‘They’re eating the pets’ – another example of US politicians smearing Haiti and Haitian immigrants
They’re eating the pets! JD Vance and Donald Trump promote debunked claims that Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, are eating pets, reflecting enduring anti-Haitian prejudice in the U.S. with historical roots in racism and misinformation.
That outlandish idea has been thoroughly debunked since former President Donald Trump repeatedly raised it as an anti-immigrant talking point in the Sept. 12, 2024, presidential debate. Trump never mentioned where the migrants allegedly “eating the pets” came from, but many viewers understood it as a reference to Haitians, a population that Trump has previously degraded.
As debate moderator David Muir stated in his real-time fact check, there is no evidence that any pets in Springfield have been taken or consumed. NPR and other media outlets have also declared the rumor, which began with local right-wing advocates and officials in Springfield decrying the city’s disorganized response to an influx of Haitian migrants in recent years, to be false.
The Republican ticket’s untrue rumors about Haitians in Springfield reflects a long history of prejudice toward Haitians in the United States. As a scholar of Haitian history and literature, I have identified three anti-Haitian ideas prevalent in the United States that will help put the Springfield story into context.
1. The unfitness of Haitians ‘to govern themselves’
In July 1915, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson invaded Haiti under the guise of restoring order and economic stability following the assassination of Haitian President Vilbrun Guillaume Sam.
Five years into what would become a 19-year military occupation, the American diplomat and civil rights leader James Weldon Johnson was sent by the NAACP to investigate the supposed benefits of the occupation. His resounding takeaway: “The United States has failed Haiti.”
In related pieces for The Nation and The Crisis, Johnson chronicled abuses ranging from extra-judicial killings of Haitian citizens – U.S forces killed 15,000 Haitians between 1915 and 1934 – to the harassment and rape of Haitian women. Johnson said the U.S. occupation amounted to nothing more than a belief in the “unfitness of the Haitian people to govern themselves.”
“Racism,” Alexis writes, “was at the core of the seizure of Haiti and all interactions with Haitians.”
2. The ‘4H disease’
In June 2017, Trump reportedly “stormed into a meeting” on immigration from Haiti and repeated a slanderous anti-Haitian claim: “They all have AIDS,” he said.
The account, from author Jake Johnston, a senior research associate at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, shows the then-president repeating a falsehood that has circulated since HIV erupted in the 1980s.
The federal government turned a small disease cluster into a migration policy designed to keep Haitians out of the U.S.
Betweeen 1981 and 1991, more than 27,000 Haitian asylum-seekers fleeing Jean-Claude Duvalier’s dictatorship were intercepted off the coast of Florida and detained. The vast majority were repatriated, in part because of a deportation agreement with Duvalier and in part because stopping Haitians at sea was a “screening strategy” to prevent HIV/AIDS from spreading in the U.S.
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The Reagan administration called the virus the “4H disease,” referring to Haitians, hemophiliacs, homosexuals and heroin users. This designation spread harmful lies about four groups, but Haitians were the only nationality singled out as an “at-risk” population for contracting HIV/AIDS.
By the time the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention removed Haitians from its list of highest-risk groups in 1985, the damage had been done. Haitians in the U.S. were effectively vilified as vectors of a deadly virus.
Haiti’s occupation by foreign forces has continued on and off in different forms since the U.S. invasion of 1915.
United Nations troops were stationed there for nearly two decades following the the 2004 ouster of President Jean Bertrand Aristide. After the devastating 2010 earthquake, they were joined by the Red Cross and Oxfam. As all three organizations have since acknowledged, their humanitarian interventions left numerous crises in their wake, including cholera, chronic corruption in rebuilding projects and a market for sexually exploiting young girls.
Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, was left in ruins by the January 2010 earthquake; the rebuilding process spearheaded by foreign aid organizations was slow and mired in corruption. AP Photo/Gregory Bull
Still, Haiti has long faced the accusation that its instability is homegrown. It is widely portrayed in the U.S. as a basket-case nation incapable of managing its own affairs. Trump, as president, once dismissed the entire country as a “shithole.”
At present, Haitians are coping with overlapping crises that have U.S. fingerprints.
After President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated in July 2021, the Biden administration hand-picked Haiti’s interim prime minister, Ariel Henry, as its new leader. This undemocratic decision was such a resounding failure that in March 2024, Haitian gangs revolted against Henry’s administration, unleashing a wave of gruesome violence that ultimately forced Henry out of office.
