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"Springfield OH has epitomized what's great about the American Dream, up to today's chance for Haitians to thrive, and its dark underbelly of lynching and anti-Black riots

What's new is men openly riding the dark side to seize the White House."

If @willbunch wrote it, you should read it.© & I thread it. 1/...
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Springfield, Trump, and the violent schizophrenia of the American Dream

Springfield, Ohio, was a city striving imperfectly to transcend its racist past. Then came Donald Trump and JD Vance
Will Bunch (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
#giftlink @Will Bunch
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2/ "...the dream, pushing Springfield forward. As I slept on a Holiday Inn mattress, I didn’t know the city was governed in late 1960s by Ohio’s 1st Black mayor, one of 1st in nation since Reconstruction. In 2014, at seemingly rock bottom, civic leaders announced a plan to save a community that had lost 1/3 of its population by appealing to new immigrants — an idea that bore fruit 6 years later when a surge of legal Haitian migrants and a new breed of factory owner forged a beautiful friendship"
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3/ "It’s all over the news now: how the low level of grumbling among some longtime white Springfield residents as thousands of refugees from Haiti’s political turmoil were welcomed to town by civic and faith leaders got turned up a notch with a fatal 2023 traffic accident, and went from a whisper to a scream with a power boost from the internet, as locals knowingly or unknowingly dredged up ancient racist tropes about immigrants eating geese, even their neighbors’ cats."
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4/ "What’s deeply troubling and new is that political leaders who could turn down the volume on these xenophobic, anti-Haitian lies are instead cranking the volume to earsplitting levels. Ohio U.S. Sen. #JDVance, the GOP vice presidential candidate, posted baseless falsehoods on X/Twitter before his top-of-the-ticket mate, Donald #Trump, stunned the nation in a nationally televised debate by blurting out. “In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs” — and they’ve continued to double down."
#trump #jdvance
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5/ "Ohio had been a magnet for freed African Americans dating back to the Underground Railroad, accelerating as cities like Springfield boomed with factories that made cars and tractors and printed popular magazines. But at the turn of the 20th century, lynchings of Black men spiked with the rise of Jim Crow segregation, and northern communities like Springfield were not immune. More than a dozen such executions took place in the city in the early 1900s."
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6/ "In the wake of these racist outbreaks, Springfield’s better angels took over for a long time, aided by a stable of employers like International Harvester’s 5,000-worker factory, and positive civic leadership. The next race-related headline, in 1966, was the groundbreaking election of Robert Henry as Ohio’s first Black mayor. But much of Springfield’s positivity died alongside the Industrial Revolution."
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7/ "Even at rock bottom, what happened in 2014 was a little surprising given the role that anti-immigrant fervor would play in electing Trump president just two years later. City leaders, including the longtime mayor, declared Springfield would aim to attract migrants, creating an infrastructure that included a Welcome Springfield committee to push the idea."
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8/ "It took time, but around 2020 a perfect storm of thousands of Haitian migrants granted protected status in the U.S. with worsening unrest in their homeland and new employers seeking eager laborers began to change Springfield, for good. Downtown revitalization and demand for housing surged.

Change was not welcomed by everyone."

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9/ "In August 2023, a Haitian immigrant who was improperly licensed slammed his minivan into a school bus on the first day of classes, killing an 11-year-old boy and launching nativist resentments into a new orbit. The next 12 months brought unfounded rumors about Haitian newcomers eating geese from the local park as well as an invented charge of stealing and eating a pet cat that flourished on Springfield’s webpages, then spread to the outside world."
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10/ "But here’s what’s different from the racial unrest that rocked southwestern Ohio more than a century ago: Today, the leaders of one political party are not working to quell rumors and calm Springfield, but rather to promote the falsehoods and stir up anger, in a demagogic scheme to divide America and retake the White House."
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11/ "It’s called stochastic terrorism when high-profile figures like Trump and Vance make outlandish claims certain to trigger specific threats or acts of violence on the ground. To the utter surprise of no one, Trump’s dog-eating slur was followed in rapid succession by angry, violent and anonymous threats against Haitians in Springfield that closed down City Hall and two public schools, canceled a public discussion around Haitian issues, and locked down two hospitals."
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12/ "Trump’s double-down, post-debate promise to deport Haitians, who are in this country legally, to a place they are not from, Venezuela, shows that his central campaign plank of “mass deportation” has nothing to do with upholding immigration law and everything to do with the skin color or the accent of the targeted groups — a mindset no different from the 20th-century mob that burned down Springfield’s only Black neighborhood."
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13/ "“There are certainly ppl trying to do what’s right, like mayor speaking out & condemning what’s going on,” Springfield minister told me. “It’s bringing attention and a spotlight to this community, but... What community is next? Bc there’ll be another Springfield.”

There can no longer be any confusion over what this election is all about. On the night of Nov5, will America be illuminated by flashing neon bulbs of hope, or the riotous arson fires of rage?"

Plz read the entire column

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