Why Springfield, Ohio matters

September 13, 2024

The city of Springfield, Ohio, has been thrust into the national spotlight by the racist slurs of Donald Trump and JD Vance directed at the city’s Haitian immigrant population. Springfield matters on many levels: It represents a city struggling to overcome the collapse of the Midwest manufacturing base that served as the driver of America’s economy in the last century. Those struggles include population flight, high levels of poverty, low levels of education, weak housing markets, and stress on social systems and infrastructure caused by foreign immigration.

Springfield is like hundreds of cities across the nation struggling with the same issues. Springfield matters because its citizens have not given up. They are fighting to reclaim and renew their historic city. They are doing so by revitalizing the city’s manufacturing base, focusing on aerospace, technology, agriculture, and distribution logistics. Springfield leaders are attempting to revitalize the downtown business district by creating a business-friendly environment. Springfield is welcoming new residents, including immigrants, by expanding housing stock and recruiting workers to its renewed industrial base.

The challenges facing the leaders and residents of Springfield are daunting and the solutions are multifaceted. But one essential element of Springfield’s future is foreign immigration. Without it, Springfield’s path to renewal will be much more difficult. Indeed, Springfield’s two centuries of growth were fueled by successive waves of immigrants from Germany, Italy, and Ireland.

Each of those waves of immigration brought growing pains, including racial tension and violence. Springfield is now experiencing a new wave of immigration—this time from Haiti. As Springfield city managers acknowledge, the most recent wave of immigration is stressing city resources, but they are actively working on solutions.

Before turning to the commendable response by the Springfield city managers, it is worth noting the degree to which population flight has defined the city’s current crisis and how foreign immigration offers a potential path forward.

The chart below shows the population trend in Springfield, Ohio from 1960 through 2020 (as documented by the US Census Bureau):

Over fifty years, Springfield lost nearly 30% of its population. The population decrease had cascading effects on business activity, education, personal wealth, and tax revenues. (Of course, the population decrease is also a product of the collapse of the mid-century industrial base.)

Based on the Census Bureau profile of Springfield, Ohio for 2020, the city faces the following challenges:

• A poverty rate double the national average (22% vs. 11%).

• An employment rate of 53.1% vs a national rate of 60%.

• A population that lags in college degrees (bachelor’s and beyond) 15% vs  50%.

• 3,000 vacant housing units—an 11% vacancy rate vs an 8% vacancy rate in surrounding Clark County.

• A depressed housing market, with median prices of $175,000 in Springfield vs $231,000 in Ohio vs $412,000 nationally

The US Census report linked above shows some people in their 30s and 40s move away from Springfield—creating labor shortages in the prime working years for adults. See NPR (9/19/2016), Springfield, Ohio: A Shrinking City Faces A Tough Economic Future. Per NPR,

Median incomes fell an astounding 27 percent in Springfield between 1999 and 2014, more than any metropolitan area in the country, according to the Pew Research Center.

The labor flight was exacerbated by the opioid crisis. Per NPR, “Employers say it's gotten harder to find job applicants who can pass a drug test.”

The above challenges are daunting and require a multi-pronged approach. But one thing is clear: Springfield cannot “shrink” its way to prosperity and renewal. It must grow its population to increase its labor and tax base to support increased economic activity.

Fifty years of population declines show that Springfield will not attract residents from Ohio or other states to fuel its growth. In 2020, Haitian immigrants began moving into Springfield for employment. Over the last four years, 12,000 to 15,000 Haitian immigrants moved to Springfield under the Immigration Parole Program. After arriving in Springfield, they applied for Temporary Protected Status (TPS), allowing them to legally live and work in the US.

Adding 15,000 people in four years to a population base of 58,000 is challenging and has impacted Springfield’s social services and infrastructure. But city managers have been welcoming of the new immigrants. See Immigration FAQs | City of Springfield Ohio Official Website.

The city website addresses immigration, in part, as follows:

Community leaders and agencies are working collaboratively to provide programs and solutions to acclimate our new immigrant community and to protect our entire population of Springfield. Some initiatives already executed include: English language classes, driving courses, cultural awareness, banking and home ownership, work opportunities and healthcare.

