What's Good with New Americans

[00:00:15] Whats Good Ohio, I'm your host James Hayes and this is the Whats Good Ohio podcast where we talk to the activists, organizers, visionaries, and good troublemakers coming together to make our state better for everyone. No exceptions.

[00:00:29] My usual co-host Sarah Rodenberg is taking some much deserved time off so today I'm flying solo. I'll go ahead and tell you a little about what's good here at Ohio Voice.

[00:00:39] There's a lot. We're in the middle of election season. Election protection is running strong.

[00:00:45] And today we're going to be talking about the racist lies and the immigrant scapegoating that's been going on targeting the Haitian community in Springfield, Ohio.

[00:00:55] One of the things that we're doing in conjunction with a lot of our partners is launching a narrative intervention campaign,

[00:01:02] the hashtag oh no you don't, where we're calling out the racist lies and corrupt politicians who are peddling them.

[00:01:09] I'm trying to bring people together to build an Ohio for all. So please go check out oh no you don't dot org.

[00:01:16] There's a sign on letter of solidarity you can sign to indicate you're standing in solidarity with the Haitian community in Springfield and the immigrant communities across Ohio.

[00:01:26] Go check out the hashtag and if you feel like it, make a video yourself.

[00:01:31] Share a little about why you are standing against the racist lies.

[00:01:49] Recently, we've seen the city in our state get thrust into the international spotlight due to some vicious lies and hateful rumors from a certain vice presidential candidate who happens to be our very own U.S. Senator.

[00:02:01] The Haitian immigrant community in Springfield, Ohio has spent the last month at the center of this international firestorm and have had to deal with an influx of safety concerns,

[00:02:10] including school closures and canceled events due to bomb threats and extremist groups infiltrating the city.

[00:02:17] Yet, we've also seen some beautiful gestures of solidarity and community support pour in from Springfield residents,

[00:02:23] from Ohioans across the state, and also from people nationally and even internationally.

[00:02:28] Many people are working to make Ohio a safer home for people of all backgrounds.

[00:02:33] And today, we're honored to be joined by two of those community activists to share more about their experiences supporting immigrant communities and fighting for pro-human immigration policies.

[00:02:43] Sophia Pierre-Lou is a Haitian immigrant, small business owner, and the director of a nonprofit in Columbus, the New American Cultural Center,

[00:02:51] where she advocates for the Haitian community helping them find resources and become civically engaged.

[00:02:57] Lynn Tremonte is the director of Ohio Immigrant Alliance, a group of Ohio immigrants and citizens working together to protect the dignity and rights of all individuals who choose to make Ohio their home,

[00:03:09] regardless of race, religion, gender expression, age, ability, and citizenship status.

[00:03:15] Welcome, Lynn and Sophia.

[00:03:18] Thank you so much for inviting me this morning, James.

[00:03:20] It's a pleasure to be here.

[00:03:22] And thank you, everyone who's going to take the time to listen.

[00:03:25] Thank you.

[00:03:26] Yeah.

[00:03:27] Oh, for sure.

[00:03:27] Yeah.

[00:03:28] We are really, really grateful for you taking the time to join us.

[00:03:31] Obviously, everything that's been happening over this last month, y'all been in the middle of a whirlwind.

[00:03:35] But before we go too deep into all that, I was wondering if you could just share a little about yourself, what you do and what your connection to the community in Springfield is.

[00:03:43] Well, I am again, Sophia Piadus.

[00:03:47] I am in Columbus, Ohio.

[00:03:49] I have been very involved in the community for the past four years.

[00:03:54] When I started to see the influx of Haitians moving to Columbus.

[00:03:59] I've been advocating on their behalf and trying to get the resources for them, helping them transition from one state or one country to the next and having their voice.

[00:04:10] And I have a consulting business where I do consulting also with other entities in the city of Columbus who need help navigating or helping the Haitians.

[00:04:21] So that's why I come in.

[00:04:23] And also, I have NAC.

[00:04:25] That's my newborn baby.

[00:04:27] The New American Cultural Center where we work to advocate and also to find resources to help them navigate the healthcare system and everything else that they need, the new migrants needs.

[00:04:38] So only focus on Haitians is focused on all migrants.

[00:04:42] Awesome.

[00:04:42] And how did you come to doing this type of work?

[00:04:45] Like what brought you into this?

[00:04:48] My field, I graduated in physical therapy.

[00:04:51] I have been practicing therapy for a while.

[00:04:54] Four years ago, I went to a nasty divorce.

[00:04:57] Not nasty, I should say a divorce.

[00:04:59] I was married for 27 years when everything kind of, I decided to walk away from this.

[00:05:06] I needed a place to find peace and rest.

[00:05:09] And I studied already not too long before that happened.

[00:05:12] I was a part of the organization being part of nonprofit organizations fighting for the stability of our country, Haiti, based in New York City.

[00:05:20] So I was their secretary.

[00:05:22] Then I joined another organization where I was their PR, public relations director.

[00:05:28] And I became part of a PAC as well, advocating all for the benefit of Haiti.

[00:05:35] And in the meantime, when I started to see the Haitians coming to come and I went to that divorce.

[00:05:42] And that was my place of peace.