In July 2024, the Biden administration granted temporary protected status to 500,000 Haitian migrants in the U.S., allowing them to stay in the country, in recognition of the life-threatening conditions back home.
The people Trump insists are “illegal aliens” are in fact authorized U.S. residents from a country buffeted by American meddling in its politics.
A very old pattern
In barking about cats and dogs in Springfield, Trump, Vance and their right-wing supporters are spreading the same kind of anti-Haitian rhetoric that has sown a harmful distrust of Haitian migrants for over a century.
“This is not the first time that we [Haitians] have been the victims of ‘yon kanpay manti,’” said the Ministry of Haitians Living Abroad in a press release following the debate, using the Haitian Creole phrase for “a campaign of lies.”
The result of such misinformation, it added, is “mistreatment, hatred, and misunderstanding in the interest of politics.”
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The European Space Agency’s astronaut cohort includes a parastronaut, as part of a feasibility project.
AP Photo/Francois MoriJesse Rhoades, University of North Dakota and Rebecca Rhoades, University of North Dakota
Humans will likely set foot on the Moon again in the coming decade. While many stories in this new chapter of lunar exploration will be reminiscent of the Apollo missions 50 years ago, others may look quite different.
For instance, the European Space Agency is currently working to make space travel more accessible for people of a wide range of backgrounds and abilities. In this new era, the first footprint on the Moon could possibly be made by a prosthetic limb.
NASA plans to return humans to the lunar surface in the coming decade.NASA Goddard
Historically, and even still today, astronauts selected to fly to space have had to fit a long list of physical requirements. However, many professionals in the field are beginning to acknowledge that these requirements stem from outdated assumptions.
Some research, including studies by our multidisciplinary team of aerospace and biomechanics researchers, has begun to explore the possibilities for people with physical disabilities to venture into space, visit the Moon and eventually travel to Mars.
Current research
NASA has previously funded and is currently funding research on restraints and mobility aids to help everyone, regardless of their ability, move around in the crew cabin.
Additionally, NASA has research programs to develop functional aids for individuals with disabilities in current U.S. spacecraft. A functional aid is any device that improves someone’s independence, mobility or daily living tasks by compensating for their physical limitations.
The European Space Agency, or ESA, launched its Parastronaut Feasibility Project in 2022 to assess ways to include individuals with disabilities in human spaceflight. A parastronaut is an astronaut with a physical disability who has been selected and trained to participate in space missions.
At the University of North Dakota, we conducted one of the first studies focused on parastronauts. This research examined how individuals with disabilities get into and get out of two current U.S. spacecraft designed to carry crew. The first was NASA’s Orion capsule, designed by Lockheed Martin, and the second was Boeing’s CST 100 Starliner.
Alongside our colleagues Pablo De León, Keith Crisman, Komal Mangle and Kavya Manyapu, we uncovered valuable insights into the accessibility challenges future parastronauts may face.
Our research indicated that individuals with physical disabilities are nearly as nimble in modern U.S. spacecraft as nondisabled individuals. This work focused on testing individuals who have experienced leg amputations. Now we are looking ahead to solutions that could benefit astronauts of all abilities.
Safety and inclusion
John McFall is the ESA’s first parastronaut. At the age of 19, Mcfall lost his right leg just above the knee from a motorcycle accident. Although McFall has not been assigned to a mission yet, he is the first person with a physical disability to be medically certified for an ISS mission.
John McFall stands by a mock-up of the SpaceX Dragon crew capsule.SpaceX, CC BY-NC-SA
Astronaut selection criteria currently prioritize peak physical fitness, with the goal of having multiple crew members who can do the same physical tasks. Integrating parastronauts into the crew has required balancing mission security and accessibility.
However, with advancements in technology, spacecraft design and assistive tools, inclusion no longer needs to come at the expense of safety. These technologies are still in their infancy, but research and efforts like the ESA’s program will help improve them.
Design and development of spacecraft can cost billions of dollars. Simple adaptations, such as adding handholds onto the walls in a spacecraft, can provide vital assistance. However, adding handles to existing spacecraft will be costly.
Functional aids that don’t alter the spacecraft itself – such as accessories carried by each astronaut – could be another way forward. For example, adding Velcro to certain spots in the spacecraft or on prosthetic limbs could improve a parastronaut’s traction and help them anchor to the spacecraft’s surfaces.
Engineers could design new prosthetics made for particular space environments, such as zero or partial gravity, or even tailored to specific spacecraft. This approach is kind of like designing specialized prosthetics for rock climbing, running or other sports.
