Donald Trump’s comments about Kamala Harris’ race and his false statements about Haitian immigrants eating their neighbors’ pets in Springfield, Ohio, are being used to avoid talking about the issues that matter to voters, panelists said at a event to discuss the fight against anti-immigrant rhetoric. at the African American Research Library and Cultural Center in Fort Lauderdale on Thursday evening.
The panel included Coral Springs Commissioner Nancy Metayer Bowen; Shaheewa Jarrett Gelin, president of the Broward County Black Chamber of Commerce; ACLU Florida President Bacardi Jackson and Djenane Gourgue, President of the Haitian American Chamber of Commerce. The event was organized by Tameka Bradley Hobbs of South Florida People of Color, a nonprofit organization that aims to promote dialogue across cultural and racial boundaries. About a dozen people attended the event.
READ:‘A community in crisis.’ Haitians in Florida feel attacked by Trump, overlooked by Harris
The purpose of the panel was to discuss the challenges Black immigrants have faced in the wake of Trump’s comments about Haitians and the intersection between anti-immigrant and anti-Black rhetoric.
Since Trump made false statements about Haitian immigrants eating their neighbors’ pets in Springfield, Ohio, in his debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, he has continued to amplify this misinformation. Speaking at a forum for Latino voters in Doral on Wednesday, Trump claimed he only said what was “reported” but did not specify which news outlet made the claim.
Trump also questioned Harris’ race before a panel at the National Association of Black Journalists’ annual convention over the summer, and on Thursday the former president raised the issue again on the Fort Lauderdale-based current events podcast PBD Podcast. “They have a woman who is black, although you would say she is Indian, but she is black,” he told host Patrick Bet-David. “A lot of people didn’t know, and that’s true.” Harris has a Jamaican father and an Indian mother.
South Florida’s Black leaders are particularly frustrated by Trump’s statements, as they feel they are divisive and a distraction from the real issues facing Black communities. Florida is home to the largest Haitian American population with 424,934 residents, the majority of whom live in South Florida, according to the US Census. And more than 200,000 Jamaican Americans live in the state.
‘He’s talking about black people’
During the discussion, Jackson said Trump’s comments are rooted in white supremacy and noted that using immigrants as scapegoats is a “ploy to incite fear and find a reason for people’s impoverished conditions” rather than to hold politicians accountable.
“We really need to understand that there is no distinction,” she said. “He’s not just talking about Haitian people, he’s talking about black people. And if vigilantes start attacking people because of these unbelievable, horrific stories, they’re not going to ask you for your citizenship.”
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Coral Springs Commissioner Nancy Metayer Bowen agreed that Trump’s comments are a distraction from addressing the issues residents face and use Black people as scapegoats to avoid political accountability. “I think this rhetoric is being echoed across the country as people try to find solutions,” she said, adding that there is a litany of issues facing voters, including inflation and lack of affordable housing, which are already a priority for are them. .
“If it keeps us distracted and divided, which is not a unique situation, that means he can continue to push his stories,” Bowen said of the former president’s comments.
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Gourgue said Trump’s comments are hurtful, but said she doesn’t care what he says — she cares what he does.
“If you tell me I’m ugly or whatever, I can tolerate that, but if you strangle me, if you put me in a state of fear, (and) if my sanity is in disarray because of what you I worry more,” she said. Trump recently said he plans to revoke Temporary Protected Status, a protection afforded to immigrants from Haiti and other countries in turmoil that allows them to live and work in the U.S. temporarily.
Gourgue also questioned how many of the attacks on Harris were rooted in sexism, and not just her race. “Who cares if Kamala is black, Jamaican or Irish? This is a job. The job description does not require you to mention your race,” she said, adding that she sees this happening with the efforts to fire Haitian Foreign Minister Dominique Duphy. “Is it that we don’t want women, or do we just not want competence?”
Jarrett Gelin, of the Broward County Black Chamber of Commerce, emphasized that Jamaica is filled with diverse cultures, including those of African descent.
“Most of us have a little bit of this and that, but that doesn’t diminish the strong pride we have in our Africans,” said Gelin, a Jamaican American. “It’s funny that people wonder if she’s black, knowing her father’s bloodline runs through him.”
For many on the panel, the rhetoric was not new; it only stings more when it comes from the mouth of a presidential candidate who has the power to amplify hurtful stories. Gourgue said she has experienced anti-Haitian sentiments from African Americans. One participant, Francis Francois, agreed, saying the former president’s statements are not surprising. He talked about the times he was bullied by other black kids in elementary school because he was Haitian.
“The treatment of Haitians is long overdue, but it is nothing new,” he said.
Valencie Exceus, another participant, echoed these sentiments, but said that African American classmates who bully her are very different from the former President of the United States who targets Haitians, and emphasized that Trump, if re-elected, would has to enact laws that affect residents of Haiti.
“I want to make sure that even though we experience the trauma, we don’t equate it,” she said. “I think it’s very important to understand the severity of what happened and what is happening.”