[00:05:44] My place to feel, I don't know, rest and giving back and stepping up and advocating and being the voice filled me up and actually make me feel whole again in the midst of me going to that separate that 27 years of divorce.

[00:06:02] So that's how I found my passion there.

[00:06:04] I found who I was there.

[00:06:06] I found my calling there.

[00:06:08] That's awesome.

[00:06:08] That's beautiful.

[00:06:10] Sophia, thank you so much for joining us again.

[00:06:12] And Lynn, thank you for taking time to be with us.

[00:06:15] Could you share a little bit about yourself, what you do and what your connection to Springfield is?

[00:06:20] Sure.

[00:06:20] My name is Lynn Tremonti.

[00:06:22] I'm the director of the Ohio Immigrant Alliance.

[00:06:25] Born and raised in Ohio, educated here.

[00:06:27] I grew up in a small town in the Akron suburbs.

[00:06:31] And my connection is to Springfield is the Springfield is Ohio.

[00:06:35] You know, we are a state that has some amazing people and some communities that have struggled with population loss and people moving on to bigger and better things.

[00:06:49] And also been blessed with an influx of people from other parts of the country and other parts of the world who are making Ohio their home.

[00:06:58] So at the Ohio Immigrant Alliance, we are a group of citizens and immigrants working together to make Ohio a better place for all of us.

[00:07:07] And, you know, we really embrace the idea that people would want to come to Ohio, set up their families here, build a life here.

[00:07:15] And whether that's in that Springfield or Perrysburg or Painesville, I think it's good for Ohio that we have newcomers bringing their energy ideas and work and commitment to this state.

[00:07:28] Awesome. Yeah, that was beautiful.

[00:07:30] To start off our conversation, Sophia, I was wondering if you could just paint the picture for us.

[00:07:35] What are some of the facts and stories that people should know about the Haitian community in Ohio?

[00:07:40] One thing, it's not...

[00:07:42] Haitians have been living in the United States for a long time, since the mid-20th centuries.

[00:07:48] And it's not recently that the Haitians have been coming here.

[00:07:52] And it's been recently that Ohio has been seeing so many Haitians, but I have been in Ohio back in the 19...

[00:08:01] You know, 1999, 1998.

[00:08:04] There were Haitians living here and working hard, opening businesses for a while.

[00:08:10] But Ohio has been seeing an influx of Haitians only because of the political instability in our country.

[00:08:17] And when they did discover that Ohio has better opportunity, economic opportunities than other states who already have influx of migrants from all work of life or for every other countries.

[00:08:32] So they came to Ohio because we have a lot of manufacturing here.

[00:08:37] Housing was cheaper, still cheaper than other states.

[00:08:41] And work opportunities, employment opportunities much better.

[00:08:43] So who would not want to move to Ohio?

[00:08:47] The focus is on Haitians, but we do have migrants from all works of life.

[00:08:51] We have Somali, we have Africans, we have Nigerians.

[00:08:55] We have a lot of migrants in Ohio.

[00:08:58] So Ohio is the place to be.

[00:09:00] And not only that, we love better economic opportunities where the Haitians can actually grow, work and also open their own businesses.

[00:09:10] That's why they are here.

[00:09:12] And that's what I can say.

[00:09:14] It's like, that's the opportunity that they find and they see.

[00:09:17] And of course, they're here to stay.

[00:09:18] I love that.

[00:09:19] Who wouldn't want to move to Ohio?

[00:09:21] I mean, that is the question.

[00:09:23] That is the most succinct way of putting this.

[00:09:25] Yeah, no.

[00:09:26] Right.

[00:09:27] There's a lot of good opportunities here.

[00:09:29] Right.

[00:09:30] Who wouldn't want to move here?

[00:09:31] Ohio is the place to be.

[00:09:32] I love it.

[00:09:33] And Lynn, you were talking about some of the work you've been doing with the Ohio Immigrant Alliance.

[00:09:36] I know you've been doing original research with black immigrants in Ohio for a while now.

[00:09:41] And this is so important because those experiences often go untracked, unreported, or often ignored during discussions about immigration policy.

[00:09:51] I was wondering if you could share some of that research or just kind of get an overview of some of the things that you learned or that might have foreshadowed how we got to where we find ourselves today.

[00:10:00] Oh, man.

[00:10:02] It's such a good question.

[00:10:03] So, you know, the official sources for data about people, census data, other government data, leaves out large sections of our communities.

[00:10:16] And I honestly think what's been going on in Springfield in a large part is about that inability to collect data so we can provide services.

[00:10:26] So there was a huge increase in Haitians moving to Springfield, because why not?

[00:10:30] As Sophie said.

[00:10:32] And it happened quickly.

[00:10:33] And the schools didn't necessarily have the infrastructure in place, the community needs.

[00:10:41] It's kind of all happening as the population's growing, right?

[00:10:46] So what we're doing is we're conducting research with black immigrants themselves to say, you know, what are your experiences?

[00:10:55] And publishing reports, we've published reports about what it's like to be in immigration jail as a black and Muslim immigrant in a county jail in Ohio, you know, where you're trying to battle your immigration case.

[00:11:11] And you're inside a confined environment with some guards who think there should be a race war and have never met a Muslim before.

