The false narrative of immigrants eating pets has a long, racist history going back at least to the 1800s, according to experts. First used against immigrants of Asian descent, most recently it has been used against Haitian immigrants in Ohio.
“My first thought was: Here we go again,” said Anita Mannur, director of American University’s Asia, Pacific and Diaspora Studies program. “This is a trope we’ve seen time and time again that is used to ‘other’ people of color (and) new immigrants,” according to the Washington Post.
“One of the ways to vilify Asian Americans was to cast them as ‘other’ through these imagined eating habits: that they were supposedly eaters of cats or dogs or rats,” Mannur said. “So that’s what Trump is doing,” she added, “painting this image that Haitian immigrants in Ohio are coming after your pets. It doesn’t really matter whether they eat them or not. There’s still now this perceived threat.”
Fear and disgust over immigrant foods has a long history in America. Italians were once upon a time labeled as “garlic eaters”. Writer Gustavo Arellano has written about how the staple diet of beans led to a slur against Mexicans.
“The dog-eating stereotype has historically been utilized to belittle Asians and Asian immigrants,” writes Jean Rachel Bahk in the Inlandia literary journal. “I was incessantly pestered about whether the meat in the side dishes I brought for lunch was dog meat” she recalls about her own childhood.
Ohio Gov. DeWine Mike debunked the Trump-Vance migrant conspiracy on ABC this weekend. “This discussion about Haitians eating dogs, it’s just not helpful. And again, these people are here legally. They’re here legally, and they want to work, and they are, in fact, working … What the companies tell us is that they are very good workers. They’re very happy to have them there, and frankly, that’s helped the economy.”
On Sunday, vice-presidential nominee JD Vance told CNN reporter Dana Bash: “The American media totally ignored this stuff until Donald Trump and I started talking about cat memes. If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do.” When Bash pushed back on Vance, saying he “just said you’re creating the story,” Vance doubled down, claiming that Kamala Harris’s policies allowed “20,000 illegal immigrants into Springfield.” The Haitians who have moved to Springfrield arrived after being admitted to the United States legally under a program that grants them temporary protected status because of the violence and chaos in their home country.
Russell Jeung, a professor of Asian American Studies at San Francisco State University, told USA Today that these negative stereotypes have consequences. Jeung, a co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate, a nonprofit that combats racism and racial injustice targeting Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, also said: “It benefits politicians to create fear and it benefits them to identify scapegoats. They’re easy targets … bullies pick on those who are easy to attack.”
The false and damaging narrative of Haitian immigrants eating pets has real consequences. As detailed by my Deseret News colleague, Sam Benson, here is some of the fallout in Springfield: On Thursday, Springfield’s city hall was evacuated due to bomb threats, as were several other buildings, including an elementary school. On Friday, two elementary schools were evacuated due to bomb threats and a middle school was closed, and some Haitian families sheltered in place for their safety. On Saturday, two local hospitals were forced into lockdown. On Sunday, a Springfield college canceled all on-campus activities after a shooting threat, and another local college announced its classes would be held online for the next week. On Monday, the city’s annual celebration of diversity, arts and culture was canceled, for the “safety of our residents and visitors.”
In Utah, Roody Salvator, operator of a food truck ”Makaya Caters” in Salt Lake City that features Haitian food, has felt the impact of the negative comments. He has seen a sharp dip in the sales at his truck and on Saturday, had someone approach the food truck and ask if he were serving cat or dog. “Haitian food is full of rich flavors, love, and tradition, and it’s sad to see misinformation influencing how people perceive us,” he wrote on Facebook. The unfair portrayal is “not the best of America, definitely is not the best of Utah,” he told KSL. “Racism and bigotry have no room in the state, in the country, in the world.”
Trent Mano and Scott Wessman have invited Salvator to bring his truck to Kiln in Lehi on Friday from 12-2 and have invited the community to show up in support of the Haitian community.
Originally published in the Deseret News
