"Ohio Woman Says She Regrets Sharing False Rumor About Haitians on Facebook"

The woman has since deleted the post claiming that one of her Haitian neighbors
might have taken a neighbor’s cat. But it took on a life of its own.

By Kevin Williams
Sept. 17, 2024

When Erika Lee wrote the Facebook post, it was just another summer day in
Springfield, Ohio.

It was before the city got dragged into the presidential race, before former
President Donald J. Trump stoked debunked rumors that Haitian immigrants were
abducting and eating household pets, and before an ensuing wave of bomb threats
upended life in the town of about 60,000.

Ms. Lee had heard that a neighbor’s cat had disappeared and that one of their
Haitian neighbors might have taken the animal, so she posted the rumor on
Facebook. But then she decided to go back to her neighbor.

“I asked her for proof,” Ms. Lee said.

It turned out the cat that had supposedly gone missing wasn’t the cat of a
neighbor’s daughter, as Ms. Lee had posted. And if there were such a cat, it
belonged to a friend of a friend of the neighbor’s daughter, Ms. Lee learned.

“And at that point, we are playing the game of telephone,” said Ms. Lee, who
said she had no information herself about any abducted cats.

She has since deleted the post, but it had taken on a life of its own —
eventually finding its way into the right-wing echo chamber, where it was picked
up by Mr. Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, who grew up in Middletown, about 40
miles from Springfield.

Then, last week, during the presidential debate with Vice President Kamala
Harris, Mr. Trump repeated the rumor, using it to drag Springfield into the
national debate over immigration. “In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs,” he
said. “The people that came in. They’re eating the cats. They’re eating —
they’re eating the pets of the people that live there.”

Ms. Lee, 35, says she now regrets writing the Facebook post and feels bad about
the racially charged fallout that has consumed the city for days.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/17/us/springfield-haitians-pets-facebook-rumor.html

It's nothing but urban legend, and an old and typically racist urban legend at that.

An American Urban Legend

Long before Springfield residents, neo-Nazis and others spread rumors about
Haitians, other Americans told tales of immigrants eating pets. “Do not too
easily accept the statement . . . that Asian refugees barbecue pet dogs here
‘all the time,’” wrote Jan Harold Brunvand, professor emeritus at the
University of Utah, in 1986.

Brunvand identified stories from the 1980s about Asian refugees eating pets
that emerged in Salt Lake City, Utah, Stockton, California, Fairfax, Virginia
and elsewhere. “Evidence was supposedly found in garbage cans, and people had
heard about Vietnamese wanting to buy puppies or kittens to use for food,”
wrote Brunvand in his book The Mexican Pet, one of several books he authored
compiling folklore or urban legends. (Journalist Brandy Zadrozny found a 1987
article on the topic.)

Brunvand noted there is typically a racial element to the rumors. “These
examples of modern folklore are similar to earlier stories about pet remains
found in garbage cans behind Chinese restaurants.”

As if anticipating the current urban legend about Haitians and pets in
Springfield, Ohio, Brunvand writes, “Another common twist is the notion that
there has been a recent rash of missing pets in the community; the statistics
on such crimes, dug up by some enterprising reporter, usually prove to be
normal.”

In 1999, in a later book, Too Good To Be True, Brunvand described news
stories on allegations of immigrants eating pets: “These items are typical of
many similar articles that have appeared in the American press since
Southeast Asian refugees began arriving in large numbers during the 1970s and
‘80s. Vague rumors about disappearing pets, strange cooking odors, and
supposedly larger problems with pet-eating in another state—usually
California—are standard features of such stories.”

https://www.forbes.com/sites/stuartanderson/2024/09/15/blaming-immigrants-for-eating-pets-is-an-old-american-urban-legend/

The stories are *always* false. The latest one from Ohio is false. Vance lied.
But what else is new?

[Default] Rudy "Cunt Flaps" Canoza typed:

>"Ohio Woman Says She Regrets Sharing False Rumor About Haitians on Facebook"

>https://www.forbes.com/sites/stuartanderson/2024/09/15/blaming-immigrants-for-eating-pets-is-an-old-american-urban-legend/
>
>The stories are *always* false. The latest one from Ohio is false. Vance lied.
>But what else is new?

