Springfield Local Says He's Been Called Racial Slur Twice in a Week
A Springfield local told Vivek Ramaswamy he has been called a racial slur twice in one week, in the wake of the scandal about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio.
The midwestern city found itself in the middle of a political firestorm this month, after claims that Haitian migrants there have been killing pets and park birds for food went viral.
City officials have debunked these rumors but they continued to spread, especially after Donald Trump repeated them during his presidential debate with Kamala Harris on September 10. Newsweek has broken down how the story started and what the real issues behind it are here .
Ramaswamy, a conservative entrepreneur, author and politician who ran for the Republican Party 's nomination earlier this year, visited Springfield for a town hall meeting on Thursday night.
During this event , locals spoke to him about their experiences, including one who said he had suffered racial abuse in the aftermath of all the recent controversy there.
The man, who identified himself as "half-Black," said: "I've lived in Springfield 20 years—all my life pretty much—since this story leaked—and this is something that everyone needs to hear—the hateful language in this community has spiked. It's really, really bad. I've become a target of the hate.
"I can probably count on my hands how many times a racial slur has been said my whole life. I've been called the n-word twice this week by just people who group me...Even though my skin may be lighter I think people just group us together."
He went on to recount stories of "people who have darker skin that have been chased down by people who are white saying: 'Get out of our country.'"
"What would you say to the people in this community?" he asked Ramaswamy, "I don't think it should be tolerated."
Newsweek has contacted the City of Springfield, via email outside of normal working hours, for a response to this resident.
Ramaswamy responded by explaining why he does not believe that the U.S. is a racist country, blaming Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) policies for what he called a "sudden uptick in racial tension in [the] country."
He said: "I'm in the camp of longstanding believing that the United States of America is not a racist country and the least racist country known to mankind. I have never experienced that type of invidious racism growing up.
"But I also want to speak a hard truth here—there's something going on in this country right now, and when I say right now I mean in the past nine to 12 months in this country.
"There is a weird uptick in racial tension in this country that did not exist in the 30 years that I grew up right here in southwest Ohio."
Ramaswamy went on: "Take the immigration issue—you take 20,000 people who are unprepared to integrate into a community, dump them in a city of 50,000, you're going to get a reactionary response. Then you demonize the people who have the reactionary response who say 'well you're blaming me,' they're gonna have ill will, in this case toward the Haitian community."
Indeed, between 15,000 and 20,000 Haitian migrants have moved to the city, which had a population of just under 60,000 in 2020, over the space of four years, city officials say.
They are in the country legally, the City of Springfield's Immigration FAQ page says, many under the Immigration Parole Program, which, under certain conditions, allows noncitizens to remain in the U.S. temporarily without meeting standard visa or immigration requirements.
But Springfield leaders, including Mayor Rob Rue, have spoken out about the pressure on resources this sudden uptick in population has caused, as well as a "culture clash."
Ramaswamy then took on DEI, saying: "There's no better way to create racism in America, anywhere, than to take something else away from someone's family because of their skin color. So whether it's a seat in college or whether it's a job or now even forms of federal aid...That actually creates more racial animus in response.
"And so this is what I think people on the right sometimes miss—are these anti-racist programs, are they racist against whites or Asians? And they are, but actually, it's not just that it's racist against whites and racist against Asians, it is literally fueling a new wave of anti-Black racism in the country, that otherwise wouldn't exist if it weren't for those woke, anti-racist policies in the first place."
Newsweek has contacted the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, via email outside of normal working hours, for comment. It has also contacted Ramaswamy, via DM on X, for any further comment.
Earlier this month, the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) issued new guidelines on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies in the workplace .
The report stemmed from months of discussions between the caucus and nearly half of Fortune 500 companies, along with input from academics and business analysts, to create guidelines that advance DEI and Black economic mobility amid a politically and legally charged environment. It highlighted the growing backlash faced by corporations from conservative activists and lawmakers over such policies.
Democratic Representative Steven Horsford, the chair of the CBC, criticized "far-right actors trying to pressure corporate America" into abandoning DEI policies.
He added: "The CBC commends corporate leaders who have overwhelmingly reaffirmed their company's commitment to advancing diversity, equity and inclusion in their business practices and operations, and those who believe, like most Americans, that diversity is a business and talent imperative. We cannot allow a handful of right-wing agitators to bully corporations, and this report offers corporate America a guide to strengthening their diversity practices."