City leaders are also working with state and federal legislators in an effort to get the increased funding necessary to ensure continued public and sustainable for all of our citizens in our community.

Springfield’s City Manager, Bryan Heck, published a video on September 12, 2024. I urge you to take four minutes to listen to Heck, who not only debunks the rumors being spread by Trump and Vance but puts forth a positive case for Springfield’s renewal. See YouTube, Bryan Heck | Springfield city manager addresses false claims

Springfield’s leaders' efforts to revitalize the city’s business base while welcoming new residents, including immigrants, are exemplary, and they deserve praise and support for their efforts.

Instead, Trump and JD Vance have poured gasoline onto an already challenging situation and lit a match by spreading racist and defamatory rumors directed at the Haitian community in Springfield. Their lies have flamed animosity and resentment from some residents of Springfield to an immigrant population that they blame for Springfield’s woes—problems that predated the surge of immigration in 2020. Indeed, as I hope I have made clear, the Haitian immigrant community in Springfield is part of the city’s path to recovery and renewal.

On Thursday, someone called in bomb threats to city hall in Springfield—with the threat using “hateful language” about Haitian immigrants. The threat caused city officials to close schools in the area. See The Guardian, Bomb threat shuts down Ohio city hall after Trump spreads baseless migrants rumor.

Springfield’s mayor and police chief, as well as Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, have criticized Trump and Vance's comments.

So, here we are: A city in Ohio that is doing its best to accomplish an economic renewal that necessarily involves a labor force immigrating into the city finds itself used as a campaign prop by politicians who have no interest in helping Springfield. Instead, the politicians are making it harder for city leaders to manage a challenging situation.

Springfield, Ohio, matters because it represents hundreds of US cities struggling with the same problems. It matters because its leaders and residents haven’t given up. It matters because its leaders and most of its residents have welcomed the Haitian immigrant community and are doing their best to manage their way through the strains caused by a 25% spike in population in four years.

America is a great nation because of immigration. America will continue to be a great nation, in part because of immigration. Yes, the immigration system is broken. But don’t confuse that dysfunction with the energy, talent, and vision re-injected into America with each successive wave of immigrants pursuing the same dream that our ancestors followed to our shores.

What is so pernicious and vile about the comments by Trump and Vance is that they are not attacking the broken immigration system. They are attacking and stigmatizing immigrants themselves, claiming that they are “poisoning” the blood of Americans—a fanciful conceit because the “blood” of Americans is a mixture of every race and ethnicity on Earth.

By falsely claiming that Haitians are eating the household pets of residents in Springfield, Trump and Vance seek to cast Haitians as “others” who are inferior to “real Americans”—defined as immigrants who had the good fortune to arrive in America in an earlier wave of immigration.

If there is a silver lining to the unvarnished ugliness of the rumors being spread by Trump and Vance, it is that they are doubling down on fictions that almost no one believes. The press is on the scent, looking to disprove their vile lies. The more that Trump and Vance repeat them, the more hateful and just plain weird they look.

The Trump-friendly Politico reported on Trump's inability to leave the topic alone in his first appearance after the debate. See Politico, Trump got back on track with the border. Then he started talking about the dogs (and geese).

Per Politico,

For a moment, it seemed like Donald Trump was using his Tucson, Arizona, rally to return to his typical immigration programming after a shaky debate performance. Then he went there — again.

Trump repeated the baseless claim that Haitian migrants are eating pets in Springfield, Ohio — remarks that became the stuff of endless social media memes soon after his debate.  [¶¶]

But after two days of unflattering headlines and Republicans squabbling over him pushing an anti-immigrant conspiracy theory, Trump once again couldn’t resist veering off into the outrageous.

Meanwhile, Kamala Harris was in North Carolina knocking the ball out the park (again) before a packed rally. See The Guardian, Harris touts strong debate performance as Trump says he won’t face her again.

A video of Harris’s first speech in North Carolina is here, Kamala Harris full speech at Charlotte, NC rally (Sept. 12, 2024). I have the video cued to start at Harris’s challenge to Trump to hold a second debate.