[00:11:21] You know, what's that like?

[00:11:22] And it was so impressive because while people were in these really difficult circumstances, they came together.

[00:11:31] So there was a target against black Mauritanians who'd lived in the country for 20 years and suddenly they started being arrested by ICE during the Trump administration.

[00:11:42] They were showing up for their appointments, their immigration appointments and being arrested at the appointments.

[00:11:47] But they were trying to follow the rules, follow the law.

[00:11:50] And so what they did was they were arrested, but they created a strategy.

[00:11:54] They put their arms around each other and they made a bond.

[00:11:59] So, you know, they learned how to survive in the jail.

[00:12:02] They created their prayer moments and they organized themselves to protect each other against other inmates when they were being deported and they lost access to their phones to call their lawyers or call their families because they were their phone access was cut off.

[00:12:19] Other immigrants would call their family members and their lawyers and say, you know, so and so is being moved.

[00:12:25] And they even stood up to ICE in the parking lot of the Columbus airport and said, I'm not going.

[00:12:33] You will not force me onto that plane to the point that they were being beaten up by county corrections officers in the airport and ICE outside the airport.

[00:12:43] So it's like all of these stories and things that happened that you would never know about.

[00:12:48] So we just started publishing it because people told us we want people to know what's going on.

[00:12:54] We want them to know how we're being treated.

[00:12:57] And you know what they did?

[00:12:58] They ended up closing two ICE contracts with Ohio County jails because they spoke up, because they documented this abuse, because they exposed that the jails were not following COVID protocols and that the Morro County jail became 100 percent COVID positive.

[00:13:15] It was the first jail in the country to become 100 percent COVID positive.

[00:13:20] And the sheriff and the county health district was saying that that's not true, that the immigrants were making this up.

[00:13:25] Everything they said turned out to be true.

[00:13:28] And we documented it all.

[00:13:30] And the ACLU of Ohio came in and they sued.

[00:13:34] And we had in Butler County, we had civil rights lawyers come in and sue because the corrections officers were beating up immigrants in the jail.

[00:13:42] And just think about how brave that is to for you to speak out and file a lawsuit while you're still in jail, knowing that you're going to be retaliated against, knowing that you could be deported as a consequence for speaking up.

[00:13:55] And so these brave people who exposed all of this, they closed these contracts.

[00:14:01] We reduced ICE detention capacity in Ohio 90 percent.

[00:14:06] It's actually hard to be detained now in Ohio as an immigrant for ICE, which means that fewer people are being taken from their families and fewer people are being deported.

[00:14:16] And so we have built this leadership group of people who, you know, they were activists in their home countries, too, and they knew how to handle power.

[00:14:25] And so when they were deported, they said, we still want to be involved.

[00:14:29] We want to be seen and heard.

[00:14:30] So my colleague, Miriam C., interviewed 255 people who were deported.

[00:14:36] Most were from Ohio, but they were from 22 states.

[00:14:39] They were deported to over 27 countries, most in Africa.

[00:14:44] Most were black Muslim immigrants.

[00:14:46] Most were men.

[00:14:47] These are experiences that you never read about in the news.

[00:14:51] You never hear about this.

[00:14:52] And she and her team were able to interview them in their most comfortable language because, by the way, they're super bilingual.

[00:14:59] They speak two, three, four languages.

[00:15:01] Right.

[00:15:01] It's a huge asset that we have just taken out of our state and sent to another country.

[00:15:08] But we published a book called Broken Hope about their experiences.

[00:15:12] And we're calling on Congress to create and the Biden administration to create paths for them to come back because their home is here.

[00:15:19] These are people who built their lives here.

[00:15:21] Then working with them and an ever expanding group, we also started doing research about how their immigration cases have happened in court.

[00:15:29] And so we're also exposing what happens.

[00:15:33] There's no media in immigration court.

[00:15:35] There's no like accounting of what happens in the public eye.

[00:15:40] So we started noticing trends about the way judges were approaching immigrants, basically saying that they were lying, assuming everybody's lying about their case.

[00:15:52] Judges would have these impossible standards for evidence.

[00:15:55] One man, he's a black Fulani refugee from Mauritania.

[00:16:00] His family was killed in front of him.

[00:16:02] And he has a birth certificate, which is actually rare.

[00:16:06] A lot of black Mauritanians don't never got a birth certificate, but he has one.

[00:16:10] And it says he was born in Nocchot.

[00:16:12] It doesn't say his race.

[00:16:13] It doesn't say his ethnicity.

[00:16:15] So the immigration judge says, well, I can't.

[00:16:19] You're not proving to me that you're black and that you're Fulani, which is a persecuted group.

[00:16:24] And I mean, what's he going to say?

[00:16:26] The man was just baffled.

[00:16:28] He's like, I'm right here.

[00:16:30] Like, look at me.

[00:16:31] I'm black.

[00:16:31] I'm speaking to you in Fulani.

[00:16:34] You know, so to the point where your own personal like your presence is not evidence.

[00:16:40] So anyway, so that's our project called Behind Closed Doors, where we're just taking people

[00:16:46] inside the immigration courts to show them about the way people are treated.

[00:16:50] It is racist.

[00:16:51] There's this huge power imbalance.

