‘Nobody’s eating cats. Nobody’s eating dogs.’ John Legend says Haitian immigrants deserve grace

‘We all just want to live and flourish and raise our families in a healthy and safe environment,’ Springfield native John Legend

Editor’s note: Springfield native John Legend, an international acclaimed performer, took to social media Sept. 12 to address backlash against Haitian immigrants promoted by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and his running mate, U.S. Sen. JD Vance of Middletown. His statement is below.

My name is John Legend, and I was born as John. R Stevens from a place called Springfield, Ohio. Springfield, Ohio — you may have heard of Springfield, Ohio, this week.

In fact, if you watch the debate, we were discussed by our presidential candidates, including a very special, interesting man named Donald J. Trump.

Now, Springfield has had a large influx of Haitian immigrants who come to our city.

Now, our city had been shrinking for decades. We didn’t have enough jobs. We didn’t have enough opportunity so people left and went somewhere else.

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So, when I was there, we had upwards of 75,000 people and in the last five years we were down to like 60,000 people. 

But of late, during the Biden administration, there have been more jobs that opened up. More manufacturing jobs, more plants, factories that needed employees and were ready to hire people.

So, we had a lot of job opportunities, and we didn’t have enough people in our town of 60,000 people to fill those jobs.

And during the same time, there has been upheaval and turmoil in Haiti. The federal government granted visas and immigration status to a certain number of Haitian immigrants so they could come to our country legally.

Our demand in Springfield for additional labor met up with the supply of additional Haitian immigrants and here we are.

We had about 15,000 or so immigrants move to my town of 60,000.You might say, wow, that’s a lot of people for a town that only had 60,000 before. That’s a 25% increase.

That is correct.

So you might imagine there are some challenges with integrating a new population.

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No ‘roasted Fluffy.’ Haitians aren’t eating cats in Springfield. Vance is a liar.

New language, new culture, new dietary preferences. All kinds of reasons why there might be growing pains.

Making sure there are enough services to accommodate the new, larger population that might need bilingual service providers, etc. etc.

So, there are plenty of reasons why this might be a challenge for my hometown.

But the bottom line is these people came to Springfield because there were jobs for them and they were willing to work. 

They wanted to live the American dream, just like your German ancestors, your Irish ancestors, your Italian ancestors, your Jewish ancestors. Your Jamaican ancestors, your  Polish ancestors –  all these ancestors who moved to this country.

Maybe not speaking the language that everyone else spoke.

Maybe not eating the same foods.

Maybe having to adjust.

Maybe having to integrate.

But all coming because they saw opportunity for themselves and their families in the American dream.

And they came here to do that.

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 Some facts about immigrants. They usually do very well here.

They are hard working.

They are ambitious.

They commit less crime than native born Americans, and they will assimilate and integrate in time, but it takes time.So I think all of us need to have the same kind of grace that we would want our ancestors to have when they moved here with our Haitian brothers and sisters.

Nobody’s eating cats.

Nobody’s eating dogs.

We all just want to live and flourish and raise our families in a healthy and safe environment.

How about we love one another? I grew up in the Christian tradition we said to love our neighbor as we love ourselves and treat strangers as though they might be Christ.

So, how about we adopt that ethos when we talk about immigrants moving to our communities and don’t spread hateful, xenophobic, racist lies about them.

John R. Stevens from Springfield signing off.