Unfounded, racist rumors targeting Haitian immigrants in Springfield have been circulating social media since the weekend, starting with some far-right content creators and eventually shared by U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), Republican U.S. Senate candidate Bernie Moreno and Ohio officials.
That is the kind of potentially dangerous political rhetoric some longtime progressive organizers want to snuff out with a group they formed over the summer. Ohioans Against Extremism founders said they wants to do more grassroots organizing and less direct lobbying with that goal in mind.
Maria Bruno, who most recently worked for the LGBTQ-rights organization Equality Ohio, is serving as its executive director. Bruno said extremism, in her eyes, isn’t terribly challenging to pinpoint.
“Basically, the short answer is if it targets someone or if it ignores basic evidence,” Bruno said in August at a public launch party in Columbus for Ohioans Against Extremism.
In an increasingly partisan and polarized climate, however, Ohioans who hold one political view may see the other side as extreme and vice versa. The organization’s guiding principle will not be partisanship but instead listening to and elevating field authorities, she said, like physicians on health policy and so on.
“If people are making decisions because lobbyists are asking them to, rather than they have thought about the facts and that's where the facts led them, I don't really take their criticism too seriously because I don't think that they are following the evidence or anything,” Bruno said.
In real-time, she said in a text on Thursday the still-unfolding situation in Springfield fits her organization's definition of extremism. The western Ohio community is home to a sizable population of Haitian immigrants whom GOP politicians have thrust into the national limelight two months from Election Day.
Over several years, about 15,000 immigrants from Haiti have added to the 60,000-person city’s population. Most are receiving short-term protections from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to work legally in the United States through at least 2026 as the Caribbean island endures political violence and instability.
The population swell has put strain on numerous resources, from health care to road safety to housing availability. But for days, misinformation has metastasized online about Springfield, forcing local police to debunk claims that immigrants were eating pets.
The new interest group is a 501(c)4, which are often referred to as dark money groups because the groups don’t disclose donors and aren’t under donation amount caps.
Ohioans Against Extremism has also endorsed Issue 1, the constitutional amendment proposed by Citizens Not Politicians that would overhaul how the state draws legislative districts. Bruno said in August advocating for its passage will be a big priority through the November election.
