Horrible Harris and Donald Trump’s there is no doubt about the point that attracted the most attention in Tuesday’s election debate.
It was Trump’s inconceivable claim that Haitians were eating Americans’ pets in Springfield, Ohio.
During the live broadcast, the host immediately corrected Trump’s claim.
Officials in the city of Springfield had not come to the knowledge of a single incident where pets were treated badly by immigrants.
But where does this claim propagated by Republican politicians really come from?
In the background, there are many different false rumors that conservatives and the extreme right have spread on social media, reveal the US newspapers of The Washington Post (WP) and of The New York Times (NOW) statements.
Anonymous claim on Facebook
The claim about immigrants eating pets probably originated from a private Facebook group from Springfield, WP says.
An anonymous person posted a claim in the group that his friend’s daughter’s cat was “hung from a branch like a deer before slaughter, and they cut it up to eat it.”
The author of the update referred to a house where Haitian immigrants live.
In addition, he said that Haitians have done the same to ducks and geese and claimed to have heard about it from the police and game wardens.
A screenshot of the publication started to spread nationwide on social media. The very next day, the conservative X-account “End Wokeness” shared an update.
– Springfield is a small town in Ohio. Four years ago, the city had 60,000 inhabitants. Under Harris and Biden, 20,000 Haitian immigrants were transported to the city. Now ducks and pets are disappearing, the account wrote along with the update.
The update was seen by almost 5 million people in four days.
A black woman was accused of being a cat killer
On Monday, Springfield police announced that they have no reliable information about immigrants hurting pets.
However, a video in which a black woman allegedly kills a cat and eats it immediately went viral on social media.
A right-wing X-user claimed the woman was a Haitian living in Springfield. In reality, the woman was from the United States and the incident happened in the city of Canton, Ohio.
In the end, the woman was also not found guilty of animal cruelty.
Another widely circulated update featured a photo of a black man carrying a dead goose.
That picture wasn’t from Springfield either, and there’s no indication that the person in the picture is Haitian.
However, far-right accounts began circulating the image over the weekend, claiming it shows a Haitian immigrant in Springfield.
By Monday, more than 150 right-wing influencers and 23 Republican politicians had shared it.
In the background, racism and the real problems of immigration
Experts interviewed by the Washington Post believe that the allegations spread so effectively because they were accompanied by pictorial evidence.
The claim also supports the narrative widely spread on the far right that people in developing countries are different from Americans.
In practice, the argument is meant to paint a picture of Haitians as people who are primitive and barbaric and therefore not welcome in America. This reinforces already existing racist prejudices about Haitians.
In addition, the spread of rumors was accelerated by cat pictures, which spread easily on social media.
For example, a Republican senator Ted Cruz shared a cat photo on his X account.
– Vote for Trump so that Haitian immigrants don’t eat us, the text of the picture says.
However, the real problems of immigration also have an effect in the background.
In a few years, an estimated 20,000 Haitians fleeing unrest and violence in their homeland have arrived in the small town of Springfield.
Haitians have been well employed in the city and have brought economic activity to the community, says NOW.
On the other hand, according to the newspaper, a large number of newcomers have tested the carrying capacity of the city’s housing market, schools and healthcare.
The city’s regular population has been upset about the Haitians, which is apt to fuel baseless rumors about them.
The Haitian community has been shocked by the allegations.