Maybe you could join up with your hero Hillary and get her jailed,
hmmmmm?

Hillary Clinton Suggests Posting Russian Propaganda Should Be A Crime
https://www.newsweek.com/hillary-clinton-spreading-russian-misinformation-crime-1954941

Klaus Schadenfreude wrote this copyrighted missive and expects royalties:

> Hillary Clinton Suggests Posting Russian Propaganda Should Be A Crime
>
> https://www.newsweek.com/hillary-clinton-spreading-russian-misinformation-crime-1954941

You scared, bro? :-D

--
<Tali> be vewwy vewwy qwuiet .. I'm huntin wuntime ewwos

[Default] Chris Ahlstrom <OFeem1987@teleworm.us> typed:

>Klaus Schadenfreude wrote this copyrighted missive and expects royalties:
>
>> Hillary Clinton Suggests Posting Russian Propaganda Should Be A Crime
>>
>> https://www.newsweek.com/hillary-clinton-spreading-russian-misinformation-crime-1954941
>
>You scared, bro? :-D

Hey, those regular paychecks are sweet!

Klaus Schadenfreude wrote:
> [Default] Chris Ahlstrom <OFeem1987@teleworm.us> typed:
>
>> Klaus Schadenfreude wrote this copyrighted missive and expects royalties:
>>
>>> Hillary Clinton Suggests Posting Russian Propaganda Should Be A Crime
>>>
>>> https://www.newsweek.com/hillary-clinton-spreading-russian-misinformation-crime-1954941
>>
>> You scared, bro? :-D
>
> Hey, those regular paychecks are sweet!
>
and they go up your bum

Klaus Schadenfreude wrote this copyrighted missive and expects royalties:

> [Default] Chris Ahlstrom <OFeem1987@teleworm.us> typed:
>
>>Klaus Schadenfreude wrote this copyrighted missive and expects royalties:
>>
>>> Hillary Clinton Suggests Posting Russian Propaganda Should Be A Crime
>>>
>>> https://www.newsweek.com/hillary-clinton-spreading-russian-misinformation-crime-1954941
>>
>>You scared, bro? :-D
>
> Hey, those regular paychecks are sweet!

:-D Good comeback!

--
It was a JOKE!! Get it?? I was receiving messages from DAVID LETTERMAN!!
YOW!!

In article <vcfdg9$6oih$1@dont-email.me>, OFeem1987@teleworm.us says...
>
> Klaus Schadenfreude wrote this copyrighted missive and expects royalties:
>
> > Hillary Clinton Suggests Posting Russian Propaganda Should Be A Crime
> >
> > https://www.newsweek.com/hillary-clinton-spreading-russian-misinformation-crime-1954941
>
> You scared, bro? :-D

You should be but you libs are are to well trained.

On Wed, 18 Sep 2024 12:12:52 -0700, Byker wrote:

> The stories are *always* false. The latest one from Ohio is false. Vance lied.
> But what else is new?

what's the big deal if they eat pets?

On 9/19/2024 10:52 AM, kami wrote:
> what's the big deal if they eat pets?

And when it's yours they eat?

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/09/springfield-resident-alleges-cat-stolen-chopped-up-haitian/

Springfield Resident Alleges Cat Stolen and ‘Chopped Up’ by Haitian
Neighbor in Disturbing Incident Reported to Police

A local resident in Springfield, Ohio alleged that her cat had been
stolen and mutilated by her Haitian neighbors, according to the police
report obtained by Oversight Project.

The report, filed on August 28, claims that the woman suspected her
neighbors of taking and dismembering her pet, with the remains allegedly
being left in their backyard.

According to the call detail report, Anna, the complainant, claimed her
cat had gone missing on August 24 and that she discovered suspicious
“meat” in her neighbor’s backyard, suspecting it was from her beloved pet.

YouTuber Tyler Oliveira traveled to Springfield, Ohio to investigate the
rumors of Haitians eating ducks, geese, and cats.

Tyler, whose YouTube channel has 6.7 million subscribers spent time in
Springfield speaking with locals about the Haitian community, and asking
them if they know of any Haitians eating dogs or cats.

The answers from the citizens were shocking. Numerous locals accused the
Haitians of eating the cats. One man said the cat lady down the street
used to have 50 cats and “now she’s lucky if she has five.”