[00:16:54] And so what we're saying is, what do we do about that?

[00:16:56] Well, we need there's a lot of changes we can do to the immigration courts to make them fairer.

[00:17:01] But we also need to clean up this mess that was created.

[00:17:05] And so, for example, people were deported because judges made these decisions like that.

[00:17:11] So they should come home or people who were denied, you know, lost their asylum case in court for these horrible, racist reasons should have access to some sort of protection here if they're still here.

[00:17:23] There are things like temporary protected status.

[00:17:26] There are things like deferred action.

[00:17:28] And many of these people we're talking about actually have family members who could sponsor them for immigration visas.

[00:17:34] So if the system, the system needs to clean up, you know, all the damage it's done.

[00:17:40] And there are these tools that exist in immigration law to use them.

[00:17:44] But the federal government has to direct its agencies to clean up.

[00:17:49] So by publishing these experiences, this research, we're trying to draw attention to what happened.

[00:17:55] And we're calling on policymakers to take corrective action.

[00:17:59] Wow. Thank you for sharing so many of those stories.

[00:18:03] I want to make sure to include a link to the book about some of those resources you talked about so listeners can check it out themselves.

[00:18:10] Yeah, there's such a long history of targeting immigrant communities and scapegoating immigrant communities.

[00:18:16] And it was wild to see, you know, when we think about just over the last month, how fast these lies about the Haitian community in Springfield spread.

[00:18:26] But it is because there's like this culture of scapegoating immigrants, otherizing communities, not sort of respecting the diversity and the difference and the beauty that that brings.

[00:18:37] And, you know, just Sophia's point, like, why wouldn't we want people to move here? Why wouldn't people want to move here?

[00:18:42] This is, you know, such a great state and it can be so much better.

[00:18:46] But it's also because there's an intrinsic right wing network that amplified that misinformation at a rapid pace.

[00:18:51] We woke up just one morning after the debate and saw racist headlines and memes and tweets everywhere about Springfield.

[00:19:01] And Sophia, I was wondering if you could just share a little bit about like what was that first 48 hours like after everything went viral?

[00:19:09] What was your reaction? What were some of the conversations you were having with folks in your community?

[00:19:13] So they were facing Springfield with already facing discrimination, racial bias prior to that, when the senator spread their news all way before that.

[00:19:26] It wasn't that intense, though.

[00:19:28] But, however, when the debate I was a lot of our fellow Haitians were watching the debate because we were hoping that maybe even though the senator said something,

[00:19:40] maybe the former will not kind of say anything about that or will just kind of ease it because

[00:19:48] you know as i always say that when you're a leader you have a lot of followers people that

[00:19:54] believes in you and whatever you say will go so as the leader former president i thought that he

[00:20:01] was not gonna go there because um it's it's crazy crazy when i heard that the first thing i was like

[00:20:12] oh my god are you serious so i just was disgusted i just turned off my tv because to me i was like

[00:20:19] okay this is unbelievable and i have a lot of other fellow haitians told me the same thing we

[00:20:24] just like turn off the tv and go back to sleep just went to sleep but in the morning like we see all

[00:20:31] these things going on i was getting that of course and now it was more intense for the haitians because

[00:20:37] to me you're not only putting the life of haitians in danger you also it's also affecting other lives

[00:20:46] as well other migrants not even other migrants other black people it's not right because martin

[00:20:53] luther king and waza parks already did that for us and everyone is actually living a life where

[00:20:58] we all cooperate with each other even if there is some kind of racism you know sitting somewhere it

[00:21:06] doesn't really show because we are human and we all going to this life working this life or doing

[00:21:12] whatever we are doing you know without affecting anyone put anyone's life in danger so to me that

[00:21:19] was a big danger not only for the haitians community in springfield but of haitians everywhere

[00:21:24] because we became a target at that time and also it started something that's not supposed to be

[00:21:31] starting in america that we don't need and that puts our children's life in danger and everyone's

[00:21:37] life in danger so this is what it was very chaotic very scary for many haitians especially the ones who

[00:21:44] doesn't want to talk doesn't want to have a voice because they don't know their rights in america

[00:21:48] and also for our children that were affected by it you know about the bomb threats that happened in

[00:21:53] springfield i have family members their children refused to go to school because they were afraid

[00:21:59] one of the child that i know they called me to reach out to the school for them not only she was

[00:22:04] afraid because of the on threats but also she was very she felt uncomfortable because other kids are

[00:22:11] asking her about eating pets so imagine what that what can this do to a child that's traumatic especially

[00:22:18] a lot of haitians already been through period of trauma they've been traumatic since back home

[00:22:24] because that the political political instability they gain violence that's happening right now that

[00:22:30] going on and also going some of them they they for a better america they travel from country to

[00:22:38] country to country to come to america but why do they do that it's only because america sell themselves

[00:22:44] around the world as the land of opportunity i have the greatest place to be so any migrants living

[00:22:52] anywhere else you can live in brazil chile anywhere else if you're not in america you have not traveled

[00:22:59] you have not made it to the big opportunity place so that's the reason why many of them are always

[00:23:06] leaving chile brazil to come to america because they feel like okay that's the place that when i'm

[00:23:10] there i'm gonna make it to the top and yes america does provide that yes america does open the doors

