in which the country was split in two, President Jean-Pierre Boyer united the country and then attempted to bring the whole of Hispaniola under Haitian control, precipitating a long series of wars that ended in the 1870s when Haiti formally recognized the independence of the Dominican Republic.
Okay there you are, a snapshot of a nation and a people. Of course there’s more, a lot more.
So, if there’s an upside to this assault on the fine city of Springfield and its hard-working citizens, among them its Haitians, it’s that it has resulted in unifying a hurting community, one that was thrust into the national spotlight for political advantage.
Oh, here’s another result…the “Boomerang Effect,” situations where people tend to pick or do the opposite of what something or someone is saying or doing. We can look no further for an example of the Boomerang Effect than through pictures taken recently of hundreds of Springfield folks from all races crowded into Haitian restaurants enjoying delicious Haitian cuisine.
And mind you, steam- roasted dogs and cats were not on the menu!
© Terry Howard is an award-winning writer and storyteller, a contributing writer with the Chattanooga News Chronicle, The Douglas County Sentinel, The American Diversity Report, The BlackMarket.com and recipient of the Dr. Martin Luther King Leadership Award.
