Haitians In CA Worry Of Long-Term Effects From False Political Rhetoric

Here are the morning’s top stories on Friday, September 27, 2024…

• A Haitian community group filed a criminal complaint this week in Ohio over former president Donald Trump’s false claims that Haitian immigrants were eating cats and dogs. The same group helps Haitian immigrants along California’s border and says Trump’s accusations are echoing there too. 
• A bill designed to help Black families reclaim land taken by the government, or get compensation for it, has been vetoed by Governor Gavin Newsom.

Haitians In Southern CA Fear Impact Of False Claims

The leader of a nonprofit representing the Haitian community invoked a private-citizen right to file charges Tuesday against former President Donald Trump and his running mate, JD Vance, over the chaos and threats experienced by Springfield, Ohio, since Trump first spread false claims about legal immigrants there during a presidential debate.

The Haitian Bridge Alliance made the move after inaction by the local prosecutor, said their attorney, Subodh Chandra of the Cleveland-based Chandra Law Firm.  The group also helps immigrants along California’s border. Jeef Nelson said the false narratives will have a lasting impact.

“It’s going to leave a mark, a scar. And then that’s going to take a year to heal,” Nelson said. The Haitians arriving in the U.S. today are doing so legally, through a process the Biden administration established last year. The vast majority who come through this border head on to other places for jobs or to reunite with family. And Nelson said those who do stay in San Diego have been welcomed.

California Reparations Bill For Racist Land Seizures Vetoed By Newsom

Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed Senate Bill 1050 this week, a bill that would’ve created a state process for reviewing claims from people who believe they lost property through the racially motivated use of eminent domain.

The final version of the bill, authored by state Sen. Steven Bradford (D-Gardena), arrived on Newsom’s desk after passing both houses in the state Legislature without opposition.

“I thank the author for his commitment to redressing past racial injustices,” Newsom wrote in his veto message on Wednesday. “However, this bill tasks a nonexistent state agency to carry out its various provisions and requirements, making it impossible to implement.”

In February, the California Legislative Black Caucus announced the 14 reparations bills it was prioritizing. CLBC members curated the list to test the limits of the Legislature’s commitment to racial justice while seeking to avoid a wholesale rejection that could derail the quest for reparations.