[00:23:18] for so many different people from different walks of life to become the top of the top you know

[00:23:23] professionals intellectuals they have millionaires from different walks of life so why not again

[00:23:31] trying to come to america so now when you come to america and being deceived by other people

[00:23:38] and especially by the rhetoric that's been spreading by a former

[00:23:45] person so that is heartbreaking for everyone and this is very disturbing yeah no that makes a lot of

[00:23:51] sense i know in my generation well growing up there was this idea of the american dream and

[00:23:57] i think a lot of us had this moment where we we just became completely disillusioned with that

[00:24:02] narrative and that rhetoric but i know when i travel and i talk with folks and i travel outside

[00:24:06] of the u.s and i talk with folks and you know it's hard to convince them that the american dream is not

[00:24:12] not all it's not all it's made out to be and then the other side of that too is you know i we can get

[00:24:19] into the long history of the u.s involvement in countries like haiti nicaragua you know other places around

[00:24:25] the world and you talk about how you know of course there's opportunity here in in ohio but there's

[00:24:31] also instability at home and that is in large part being driven by u.s political interests and

[00:24:39] activities if i may say i did not want to go there please we are more than welcome i love america

[00:24:49] american haitian american i'm naturalized i've been here for a long time my kids are born here

[00:24:56] however

[00:24:58] we know corruptions is not only to a haitian only by haitians corruptions came to haiti by

[00:25:06] the outsiders because we have a lot of resources and until today i don't know what it is

[00:25:15] i felt like maybe we are paying the price for being the first black republic

[00:25:21] and it seems like everyone is against us and trying to make us pay the price because we

[00:25:27] abolish slavery and i don't think it's fair because one thing i'm gonna say if you don't want us here

[00:25:33] leave us alone leave our country alone allow us to be we move your hands or whatever you're doing

[00:25:41] from our country and we're not gonna come here because haiti is a great place to be we don't

[00:25:47] want to be in america because when i was growing up in haiti i have my chauffeur i have my mates

[00:25:54] okay my parents go to work if they have they have to go to because my dad is a attorney back home

[00:26:00] he was an actor an attorney and also he was a diplomat i came here in america as a diplomat

[00:26:06] because he was serving my country as a diplomat here so now why would i want to be in america

[00:26:12] why would i want to stay here in america when have my i don't have to even my food my breakfast lunch

[00:26:18] dinner even my water everything that i need i just call my maid and come and do it for me and i have a

[00:26:23] chauffeur that drives me around we have beautiful beaches we have beautiful the best and the top food

[00:26:29] ever have you ever this vacation food before you never want to go back okay so everything about us

[00:26:37] we don't want to be here we have we live a stress-free life like americans do like we all do here

[00:26:42] we have to go to work we have to go without the bills every month like we don't have all that so

[00:26:48] if they don't want us here that's okay but allow us to we build our country and then we move all these

[00:26:55] gangs because let's talk about the gangs now where do they get all these guns that part how do they

[00:27:02] get to haiti and the guns that i spoke with someone that i know i was in the army in america and he was

[00:27:09] telling me that oh the guns that i see these people have on social media when i'm watching them are the

[00:27:16] guns that we use in the army here how did they get to these guns so imagine that so i love this country

[00:27:24] i've been here for so long i went to school here i graduated high school i have two degrees here

[00:27:30] and i've been working here but at the same time i'm haitian and when you use this rhetoric against us

[00:27:37] these lies or making us feel like we're nobody that we are in poverty and then we are people that

[00:27:45] actually depend on everyone to give us food or whatever it is shelter that's the lie because we

[00:27:52] want our country to be stabilized we want the games to stop we want to go i want to go back home my

[00:27:58] children have a step foot in my home they're asking me all the time mom what about haiti i can't take

[00:28:04] my kids why because of that craziness that's going on back home so that's unfair to us because we have

[00:28:11] a lot of haitians american who play a vital role in america i went to a woman conference in dc the other

[00:28:17] day i was like wow i was very proud of my country seeing this haitian american in congress in different

[00:28:26] parts of life like very highly professional women we can give that back to our country as well but we're

[00:28:34] giving everything that we've got to build america yeah thank you so much for sharing that i'm glad you

[00:28:56] went there i'm glad you went there and it needs to be said i certainly think that the fact that haiti

[00:29:03] is the first and really only country that was able to throw off the yoke of slavery is a big part of

[00:29:10] why haiti was targeted for a long long time and the resources you mentioned can you're certainly a big part

[00:29:17] of that and and we need and it's hard to talk about the you know this issue without acknowledging

[00:29:22] the history of colonialism and not just here in america but also in europe obviously immigration

[00:29:29] and migration are going to continue to be huge issues um in large parts because wealth was taken

[00:29:36] from these nations for centuries and not put back in and then you know you're upset that people are

[00:29:43] coming for opportunities but because they were those opportunities were stolen and so right it's hard to

[00:29:48] you know hard to solve it without really addressing all that kind of stuff lynn i wanted to kind of

[00:29:52] turn to you and talk a little bit about the one level ohio campaign you've created this campaign in

[00:29:57] reaction to this moment and you've been collecting stories about as you talked and you shared about

