A resident of Springfield, Ohio, posted on Facebook a fake news about Haitians that supposedly eat pets, which unleashed a wave of disinformation which became conspiracy theory.
The publication of Erika Lee contributed to a national frenzy, amplified in political debates. Now, Lee has expressed his repentance for what happened and assures that he never intended to spread hatred.
The community Haitian has felt attacked, and the city has received threatswhich led to the closure of schools. According to an article published by NBC News, Lee had no direct knowledge of the incident and is now filled with repentance and fear due to the consequences.
- “It just blew up and turned into something I didn’t want.” that happened“Erika Lee told NBC News on Friday.
The publication that generated the conflict supposedly talked about a cat neighbor that disappeared; the neighbor He told Lee that he thought the cat had been the victim of an attack by his neighbors. Haitians.
- Newsguard, an organization that monitors the disinformation in Internetdiscovered that Lee was one of the first to post a message about the rumorscreenshots of which circulated online.
Neighbor Kimberly Newton told Newsguard that the publication from Lee in Facebook did not reflect its history correctly and that the owner of the missing cat was “an acquaintance of a friend” rather than a friend of her daughter.
According to NBC News, Lee claimed he had no idea that his publication would become part of a rumor which would spread throughout the country. Since then, it has eliminated the publication of Facebook.
Other information false
According to the American media, other publications have also contributed to the accusations falseincluding a photo of a man holding a dead goose, taken in Columbus, Ohio, but which some spread online as evidence of the Springfield claims.
A graphic video of a woman allegedly killing and attempting to eat a cat was also found not to have originated in Springfield, but in Canton, Ohio, and has no connection to the community Haitian.
Local police and city officials have repeatedly said there is no evidence of such crimes in Springfield, but that hasn’t stopped the lies from spreading across the country and sparking a national frenzy that spilled over into the presidential debate stage this week.
Republican impulse
The former president Donald Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, who was born less than an hour from Springfield, have repeated the accusations unfounded. Lee told NBC News that he never imagined that his publication would become fodder for conspiracy theories and hate.
“I am not racist“she said with great emotion, adding that her daughter is half black and she herself is mixed race and a member of the community LGBTQ. “Everyone seems to be making it into that, and that wasn’t my intention.”
Lee said she pulled her daughter out of school and is now worried about her security with all the attention focused on his family. He is also concerned about the security of the community Haitianwhich he claims he had no intention of demonizing en masse.
“I feel sorry for the community Haitian“he said. “If I were in the position of the Haitians“I would also be terrified, worried that someone would come after me because they think I’m harming something they love, and, again, that’s not what I was trying to do.”
Migrant advocates
The groups of defense of immigrants have pointed out that such statements can be dangerous.
“The community Haitian-American from Springfield, Ohio, and across the country feels attacked and unsafe because at the levels higher “Dehumanizing, discredited, racist conspiracies are being floated throughout American politics and continue to be repeated,” Vanessa Cardenas, executive director of America’s Voice, a nonprofit that advocates for immigration reform, said in an email.
“I didn’t think I would ever get any further “beyond Springfield”Lee said.
