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Bear said the heated atmosphere in the town has escalated to the point where restaurants are receiving prank calls asking if cats are on the menu.
And, on Thursday, Springfield’s City Hall was temporarily closed over a bomb threat that used “hateful language” directed at Haitian immigrants in the community, the mayor told The Washington Post.
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One of the good things, she added, is the work being done by some residents to support Haitians living there.
Author Marjory Wentworth, who helps run cultural projects with Haitians in Springfield, is one of those volunteers.
Wentworth expressed concerns that the local Haitian community is being “used” and “demonized” by outsiders, like Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, for their own political gains.
Springfield’s Haitian community, against their will, is the collateral damage.
“They’re trying to work hard and just do the best they can by their families just like everybody else,” Wentworth told BI. “So this is just all really tragic.”
For Marco Lapaix, a Haitian immigrant who has been living in Springfield for the past five years, the promise of “a better life” in Ohio has come with significant challenges.
He said he encounters unkindness from strangers, and feels that his Haitian identity has led to discrimination, including being denied a commercial lease to open a restaurant.
Lapaix said that all he wants is to be a law-abiding citizen who can make a living and be tolerated in the town he now calls home.
However, the recent national rhetoric has only made that pursuit harder.
“I’m mad, I’m scared, but I know we have to fight to be accepted,” he said.