Accessibility can help everyone
Future space exploration, particularly missions to the Moon and Mars that will take weeks, months and even years, may prompt new standards for astronaut fitness. During these long missions, astronauts could get injured, causing what can be considered incidental disability.
An astronaut with an incidental disability begins a mission without a recognized disability but acquires one from a mission mishap. An astronaut suffering a broken arm or a traumatic brain injury during a mission would have a persistent impairment.
On longer missions, astronauts may need to troubleshoot issues on their own.NASA
During long-duration missions, an astronaut crew will be too far away to receive outside medical help – they’ll have to deal with these issues on their own.
Considering disability during mission planning goes beyond inclusion. It makes the mission safer for all astronauts by preparing them for anything that could go wrong. Any astronaut could suffer an incidental disability during their journey.
Safety and inclusion in spaceflight don’t need to be at odds. Instead, agencies can reengineer systems and training processes to ensure that more people can safely participate in space missions. By addressing safety concerns through technology, innovative design and mission planning, the space industry can have inclusive and successful missions.Jesse Rhoades, Professor of Education, Heath & Behavior, University of North Dakota and Rebecca Rhoades, Researcher in Education, Health & Behavior, University of North Dakota
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, a major transportation hub in Arizona, is set to undergo significant improvements with a new construction project at Terminal 3. According to AZ Family, the work is officially commencing this month on a project that will enhance the airport’s infrastructure, making it more accommodating for travelers.
Expansion at Sky Harbor
The upcoming expansion, which boasts a budget of $326 million, will introduce a new concourse on the north side of Terminal 3. This new addition is designed to increase the terminal’s capacity by adding six new passenger gates, bringing the total to 26 gates. The construction will encompass a vast 173,000 square feet, ultimately providing more flight options and enhanced facilities for travelers.
As reported by AZ Central, the expansion is much-needed, given that Terminal 3 is the oldest terminal at Sky Harbor. McCarthy Building Cos. Inc. has been entrusted with the construction, and they are committed to creating an exceptional experience for passengers. Thomas Assante, McCarthy’s senior project director, stated, “Every portion of the new Terminal 3 concourse will provide an exceptional experience for Sky Harbor passengers.” Notably, McCarthy has experience with airport projects, having recently completed a five-gate concourse at Mesa Gateway Airport, which opened in February 2024.
In addition to expanding gate capacity, the new Terminal 3 concourse plans to feature improvements beyond functionality. Travelers can look forward to new dining options, including three food and beverage spaces, as well as two retail spaces, alongside a passenger lounge. Greg Roybal, an airport spokesman, has confirmed these plans, emphasizing the project’s focus on improving the overall passenger experience.
The anticipated completion date for the new concourse is set for 2027. Once finished, this expansion will not only bolster the terminal’s capabilities but also enhance the amenities available to travelers. The airlines currently operating out of Terminal 3 include Delta, United, Frontier, and Alaska Airlines, among others.
As this construction project unfolds, we will keep readers updated with the latest developments and milestones. With these enhancements on the horizon, Sky Harbor Airport is poised to deliver an even better travel experience for passengers in the coming years. Stay tuned!
STM Daily News is a vibrant news blog dedicated to sharing the brighter side of human experiences. Emphasizing positive, uplifting stories, the site focuses on delivering inspiring, informative, and well-researched content. With a commitment to accurate, fair, and responsible journalism, STM Daily News aims to foster a community of readers passionate about positive change and engaged in meaningful conversations. Join the movement and explore stories that celebrate the positive impacts shaping our world.
Students ask questions during a social studies class on American politics.
AP Photo/John MinchilloLightning Jay, Binghamton University, State University of New York
Can you tell fact from fiction online? In a digital world, few questions are more important or more challenging.
For years, some commentators have called for K-12 teachers to take on fake news, media literacy, or online misinformation by doubling downon critical thinking. This push for schools to do a better job preparing young people to differentiate between low- and high-quality information often focuses on social studies classes.
As an education researcher and former high school history teacher, I know that there’s both good and bad news about combating misinformation in the classroom. History class can cultivate critical thinking – but only if teachers and schools understand what critical thinking really means.
Not just a ‘skill’
First, the bad news.
When people demand that schools teach critical thinking, it’s not always clear what they mean. Some might consider critical thinking a trait or capacity that teachers can encourage, like creativity or grit. They could believe that critical thinking is a mindset: a habit of being curious, skeptical and reflective. Or they might be referring to specific skills – for instance, that students should learn a set of steps to take to assess information online.
