Hundreds of residents of Springfield, Ohio, responded to untrue stories about their city’s Haitian residents by choosing to eat at a local Haitian-Creole restaurant in what they call an act of ‘organized love’.

“Springfield is diverse,” city resident Steve McQueen, who helped arrange the dinner at Rose Goute Creole Restaurant on Friday Sept. 13, told Dayton 24/7 Now. “We know Springfield is full of love. [It] does not have the hate that is being told to the rest of the country and world as they’re even talking about.”

Rose Goute Creole opened in 2023. A year later, it boasts over 4.5 ratings (out of 5 stars) on Yelp, Google Reviews, and DoorDash. Its menu includes fried pork (aka griot), fried snapper, pikliz, plantain, rice and beans with goat, and more, said Travel Noire.

Manager Romane Pierre told the Springfield News-Sun that what he’s experienced in the wake of the falsehoods being spread about the Haitian community has come “as a shock.”

He wants people to understand that Haitians came to Springfield to build a better life. “I don’t want people to think that Haitians are bad people, because we came here to work,” he said. “We work very hard.”

“Yesterday some people call, I think they make some joke, ask if we have cat, dog,” he said. “I say, ‘We don’t sell that. We sell chicken, fish, goat, pork, rice, beans.’ I know my people — dogs, cats — we don’t do that in Haiti.”

But Pierre has also received support from other residents. “A lot of American people come here to try the food. They say ‘Don’t worry, we are with you,'” he told the News-Sun. “Everybody is welcome.”

Mark Houseman and Terrance Crowe were two of the many Springfield natives sharing a meal with their Haitian neighbors.

“I immediately shook my head and put my head down,” said Crowe. “You can’t conquer with hate, conquer with love. You’ve got to bridge the gaps, tear down those mental fences. We’re all human; we’re all in one race, the human race.”

“Why don’t we help them be better drivers or help them [learn to] speak English?” asked Houseman. “We’re fighting a fight nobody will win. There’s no win at the end of this with that hate.”

The restaurant staff told Dayton 24/7 Now that the amount of support was overwhelming. Not only did it show up in customers; it also showed up in favourable reviews on Yelp and Google, Newsweek said. The Rose Goute’s last review on Yelp was in December of 2023, but starting on September 13, 2024, two days after the presidential debate, a flood of new five-star reviews came into the site, praising the food and the staff who work there.

Reviewer Mike C., from Las Vegas, said: “I happened to be in town so decided to try something new. They were pretty busy, out of chicken, so I got the fried pork meal. Huge portion, easily 2 meals, and really tasty, with onions and peppers. Also came with a simple lettuce salad (nice and cooling), a spicy slaw (maybe too spicy for me), and fried plantains.”

Since the city welcomed immigrants in 2014, companies have been building plants, factories, and warehouses, creating many jobs, which Haitians have filled.  The United Farm Workers labor union has defended the Haitians on social media. Springfield metal factory owner Jamie McGregor told PBS NewsHour that he has hired 30 Haitians and would love to hire 30 more.

“Our Haitian associates come to work every day,” he said. “They don’t have a drug problem. They’ll stay at their machine, they’ll achieve their numbers. They are here to work.”

Unlike the rumours, Haitians in Springfield have legal status to be in the US, were not ‘dropped’ in the city (they arrived over a period of years after the city joined a network of immigrant-friendly cities), and have not been spreading tuberculosis and HIV. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine calls the rumors “unfortunate.”

“What we know is that the Haitians who are in Springfield are legal,” he told ABC News. “They came to Springfield to work. Ohio is on the move and Springfield has really made a great resurgence with a lot of companies coming in. These Haitians came in to work for these companies. What the companies tell us is that they are very good workers. They’re very happy to have them there. And frankly, that’s helped the economy now.”

Guerline Jozef, co-founder of the Haitian Bridge Alliance which places Haitian workers into union work and trains Haitian migrants for professional jobs and sectors, said she finds hope in how residents are supporting Haitian business. “It’s a very positive way of how non Haitians in Springfield are pushing back in their own way. Not saying anything, but showing up and enjoying the food and supporting the business.”

Sadly, the disruption that the untrue claims have caused in Springfield doesn’t seem to have slowed down. Some think the issue is bigger. In a recent article entitled ‘The Haitian Question’ in the New Yorker, Roxane Gay, who grew up Haitian-American in Nebraska, asked “Who needs to build walls when memes will do the job for you?”