By Felicia J. Persaud
News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Tuesday. September 24, 2024: In the 2016 presidential campaign, then-candidate Donald Trump visited Little Haiti in Miami at the invitation of late Haitian immigrant and Republican Bernard Sansaricq. Trump promised the Haitian-American community that his administration would address their concerns and that he would be their “greatest champion.” Fast forward to today, and Haitians’ story about Trump reveals a grim reality — one of empty promises and, now, racist attacks.
Sansaricq, to his credit, eventually saw through Trump’s facade. Before his death, he wrote an open letter denouncing the Trump administration, saying: “The gangs now have complete control of the country and for three and a half years under the Trump presidency the situation has worsened both politically and economically – corruption is the law .on earth…Haiti, once the Pearl of the Caribbean, is now worse than Somalia.”
It’s hard to forget that, just two years after pledging to support Haitians, Trump claimed that Haitian immigrants “all have AIDS” and referred to Haiti as a “sh-hole” country. In 2017, he revoked the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti. And yet, despite these scandalous actions, Trump continues to enjoy some support from Haiti.
Enter Madgie Nicolas, who directs the current iteration of Haitians for Trump. Nicolas touts her credentials on her Instagram profile as a “former advisor to the 45th President” and Chair of Haitians for Trump. She recently organized a rally for Trump in Florida and claims to have been involved in several political campaigns, serving as a nominee and surrogate for Black Voices for Trump.
But today, as MAGA nativists and proponents of the Grand Replacement Theory launch vile campaigns against Haitian immigrants, Nicolas and her followers have remained conspicuously silent. The latest wave of racist rhetoric has erupted in Springfield, Ohio, a predominantly white city and the home state of Republican US Senator JD Vance, who has seized on a baseless and inflammatory claim targeting Haitian immigrants.
The allegations began with a local Facebook post by Springfield resident Erika Lee, who falsely claimed a cat was found hanging from a tree, butchered and eaten by Haitian immigrants. This grotesque lie was quickly amplified by the neo-Nazi group Blood Tribe, which organized an “anti-Haitian Immigration march” in Springfield on August 10. The group marched with swastikas and used the incident to spread their hatred.
Not surprisingly, Vance took to X (formerly Twitter) to reinforce the lie, stating that Haitian immigrants were “causing chaos” in Springfield. He went further, claiming that people’s pets were being kidnapped and eaten by Haitians.
Other prominent figures joined in, including Sen. Ted Cruz, who posted a meme on X depicting cats begging people to vote for Trump “so the Haitian immigrants don’t eat us.” Even Elon Musk and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene jumped in, spreading more inflammatory memes.
Then, on September 10, Trump himself took the rhetoric of hate to a new level during a debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, declaring: “They’re eating dogs. They are eating cats. They are eating the pets of the people who live there.” These baseless allegations have prompted bomb threats against a Springfield school and city hall and damaged the reputation of the Haitian Community Assistance and Support Center, a nonprofit organization created to support new arrivals from Haiti.
In the face of these wild and dangerous lies, Nicolas has remained silent – unlike Sansaricq, who had the courage to admit that Haitians had been deceived. Instead, Nicolas has previously dismissed Trump’s racist attacks, calling them part of “a dirty war” and accusing Democrats of “playing the victim.”
Trump, not satisfied with the damage already done, added to his attacks on September 12. He called Haiti a “completely failed country” and claimed Haitian immigrants were “destroying” Springfield, Ohio.
“This was a beautiful community and now it’s terrible what’s happened,” Trump declared at a rally in Tucson, Arizona, even going so far as to claim that 911 calls confirmed that Haitian immigrants were “getting away with the geese.” of the city”.
The rhetoric being used is a clear echo of the dangerous Great Replacement Theory (GRT), a racist narrative that claims that the nation’s greatness is threatened by an influx of foreign races, ethnicities or religions. Throughout history, GRT has been used to justify mass atrocities. Hitler propagated it in his genocidal quest against Jews and black soldiers in Europe. In the US, it has inspired mass murders such as the Charleston church shooting in 2015 and the El Paso Walmart massacre in 2019.
Trump’s latest attacks put a dangerous bull’s eye on the backs of Haitian immigrants across the country. The silence from Nicolas and Haitians about Trump only serves to fuel the fire. One cannot help but wonder: is this the victim, as Nicolas claims, or is this the evil ideology of the Grand Replacement Theory?
It’s time for Nicolas and others who have supported Trump to take a stand — because history has shown us that this kind of rhetoric can quickly lead to tragic consequences.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Felicia J. Persaud is the publisher of NewsAmericasNow.com, a daily news paper focused on positive news about the Black Caribbean and Latin American immigrant communities.
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