Unfortunately, cognitive science research has shown that critical thinking is not an abstract quality or practice that can be developed on its own. Cognitive scientists see critical thinking as a specific kind of reasoning that involves problem-solving and making sound judgments. It can be learned, but it relies on specific content knowledge and does not necessarily transfer between fields.
Early studies on chess playersand physicists in the 1970s and ’80s helped show how the kind of flexible and reflective cognition often called critical thinking is really a product of expertise. Chess masters, for instance, do not start out with innate talent. In most cases, they gain expertise by hours of thoughtfully playing the game. This deliberate practice helps them recognize patterns and think in novel ways about chess. Chess masters’ critical thinking is a product of learning, not a precursor.
Nurman Alua of Kazakhstan, left, and Lee Alice of the U.S. during the 45th Chess Olympiad in Budapest, Hungary, on Sept. 22, 2024.AP Photo/Denes Erdos
Because critical thinking develops in specific contexts, it does not necessarily transfer to other types of problem-solving. For example, chess advocates might hope the game improves players’ intelligence, and studies do suggest learning chess may help elementary students with the kind of pattern recognition they need for early math lessons. However, research has found that being a great chess player does not make people better at other kinds of complex critical thinking.
Historical thinking
Since context is key to critical thinking, learning to analyze information about current events likely requires knowledge about politics and history, as well as practice at scrutinizing sources. Fortunately, that is what social studies classes are for.
Social studies researchers often describe this kind of critical thinking as “historical thinking”: a way to evaluate evidence about the past and assess its reliability. My own research has shown that high school students can make relatively quick progress on some of the surface features of historical thinking, such as learning to check a text’s date and author. But the deep questioning involved in true historical thinking is much harder to learn.
Social studies classrooms can also build what researchers call “civic online reasoning.” Fact-checking is complex work. It is not enough to tell young people that they should be wary online, or to trust sites that end in “.org” instead of “.com.” Rather than learning general principles about online media, civic online reasoning teaches students specific skills for evaluating information about politics and social issues.
Still, learning to think like a historian does not necessarily prepare someone to be a skeptical news consumer. Indeed, a recent study found that professional historians performed worse than professional fact-checkers at identifying online misinformation. The misinformation tasks the historians struggled with focused on issues such as bullying or the minimum wage – areas where they possessed little expertise.
Powerful knowledge
That’s where background knowledge comes in – and the good news is that social studies can build it. All literacy relies on what readers already know. For people wading through political information and news, knowledge about history and civics is like a key in the ignition for their analytical skills.
Readers without much historical knowledge may miss clues that something isn’t right – signs that they need to scrutinize the source more closely. Political misinformation often weaponizes historical falsehoods, such as the debunked and recalled Christian nationalist book claiming that Thomas Jefferson did not believe in a separation of church and state, or claims that the nadir of African American life came during Reconstruction, not slavery. Those claims are extreme, but politicians and policymakers repeat them.
For someone who knows basic facts about American history, those claims won’t sit right. Background knowledge will trigger their skepticism and kick critical thinking into gear.
A teacher in North Carolina conducts a lesson about the D-Day invasion of Normandy in an Advanced Placement class.AP Photo/Gerry Broome
Past, present, future
For this reason, the best approach to media literacy will come through teaching that fosters concrete skills alongside historical knowledge. In short, the new knowledge crisis points to the importance of the traditional social studies classroom.
But it’s a tenuous moment for history education. The Bush- and Obama-era emphasis on math and English testing resulted in decreased instructional time in history classes, particularly in elementary and middle schools. In one 2005 study, 27% of schools reported reducing social studies time in favor of subjects on state exams.
Now, history teachers are feeling heat from politically motivated culture wars over education that target teaching about racism and LGBTQ+ issues and that ban books from libraries and classrooms. Two-thirds of instructors say that they’ve limited classroom discussions about social and political topics.
Attempts to limit students’ knowledge about the past imperil their chances of being able to think critically about new information. These attacks are not just assaults on the history of the country; they are attempts to control its future.
Lightning Jay, Assistant Professor of Teaching, Learning and Educational Leadership, Binghamton University, State University of New York
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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Jesse Rhoades, Professor of Education, Heath & Behavior, University of North Dakota and Rebecca Rhoades, Researcher in Education, Health & Behavior, University of North Dakota
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