Harris’s body language, facial expessions, and obvious happiness speak volumes about her growing confidence. Although much of the substance of her speech in NC is familiar, her interactions with the crowd and her delivery are improving. Check out a few minutes of the speech if you haven’t seen it. She is a natural and effective campaigner!

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Opportunities for Reader Engagement

Watch Jessica Craven’s TikTok on the importance of voting early!

Jessica Craven brings her high energy and information-rich approach to the reasons for voting early. Watch and share! See Jessica Craven, The single most important —and the easiest—thing we can do if we want to win in November.

Join Ari Berman and Downtown Nasty Women, Markers for Democracy

Wednesday, September 18th, at 8pm ET, on Zoom

Join us for a virtual conversation with Ari Berman about his new book, Minority Rule

RSVP HERE
Ari Berman is Mother Jones' national voting rights correspondent and the author of a new book, Minority Rule: The Right-Wing Attack on the Will of the People—and the Fight to Resist It, and the 2016 book, Give Us the Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America, which was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year.

Co-hosts: Downtown Nasty Women, Markers For Democracy, and The Wednesday Group Giving Circles—with The States Projects Giving Circle Communities across the country.

Movement Voter Project, including Rep. Jamie Raskin

Please join The Movement Voter Pac on September 19th, 2024, at 7:00 PM ET for "A Bridge to Victory," an hour of humor and hope, benefiting progressive grassroots groups working tirelessly to mobilize voters in key swing states. 

The event will be emceed by Congressman Jamie Raskin, and features Julia Quinn, #1 NY Times bestselling author of the Bridgerton series; comedians Lewis Black (The Daily Show); Alonzo Bodden (Wait, Wait... Don't Tell Me!); David Feldman (Curb Your Enthusiasm and The David Feldman Show); John Fugelsang (SiriusXM); and will be hosted by the Rev. Barry Lynn (Paid to Piss People Off) and Ethan Herschenfeld (Red Notice and The NoSho).  

Billy Wimsatt, Founder and Executive Director of MVP, will deliver a special presentation to show how our collective efforts can make history in 2024. His vision and dedication have driven MVP’s mission to fund grassroots groups working to mobilize voters in key swing states.

REGISTER HERE: https://movement.vote/register/9w4ei8yc

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Concluding Thoughts

Sigh, I sat through an MSNBC segment with the NYT editor in charge of the newspaper’s polling function. The takeaway per the NYT editor: The election will be decided by razor-thin margins in a handful of counties across the nation. Bullsh*t!

This will be a “turnout” election. Claiming that the margins will be “razor-thin” assumes that the Times can predict turnout. As Neils Bohr never said, “It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.” What the Times is doing—but doesn’t have the intellectual honesty to explain—is making retro-dictions based on past turnout.

Okay. I would like to see the comparative turnout data for past elections that occurred after Roe v. Wade was overturned and the GOP candidate is a twice impeached former president with four indictments, thirty-four convictions, a civil finding of sexual abuse, and a $700 million civil judgment running against the first Black South Asian woman to be nominated for president.

The Times is working under the debilitating presumption that if it says something is so, it will be so. To repeat, “Bullsh*t.” We control turnout and are not prisoners of past election data that resides in a spreadsheet on a computer at the NYTimes. The Times should at least have the humility to say, “Assuming our turnout predictions are correct, we believe the election may be decided by razor thin margins in a handful of counties.” Even then, the polls are not predictive, they are descriptive.

So, if you saw the MSNBC segment, disregard it. It was based on unidentified assumptions about turnout that have no predicate in history. We control our destiny, pollsters do not. Focus on turning out votes. The details will take care of themselves.

Talk to you tomorrow!

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Dose of Daily Perspective

I have included two images of Barnard’s Galaxy below. I previously discussed the historical significance of Barnard’s Galaxy. (Prior explanation here: Are we really not going to talk about this?)

The first image below was taken under the dark skies sixty miles outside of Los Angeles. The second photo was taken from my backyard under the light-polluted LA skies.

Barnard’s Galaxy is part of the Local Group of galaxies to which our Milky Way belongs. It is 1.6 million light-years from Earth and has a diameter of eight light years.