Commissioner Flax Wilt: “Stop feeding the fear”

In the immediate aftermath of Vance and Trump’s despicable comments about Haitians, community leaders — including a Republican elected official — denounced them.

According to the Associated Press, “A ‘Welcome To Our City’ sign hangs from a parking garage [in] downtown [Springfield], where a coffee shop, bakery and boutique line Springfield's main drag, North Fountain Street. A flag advertising ‘CultureFest,’ the city's annual celebration of unity through diversity, waves from a pole nearby.”

Melanie Flax Wilt, the Republican Commissioner of Clark County — where Springfield is located — has been asking locals to “stop feeding the fear. After the election and everybody’s done using Springfield, Ohio, as a talking point for immigration reform, we are going to be the ones here still living through the challenges and coming up with the solutions,” she added.

Said Chris Hazel, a long-time resident of Springfield said the politicians’ accusations are “Preposterous. It reminds me of when people used to accuse others and outsiders as cannibals. It’s dehumanizing a community.”

Ariel Dominique with the Haitian American Foundation for Democracy said, “It is so unfair and unjust and completely contrary to what we have contributed to the world, what we have contributed to this nation for so long.”

Sophia Pierrilus, a Haitian-American leader in Columbus, said, “My view is that’s their way to use Haitians as a scapegoat to bring some kind of chaos in America.”

“The Haitian immigrants who started moving to Springfield the last few years are the reason why the economy and the labor force has been revitalized there,” said Guerline Jozef, executive director of the Haitian Bridge Alliance.