Newswise — Colleges and universities in Springfield, Ohio canceled activities and moved to remote instruction Sunday after receiving threats of violence tied to false claims about the city's Haitian immigrants. According to USA Today, it comes after a series of threats against government offices, schools, hospitals, and other facilities in the city, all stemming from former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, when they shared misinformation about immigrants in the city stealing and eating pets.
Now, Sen. Vance is doubling down on his unsubstantiated comments that Haitian migrants are eating their neighbors’ pets “to draw attention to the Biden-Harris immigration policies,” The Washington Post reports.
If you would like more context on this matter, please consider Jon Lewis, a research fellow at the Program on Extremism at the George Washington University. He studies domestic terrorism, with a specialization in the evolution of white supremacist and anti-government movements in the United States and federal responses to the threat. Lewis can discuss how harmful it is that this language is used, how this rhetoric is dehumanizing and creates the conditions for individuals to find the justification for violence, and how it emboldens extremists.
If you would like to speak to Jon Lewis, please contact GW Media Relations Specialist Cate Douglass at [email protected].
-GW-
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