Help! Love, MOM

Again – Haitians and Haitian Americans , including, of course, their children bear a heavy burden of American prejudice.

Indeed, children all over the world are shouldering heavy burdens at this time in history.

For example, the world was horrified both by the images and the reality of October 7th: Israeli adults, young persons and children brutalized, kidnapped, killed.

Now it is mostly Gaza’s children who are being grossly harmed: bombed, sustaining injuries, in some cases, on a similar level as front-line soldiers. The images are heartbreaking.

Government “sideliners” have taken sides — that is, given their opinions as to who is more at fault: Israel or Hamas. However, no matter your political beliefs, arguably, neither Jewish or Palestinian children, initiated the war.

But, in this gauntlet, neither Israeli, nor Palestinian children, whether Hamas involved or not, can win this real-life war game.

In other conflicts as well, it appears, that children’s welfare, well-being and wellness are, wholly, dismissed.

I am thinking of the little spoken of war in Sudan, tragically, a third Sudanese Civil War, if you will. This latest civil war began in 2023. Its onset blindsided most.

The charity, Save the Children, deems Sudanese youth as, “children on the front line” . They cite many tens of thousands of children “displaced” due to the war.

Displaced is such a neat, normal word.

However, practically, in terms of war, “displaced” means that Sudanese children, who, like young Gazans, are innocent of causing their country’s unrest, are, nevertheless;

unschooled,

unhoused,

searching for safety while in harm’s way,

harassed,

violated by the violent,

isolated,

injured,

orphaned,

exhausted,

separated,

starving,

sick,

sad,

silenced as a direct result of the war.

Forgotten – certainly by their country and, seemingly, the world. Currently, about 3.3 million Sudanese children have been “displaced.”

Meanwhile, in Springfield, Ohio, a wave of, largely legal, Haitian immigrants and their children are helping to revitalize that city’s economy through employment in various kinds of industries in many settings including factory jobs, and by opening businesses far away from the heavy upheavals in Haiti.

Still, these hard-working people have also been visited by an old, American violence deployed against them: rabid rumors.

A local Springfield, Ohio woman, Erika Lee, posted to Facebook her friend’s claim that a pet had been ” the victim of an attack by her Haitian neighbors.”

Perhaps predictably, this lie quickly gained traction becoming a part of this election cycle when in a Dana Bash/CNN interview of the Republican vice presidential candidate, Senator J. D. Vance widened the exposure of the baseless prejudicial claim against legal Haitian immigrants. He repeated the lie that they were capturing and consuming household pets among other animals.

Erika Lee, has both expressed remorse, if not apology, and has deleted the original Facebook post. To date, to my knowledge, Senator Vance has not apologized for his acknowledged “created” story.

Following Senator Vance’s lies Springfield, Ohio and Haitians in particular have received multiple bomb threats, schools have closed in response to the menace. In addition, with violence threatened against the Haitian immigrants, along with the town being in a national spotlight, reporters from all over the country have descended.

Further, Senator Marco Rubio and others have, I think, understandably raised the issue of the strain that a rapid influx of new people has had on the local economy of Springfield.

Springfield official, Mayor Rue along with the mayors of much larger, better resourced cities, struggle and often resist the financial and cultural strain of sudden, large waves of immigrants.

City leaders struggle to cobble together the funding needed to adequately support newcomers’ successful transition and appropriate assimilation into the culture while maintaining the services that long term residents enjoy, expect and paid good money in taxes to receive.

City services strain to create and maintain crowded classrooms and hospitals. Brittle budgets, unable to bear the weight of the needs of the newly arrived sometimes provide the first log of the rumor wildfire.

There are plenty of other “logs” in this toxic conflagration. Just three of them include:

–Inhumane treatment as witnessed when Haitians attempting to cross into the US were whipped and pushed back in to the Rio Grande by Border Patrol agents on horseback;

–Haitians, more than other nationalities trying to enter America, suffered systemic racism in the form of mass deportations and expulsions under Title 42 of a 1944 public health law.

For example, one of the most virulent and persistent lies against Haitians is that they are a public health threat BECAUSE they are Haitian.

–Haitians tend to receive little support to navigate and understand the asylum-seeking system.

However, the bible is clear, children, all children are a gift, a treasure, precious in the sight of God.

–Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him. Psalm 127:3 (NLT)

Children are welcomed by God the Son, Jesus, the Christ, to come into His presence. They have, as it were, an “open and endless” invitation from Him.

–But Jesus said, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children.” Matthew 19:14 (NLT)

When will America recognize what God has already stated: God loves all the children. When will Christians follow our Lord Jesus and love in our heart and with our hands to help the singled out and maligned.

I am happy to use my platform to stand in support for Haitians and other oppressed groups. I believe that my Lord Jesus would have me to live out my faith in this manner, to exalt the name of Jesus by speaking up and out for all who are oppressed and to answer anyone who asks why am I a Christian.

To my Haitian brothers and sisters in particular and to all who are oppressed: may the LORD prepare a table for you in the presence of your enemies.

Se Verite (URBAN: Facts! // STANDARD: It’s the Truth)

Kimberly