[00:30:02] some of the stories you've been collecting and all the interviews y'all have done with black

[00:30:05] immigrants in ohio for a long time so i was wondering if you could just explain a little bit more about

[00:30:10] the one love ohio campaign what it is and why you wanted to center and celebrate the acts of kindness

[00:30:16] and community building that we see happening in our state all the time yeah thank you for asking

[00:30:22] about that so one love ohio.org is the website and we wanted a place where we could locate all of the

[00:30:30] examples of community building that happen in ohio that relate to immigrants black immigrants haitian

[00:30:36] immigrants because obviously trump and vans have this huge microphone and you know some of our state

[00:30:44] leaders have taken up their message as well but they don't speak for all of us there are two

[00:30:51] sides in ohio there's the side that preaches hatred and then there's a side that believes in love and

[00:30:57] that we there's a place for everybody here so one love ohio has examples of a woman who rode her

[00:31:04] motorcycle down from cleveland to springfield to try a haitian restaurant you know and just put some

[00:31:09] money into the local business we've got the ohio council of church is the largest christian

[00:31:16] organization in ohio issuing multiple messages of welcome and love we've got a haitian chef out of

[00:31:23] miami who offered up a recipe for people to try you know so let's try some new food here and it's just

[00:31:30] to show that there's two sides there's not just there's not one side you know the side that's getting the

[00:31:35] most headlines and the side that is really bringing and let's be clear bringing insecurity and violence

[00:31:42] and lack of safety to the community and that is the racists and the neo-nazis and the people repeating

[00:31:49] the lies about haitians they're the ones bringing the security problems and the violence so there's them

[00:31:56] and then there's all the other people who in ohio who want this to be a place where people can feel

[00:32:02] safe to live yeah so i invite you to check it out and yeah thank you for for bringing it up

[00:32:10] yeah no for sure i think it's one of the most important things we have to do is tell those

[00:32:14] stories i love how you put it that there's multiple ohios essentially and there are folks who really

[00:32:19] are trying to pit us against one another they're trying to do the old divide and conquer strategy

[00:32:25] turn us you know because there is real economic anxiety that folks are feeling every day when we wake up

[00:32:31] and it's more expensive to buy groceries it's more expensive to live you know just in every capacity

[00:32:37] and instead of us being angry at the people who are actually profiting off of us and making money

[00:32:45] you know billionaire wealth exploded through the pandemic you know we are instead turning against

[00:32:51] one another and it's so much easier to scapegoat an immigrant community especially a black

[00:32:56] immigrant community than it is to punch up you know come together and figure out how do we punch up

[00:33:02] at the the folks who are actually benefiting from this and really trying to put us against one another

[00:33:07] that ohio voice was a lot of our partners y'all included we've started working on a narrative

[00:33:13] intervention campaign to try to confront these lies name some of those villains and you know bring

[00:33:19] people together so we can say no you don't use us against each other as pawns you know so that y'all

[00:33:25] can get rich and how do we show it for our neighbors um so i love you know one love ohio you know how do

[00:33:32] we make sure that we come together for that and you know and build a big us that can go against the

[00:33:37] people who really are trying to put us against one another in the midst of all this misinformation

[00:33:41] all this hate i was just wondering like what is giving you hope right now and how are you taking

[00:33:45] care of yourselves first the hopes i have is because i see so many people like lynn like you guys stepping

[00:33:54] up and standing up with the haitian community that's very hopeful meaning that not everyone is looking at

[00:34:01] us in the same eyes and i love that and i love the fact that because of that and i think that's a great

[00:34:08] opportunity that they both open up for the haitian community because of that opportunity i see so many

[00:34:15] resources coming to springfield helping them i have been advocating to get more resources for the

[00:34:24] haitians for the past four years we had little resources but it wasn't the way i see it coming

[00:34:30] so i'm very happy and to see that but there should be resources not only for springfield ohio

[00:34:40] haitians are struggling everywhere some of them are doing well they find a good job they can build a

[00:34:48] business but a lot of them too are unemployed they have language barriers they have health issues just

[00:34:57] recently i was talking to someone i've been helping him to get health care for a while and he still told

[00:35:04] me that it's still the same i said can i get medicaid i still get out to care of my health so

[00:35:09] we have obstacles and challenges not only springfield are facing but here in columbus finley ohio they told

[00:35:18] me there's a lot of patients there in dayton and other haitians other places in ohio that are not

[00:35:24] saying anything they had they don't really share their voices so the funding that we're getting

[00:35:30] should not only be focused only in springfield just because of a rhetoric if the rhetoric was

[00:35:36] public in for springfield but i am i'm sure and i am aware that some other haitians i'm in columbus

[00:35:44] and other places are also facing discriminations silently and the whole apartment rental that they rent

[00:35:52] the way they treat them so i think that the hope should also include other parts of ohio

[00:35:59] for these haitians you to get funding and to be helped because there's a lot of needs the other

[00:36:06] hope that i have right now the platform that you gave me other people have been giving me to speak up

[00:36:13] so that's great hope because if you don't have a voice no one knows and no one can be can help you

[00:36:19] and you cannot be protected so that's a great hope that yourself and other people are actually

[00:36:27] giving people like me a platform to speak our minds and also to help other people know that it's

