During a presidential debate Sept. 10, Donald Trump repeated false and damaging comments that had been spread by neo-Nazis about Haitians living in Springfield, Ohio that brought the community into the national spotlight.
Many Haitians who are gathering in Indianapolis May 1-3 to attend the first Haitian Community Summit held in the Midwest say the falsehoods are still causing harm.
The summit at Indy Global Village, which until now has been held yearly on the east coast, is focused on empowering Haitian communities throughout the country. The summit offers economic, political and social strategies, including for how to deal with disinformation and misinformation, to help them thrive in the United States.
Viles Dorsainvil, one of the 10,000 Haitian immigrants who live in Springfield, said the claims immediately made life more difficult for the Haitians living there. Many emigrated due to chaos in the country caused by the assassination of the Haitian president in 2021.
“They left Haiti because of all the chaos of things happening there and came to Springfield with the hope to find a place to stay to work and to send the kids to school, and all of a sudden they found themselves in that situation,” he said.
The city and school district in Springfield received bomb threats and threatening emails for allowing the immigrants to live there. Springfield officials said a neo-Nazi group was behind it — the same one that claimed credit for the rumor Trump spread at the debate.
Dorsainvil, who serves as the executive director of the Haitian Support Center in Ohio, said the experience was awful, but it helped reinforce the fact that a support network of Haitians existed to help others in need.
“The signal was sent that the Haitian community in Springfield was not alone in that fight,” he said. “Our community is stronger than they think.”
Why Indianapolis?
Instead of choosing cities with the largest Haitian immigrant populations — such as Miami, New York or Boston — the event’s sponsor, the Haitian Times, selected Indianapolis to host the summit.
That’s because Indiana and other Midwestern states have experienced a boom of Haitian migrants. Indianapolis is home to between 20,000 and 30,000 Haitian immigrants, according to the Haitian Association of Indiana.
According to Haitian Times Special Projects Editor Macollvie Neel, the boom is due to Haitians going where the jobs are.
“During the pandemic, there was an unemployment shortage, so it seemed to make sense for the newcomers to come to places like Indianapolis, where there were jobs and where they had some community that already kind of existed to help them get a toehold in,” she said.
Organizations like the Haitian Association of America help new residents find places like churches, restaurants and even barber shops that cater to Haitian Americans.
More on Indy’s Hatian Community
The summit helps long-established Haitian communities share ideas and experiences with newer communities. Both, Neel said, have a lot to learn from each other.
Neel’s family migrated to Brooklyn in the 1980s. But the newest generation of Haitian immigrants faces new sets of challenges the older generation didn’t —- things like social media disinformation. The newer generation is also more ingrained in the wider community and interacts more with non-Haitians.
Neel said established Haitian communities can help new ones better learn how to deal with challenges like finding services, immigration support and translation support. But the newer communities also have a lot to teach.
“For us older communities, there’s a lot to learn from them about how they are able to engage with everyday people and be so swift in responding to them and their challenges and how to battle misinformation and disinformation,” she said.
Mayor Joe Hogsett addresses summit
Mayor Joe Hogsett told those at the summit that more than 100,000 immigrants from 76 countries call the city home, and events like this are important to make sure new residents are able to flourish in the city.
“We appreciate what all of you are doing for our Haitian population and for Haitian immigrants everywhere,” he said. “Your work is indeed God’s work here on earth, so I thank you.”
But the successful integration of Haitian immigrants in other Indiana cities has drawn the ire of anti-immigrant residents. In Logansport and Evansville, some residents claimed the influx of immigrants put a strain on local services and made them feel unsafe.
“We’ve almost done a little bit too well, and you have the resentment that sets in,” Neel said. “We’re extremely hard working no matter what wave of immigration we came in. It ruffles feathers, but it also inspires us to continue to make sure we have each other’s backs no matter where we are across the country.”
Dorsainvil said sharing information and experiences at the summit is especially important during Trump’s second administration, when a few words can make neighbors turn on a population.
“I think (Indianapolis’ Haitians) are experiencing the same situation as us. The only difference is that we’ve been in the spotlight,” Dorsainvil said. “I think the Haitian Summit is a very good thing (where we can) share and learn from each other, create connections, develop friendships and make sure that the community stays strong.”
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Mirror Indy reporter Enrique Saenz covers west Indianapolis. Contact him at 317-983-4203 or enrique.saenz@mirrorindy.org. Follow him on Bluesky at @enriquesaenz.bsky.social.
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