Despite the orchestrated efforts to brush this story under the rug,
evidence is mounting that the practice of consuming pets among Haitian
migrants is not some far-fetched, xenophobic fantasy. In fact, it’s a
reality that even a Haitian publication, Haitian Report, has confirmed.

The Haitian Report itself acknowledges the tradition of eating cat meat
in Haiti. Contrary to the liberal media’s narrative, this is not some
wild conspiracy theory.

On Thu, 19 Sep 2024 11:03:23 -0600, citizen winston smith wrote:

> On 9/19/2024 10:52 AM, kami wrote:
>> what's the big deal if they eat pets?
>
> And when it's yours they eat?
>
>

long back i had a couple of pet budgies, or budgerigars for those
who dont know. one fine morning i fed them coriander and left the
door open by mistake and they flew away.

i have also kept fishes, so many of them died, why do they die so
easily? i had tetras and oscars and even those.... forgot their
name, lots of different fishes.

On 9/19/2024 11:15 AM, kami wrote:
> i had a couple of pet budgies

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/09/springfield-resident-alleges-cat-stolen-chopped-up-haitian/

Springfield Resident Alleges Cat Stolen and ‘Chopped Up’ by Haitian
Neighbor in Disturbing Incident Reported to Police

A local resident in Springfield, Ohio alleged that her cat had been
stolen and mutilated by her Haitian neighbors, according to the police
report obtained by Oversight Project.

The report, filed on August 28, claims that the woman suspected her
neighbors of taking and dismembering her pet, with the remains allegedly
being left in their backyard.

According to the call detail report, Anna, the complainant, claimed her
cat had gone missing on August 24 and that she discovered suspicious
“meat” in her neighbor’s backyard, suspecting it was from her beloved pet.

YouTuber Tyler Oliveira traveled to Springfield, Ohio to investigate the
rumors of Haitians eating ducks, geese, and cats.

Tyler, whose YouTube channel has 6.7 million subscribers spent time in
Springfield speaking with locals about the Haitian community, and asking
them if they know of any Haitians eating dogs or cats.

The answers from the citizens were shocking. Numerous locals accused the
Haitians of eating the cats. One man said the cat lady down the street
used to have 50 cats and “now she’s lucky if she has five.”

Despite the orchestrated efforts to brush this story under the rug,
evidence is mounting that the practice of consuming pets among Haitian
migrants is not some far-fetched, xenophobic fantasy. In fact, it’s a
reality that even a Haitian publication, Haitian Report, has confirmed.

The Haitian Report itself acknowledges the tradition of eating cat meat
in Haiti. Contrary to the liberal media’s narrative, this is not some
wild conspiracy theory.

citizen winston smith <sss@example.de> wrote in
news:vchm8f$kpi1$10@dont-email.me:

> On 9/19/2024 11:15 AM, kami wrote:
>> i had a couple of pet budgies
>
>
> https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/09/springfield-resident-alleges-c
> at-stolen-chopped-up-haitian/
>
> Springfield Resident Alleges Cat Stolen and ‘Chopped Up’ by
> Haitian Neighbor in Disturbing Incident Reported to Police
>
> A local resident in Springfield, Ohio alleged that her cat had been
> stolen and mutilated by her Haitian neighbors, according to the police
> report obtained by Oversight Project.
>
> The report, filed on August 28, claims that the woman suspected her
> neighbors of taking and dismembering her pet, with the remains
> allegedly being left in their backyard.
>
> According to the call detail report, Anna, the complainant, claimed
> her cat had gone missing on August 24 and that she discovered
> suspicious “meat” in her neighbor’s backyard, suspecting it was
> from her beloved pet.
>
> YouTuber Tyler Oliveira traveled to Springfield, Ohio to investigate
> the rumors of Haitians eating ducks, geese, and cats.
>
> Tyler, whose YouTube channel has 6.7 million subscribers spent time in
> Springfield speaking with locals about the Haitian community, and
> asking them if they know of any Haitians eating dogs or cats.
>
> The answers from the citizens were shocking. Numerous locals accused
> the Haitians of eating the cats.

And numerous locals accused five
teenage girls in Salem of killing
their livestock.

That is proof enough, right?