[00:36:34] important that they have a voice and also learn what the work that lynn is doing is powerful not

[00:36:40] only helping the haitian community but all migrants refugees in general so that's very hopeful i

[00:36:47] didn't know anything about the community about the ice i learned a lot you know so it's good to know that

[00:36:54] there's other people that are not from haiti that are not from africa they are not from other but

[00:36:59] there are u.s american citizens different color i'm sorry i'm gonna go there not black

[00:37:07] caucasians

[00:37:09] wait what i'm not black who actually cares and it knows that we are all the same regardless of our color

[00:37:19] our demographics we have the same heart we function the same way we have the same needs except that we

[00:37:26] have different color so that's very hopeful thank you well i'm not trying to be a copycat but actually

[00:37:33] my answer which i already had in mind was that what gives me hope is leadership from people like

[00:37:39] sofia so sophia is thanking you for giving her a platform sofia created a platform there's a new

[00:37:45] american magazines that sophia writes for you know she's been relentless like telling getting to the

[00:37:51] media and actually letting them know what's really true about haitians in ohio and also not giving up

[00:37:57] on ohio so what i see is hugely proactive leadership from people like sophia like vials and springfield

[00:38:05] and miguel and springfield miguel has a radio platform and there's other people actually that

[00:38:11] have radio programs too and they're having talk shows and just talking about you know haitian

[00:38:16] cuisine culture history you know education so what gives me hope is that some people are

[00:38:24] not running from what's really scary and what's really got to be really hard sophia to

[00:38:30] make yourself do these interviews and to talk about this so much but you still do it you know and you're

[00:38:35] not giving up on ohio and you're not giving up on the united states and you're challenging us to be a

[00:38:40] better place so that's what gives me hope honestly is and i think ohio has so many terrific leaders who

[00:38:48] haven't been under resourced somebody said the other day that you know when there's a crisis then

[00:38:53] that helps people get organized and they were not trying to say that the crisis was a good thing but

[00:38:58] they were just making an observation and i think sophia would probably agree we've seen this bubbling up

[00:39:05] brewing we knew this was going to happen right you could tell that with a huge increase in population

[00:39:12] the location of springfield there was stuff that was happening already it was going to blow up at some

[00:39:19] point and i only wish that funders and other people with resources had been able to be more proactive

[00:39:27] to say let's have a plan around this because we're making it up now as it's happening but

[00:39:34] ohio has all the ingredients to be a terrific place where we can build power for people of color

[00:39:41] economically impoverished people people without a lot of opportunities people who are struggling with

[00:39:46] mental health and substance abuse like we have these ingredients to be a better place and a model

[00:39:53] for the rest of the country because we have leaders like you and we have leaders like avery at ohio voice

[00:39:58] and other people that are just doing difficult work with a smile on their face you know so what like

[00:40:05] people always ask me why do you live in ohio why ohio and it's like you know because there's so many

[00:40:11] awesome people here and there's so much potential and yes our state leaders suck but we're gonna fix that

[00:40:19] we're gonna change that so i guess i'm also an optimist but sophia you know hats off to you for

[00:40:26] just putting yourself out there great personal risk just to know that we people that are not affected

[00:40:33] directly but still care about you can imagine how difficult it is and we're grateful to you that you're

[00:40:39] willing to do that and we we will be here like whatever you need us to do we will do it so please

[00:40:45] lean on us and say hey i need you to stop doing this or i need you to do more of this because

[00:40:51] in some ways one love ohio was just something that we came up with because we wanted to do something

[00:40:57] that wasn't going to create more lack of safety for people but we can do so much more if we if

[00:41:05] there's something that we should be doing that you think of that we're not doing definitely thank

[00:41:09] you i will definitely do that awesome yeah thank you both so much for this great conversation

[00:41:13] and taking the time to share about the work y'all been doing for years and some of the work that

[00:41:17] still needs to be done before we sign off i was wondering if you could just let people know how they

[00:41:22] can follow along with your work and support the work that you're doing and continue to support the

[00:41:27] haitian community and immigrant communities in ohio i've been doing this work for the past four years

[00:41:33] without any resources with my own resources and also my connections with the other people in the

[00:41:39] cities in the city of columbus who i know i built a great relationship and trust who are helping

[00:41:45] migrants and i've been doing that and many of them told me and outside of ohio you've been doing this

[00:41:53] so much and you how come you don't have your own non-profit only because there was some another

[00:41:58] non-profit in town we're still in town doing the work as well i just did not want to do that but

[00:42:04] recently i realized that it's a lot of work and one cannot do it and we have to do it together

[00:42:11] and a lot of people have been connecting with me and that made me understand it's important that i have

[00:42:17] my non-profit it is up and running you know it's not new american cultural center people said why you

[00:42:24] didn't call it haitian because my motto is never about haitians only it's about all migrants

[00:42:30] so new americans covers everyone so i believe that we all are facing the same issue because we are

[00:42:38] transitioning from one country one state to the next and we need someone to help us find our way

[00:42:44] the focus of this organization is for everyone who are welcome to get resources so i would love

[00:42:50] people to actually help me continue the work now with more funding whatever they can we are currently

[00:42:57] putting together the 501c it's already registered with iei number everything else said the 501c i was

