![[Springfield and Dayton police officers outside the City Hall building following an evacuation due to a threat Thursday. Bill Lackey, staff photographer, Springfield News-Sun]](https://outsidethebeltway.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Screenshot-2024-09-12-at-12.03.20 PM.png)
![[Springfield and Dayton police officers outside the City Hall building following an evacuation due to a threat Thursday. Bill Lackey, staff photographer, Springfield News-Sun]](https://i0.wp.com/outsidethebeltway.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Screenshot-2024-09-12-at-12.03.20%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=723%2C414&ssl=1)
I had hoped that this morning’s collection of random thoughts would be the last I would publish on the racist and xenophobic attacks being led by the Trump Campaign (and in particular J. D. Vance) on the Haitian migrant community in Springfield, Ohio. Then, earlier this morning, news came of the bomb threats. From the Springfield News-Sun:
Springfield City Hall was evacuated around 8:30 a.m. Thursday following a bomb threat “to multiple facilities throughout Springfield,” according to a city statement released Thursday morning.
Drivers license bureaus in Clark County were also closed Thursday morning in relation to the threats, according to Clark County Clerk of Courts Melissa Tuttle.
And parents of students at one Springfield school said they were told to pick up their children. A police officer outside Fulton Elementary was seen telling concerned parents that their children had been moved to Springfield High School. Springfield City Schools issued a brief statement at 10:40 a.m. Thursday.
“Based on information received from the State Fire Marshal, Fulton students were evacuated from their building to Springfield High School this morning,” school officials said. “Students and staff are safe; however, the district is in the process of a controlled release to safely dismiss students to their parents.” [Source]
So far it appears that the bomb threats were all hoaxes. But the mental and emotional trauma connected with them isn’t–especially in an age where mentally unstable people attack places like schools on a basis so routine that J. V. Vance recently called it “a fact of life.”
Fuck J. D. Vance.
Seriously. Fuck him. Fuck him for embracing racism for political opportunity. Fuck him for continuing to spread disproven rumors.
Fuck former President President Trump for likewise embracing these rumors and recklessly sharing them on the National Debate stage to activate his base. “I heard it on TV” is not an excuse for making those statements. It also ignores how his VP candidate and his media surrogates are continuing to spread those rumors. This is not an accident. It is very much intentional racism.
Fuck them, and the MAGA movement supporting them, for ignoring the pleas of a grieving family to not politicize the tragic death of their child:
“Using Aiden as a political tool is, to say the least, reprehensible for any political purpose,” Nathan Clark said Tuesday evening, with his wife at his side, during a public meeting in Springfield, Ohio. “And speaking of morally bankrupt politicians, Bernie Moreno, Chip Roy, JD Vance and Donald Trump. They have spoken my son’s name and use his death for political gain. This needs to stop now.” [source]
And it’s not just the pain of one family. The Haitian migrant community in Springfield feels under attack:
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.
“I’m going to have to move because this area is no longer good for me,” she said. “I can’t even leave my house to go to Walmart. I’m anxious and scared.” [source]
This is, of course, the goal of these sorts of ethno-national movements. We saw it with the KKK. We saw it with the Nazi purges of Jews and other degenerates. We saw the role that mass media played in the Rwandan Genocide.
The pattern is the same and can be seen in J. D. Vance’s tweet from a few days ago:
In the last several weeks, my office has received many inquiries from actual residents of Springfield who’ve said their neighbors’ pets or local wildlife were abducted by Haitian migrants. It’s possible, of course, that all of these rumors will turn out to be false.
Do you know what’s confirmed? That a child was murdered by a Haitian migrant who had no right to be here. That local health services have been overwhelmed. That communicable diseases–like TB and HIV–have been on the rise. That local schools have struggled to keep up with newcomers who don’t know English. That rents have risen so fast that many Springfield families can’t afford to put a roof over their head. Here is Kamala Harris bragging about giving amnesty to thousands of Haitian migrants.
If you’re a reporter, or an activist, who didn’t give a shit about these suffering Americans until yesterday, I have some advice: Spare your outrage for your fellow citizens suffering under Kamala Harris’s policies. Be outraged at yourself for letting this happen. [source]
This fits into is a well-established rhetorical pattern designed to dehumanize opponents. You make up dehumanizing lies (like the eating of pets). You dehumanize them by linking them with crime. You dehumanize them by calling them disease carriers. And ultimately, you blame the suffering of Real Americas(TM)/Germans/Hutus (aka “Us”) on those migrants/Jews/Tutsis (aka “Them”).
This isn’t history. It’s happening RIGHT NOW and RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOUR EYES. And it’s intentionally embracing evil, without regard for the consequences, in order to achieve power.
A final note: if you reader wonder if this article is directed at you, let me assure you it is.
If you have shown up on this site in the past and attacked us liberals for criticizing Trump unfairly (Jack and TheRyGuy) then let us know if you think this is an unfair attack. If you reflexively fall back on “the evil Democrats were the founders of the KKK” (JKB), show up and defend the actions of Trump and his followers in the present moment.
The last thing I’ll say to all of the Trump-leaning voters reading this: your silence on this topic is deafening. I suspect–or at least hope–that you realize this is undefendable behavior.
I only hope that same vague sense of shame stays with you until you decide to cast your vote. Perhaps, just perhaps, there’s still enough good in you to understand that whatever tax cuts or policy preferences you think Trump will deliver are not worth the racist actions he took (and will take) to try to win this election.
