There is a phenomenon where the major media outlets hide a story, and then when it manages to pop into the mainstream — say, in a widely watched presidential debate — it tends to do so in such a way as to be easily mocked and dismissed. The general public digests the “easily mocked” or “crazy sounding” story as interpreted by that media, and then it can be safety shuffled off the stage and buried once again.
Such is the case with the story of Haitians eating pets in Springfield, Ohio. During the debate, Trump blurted out that Haitian immigrants in the town were eating the dogs and cats of the residents there. To those already familiar with the story, it was a fair if grimly humorous point to bring up. But of course the vast majority of the people watching the debate were not familiar with the story, so it came off as nutty. The ABC moderators also gave it a stern “fact-checking” by assuring the audience that Springfield’s city manager had said that no pet-eating was going on. The claim became just one more manic Trump outburst, and liberals smugly shared commentary and memes mocking the idea. They filed it away safely in the “crazy right-wing conspiracy” folder deep in the cynical recesses of their minds, and then moved on to sharing heart-wrenching stories of Haitian immigrants and how awful it is that they’re unfairly maligned.
But something deeply disturbing is indeed happening in Springfield, Ohio. And the strange disappearance of neighborhood pets in only one symptom.
In just the past few years, the town of 50,000 residents has seen a population of 20,000 Haitians dropped onto it. To most of the native residents, these people seemed to arrive out of nowhere. They would come in on buses usually after nightfall, and would somehow put down payments on apartments and houses with no credit history or savings to their name. Within a couple years, they had overwhelmed entire neighborhoods. The hospitals were swarmed by newcomers, and wait times for medical services doubled. The area saw a massive spike in auto accidents — and therefore in insurance rates — caused by Haitians who didn’t know how to drive or follow traffic signals.
Local schools that had previously been 90% white and pretty high-performing were inundated with kids who did not speak any English. Translators sometimes showed up in classrooms, and often the teachers couldn’t pin down where they came from or who had hired them. Local advocates for the homeless — hardly a group that tends toward the Right — claimed that landlords were forcing tenants from their homes and replacing them with Haitians, with direct financing from the federal government.
A local factory company also appears to be a primary culprit here, and has put out advertisements trumpeting the work ethic of their suddenly majority-Haitian labor force. Companies like this have been receiving mountains of government subsidies to fly in foreign populations for decades, but it’s accelerated under the Biden administration. The same goes for the complex network of NGOs that guzzle in public and private money and use to do things like transport and settle “migrant and refugee populations.”
And yes, despite those official statements by the Springfield city manager, many locals have reported their pets missing. I’ve lived in a part of the country with a large Haitian population, and they’re known for including dogs and cats within their dietary restrictions. About 40% practice voodoo, and animal sacrifice is a common practice both in their homeland and in the areas in which they mass. Springfield has also seen many confirmed complaints of Haitians decimating the duck and goose populations at the local parks. To be blunt, the Haitians are a completely alien population to a place like Springfield. And they are also one of the world’s populations least likely to assimilate into a white Western society. They’ve laid waste to their own island over the past couple centuries. Their average IQ is somewhere south of 70, below the legal requirement to even stand trial in much of the United States.
But that’s all part of the point. Springfield, Ohio, like hundreds of other small and medium-sized towns in the American heartland, had been slated for destruction. Air-dropping massive numbers of Haitians into small Rust Belt towns would be considered a war-crime in other contexts. This sounds exaggerated if not unhinged and cruel to the average “well-informed” American. In fact, Springfield was surely improved by becoming over 25% Haitian practically overnight. After all, NPR shared some tear-jerking Haitian success stories, so even proposing a limit to the inflow is now immoral and illegitimate.
And so it will keep happening, at an ever-quickening pace. A phenomenon right there for all to see, if only they would allow themselves.
If Trump does win, it will be in no small part because many voters in swing states have noticed this aggressive and coordinated effort to demographically displace them. But for now, it’s just another silly thing he talked about. Share a few memes, ridicule a few Republicans, then pay it no mind. Until the family pets start to go missing.
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