[00:43:06] in the phone with an attorney yesterday and which told me that people can still fund you if privately

[00:43:12] but it's up to anyone i'm not asking oh yeah but you know what if you want to because i know people

[00:43:19] are in need of health care i know families that we help get resources to get housing unfortunately

[00:43:26] yes i help them with their housing but they don't have food if you can help us get them some food

[00:43:33] or transportation whatever it is and help them with with employment language barrier healthcare

[00:43:41] system i'm planning pretty soon to have a healthcare i have people from dc from boston which

[00:43:49] you know to me whenever you're doing it let us know haitians that have already organizations

[00:43:53] in this state they want to come in and support so i would like you guys to if i'm listening to you

[00:43:59] we talk to us lynn so that we know when we're doing it we like to do something bigger we have churches

[00:44:04] here that has a lot of migrants and they need help as well and i connect with all of them and help me

[00:44:11] help the other organizations in springfield and columbus everywhere do the job so that they can have a

[00:44:17] stable home in america in ohio and then we can bring positive and put a positive impact in the community

[00:44:24] again i'm sophia and if you need my information i think james and lynn and everyone can give it to

[00:44:31] you sophia piaulius yeah so i don't know what else i should tell you oh that's perfect that's perfect

[00:44:38] everyone donate get your wallets out support i love that and we'll make sure to include a link to

[00:44:44] stuff in the show notes so people will be able to find the new american cultural center and be able

[00:44:49] to support what about you lynn where can folks follow along at what the work they are doing

[00:44:54] so oneloveohio.org and we do have a donation page where we're featuring the core groups because

[00:45:01] everybody's like who do we donate to so sophia let's talk afterwards i'll make sure sophia's

[00:45:07] organization's donation link is on our donation page for ohio immigrant alliance we are ohio

[00:45:13] immigrant.org we have a great email program like we don't email you unless we've got something really

[00:45:19] important to tell you and people love our emails so if you want to get on our email list you can

[00:45:25] contact us through the website and we will add you there and yeah we're also trying to grow up and

[00:45:31] become an adult organization next year we're hoping to be able to hire staff we don't have any staff right

[00:45:37] now we do everything with consultants and stipends and people working on nights and weekends and

[00:45:42] you know a lot of grit but yeah we're looking for support as well to be able to have an infrastructure

[00:45:48] for the state and you know grateful again ohio voice like for you know just supporting this and

[00:45:54] like sophia said creating and using your platforms to spread the message really this attack on haitians is

[00:46:01] an attack on all people of color all people of goodwill in ohio it's not about immigration alone and having

[00:46:09] the support of a broader family in ohio feels really good and it feels it's not something that we've

[00:46:15] felt like we've had for a while as immigrant rights organizations so thank you to ohio voice for

[00:46:20] for bringing us here if i may say one one thing last thing i'm sorry um last june i had the first

[00:46:29] haitian cultural soiree at the lincoln theater oh it was it was great it was about i had about 85 percent

[00:46:37] of people were not haitians who came in and it's a soiree that's the first annual and i'm planning to

[00:46:44] have the second one in june as well every june so look out for some more information the soiree was

[00:46:52] mostly to show people who we are and explore our culture it was mostly haitian food haitian music

[00:47:00] i flew international singer from haiti that came in and performed and it was a great event so this is

[00:47:08] another way to that um is i want people to be aware that the next one will be coming up soon in june

[00:47:15] so i would love people to start coming in and support and give ideas what they would like to see

[00:47:21] and etc so um that's what i wanted to say and since you said closing the closing is thank you lynn

[00:47:31] for connecting with angela and james for this great opportunity to actually talk to you all about our

[00:47:38] culture about haitians and to have a voice for people to be aware i would like everyone to do

[00:47:45] their homework before spreading lies or listening to lies the first thing is to educate yourself

[00:47:51] educate about the culture who we are we also do my personal business we do training as well where we

[00:48:00] putting together training for people to know about the diversity our culture especially the haitian culture

[00:48:07] and education piece that you need to know so please do that and before speculating and please do vote

[00:48:14] when you vote yeah it counts i am a christian i do believe in the word of god i do believe in a lot of

[00:48:25] stuff i don't believe in hate speech i don't believe in racial bias i don't believe in discrimination

[00:48:32] but i do believe it's important to have a voice to voice for whoever you want to vote but have in mind

[00:48:39] your children the future of your children and the safety of your children and your family members and

[00:48:45] yourself so do vote it's important that you vote yes it is that seems like a good spot to leave off

[00:48:54] this podcast will be released i think just before the end of this election season i already voted got

[00:49:01] to vote early which is great with my dad and my sisters and but yeah if you have not voted by the

[00:49:06] time you listen to this oh whoa for sure get out there again once again sophia lynn thank you so much

[00:49:12] for joining us really really honored to have you all on and to hear about the work you're doing

[00:49:16] i'm sure we'll be seeing you out there in these ohio streets in the near future thank you so much

[00:49:23] have a great day thank you everyone as always visit what's good ohio.com for show notes and links and

[00:49:38] subscribe to what's good ohio wherever you get your podcasts we'll see you next time to keep talking

[00:49:43] about what's good here in ohio