The discord marked a return to the tensions that troubled Springfield City Commission meetings for much of the past year, after a one-meeting reprieve. The Jan. 30 meeting stood out for the large crowd that urged support for Haitian residents.
Brown said Tuesday that she had to say something as the only Black American on the commission, with a kinship with Haitians who also are a product of the transatlantic slave trade. She said as a special education administrator at Springfield City Schools, she knows a lot about IQ, and to compare the human brain to that of an animal is insulting.
“The comparison to people of African descent as less than animals, again, is super racist,” Brown said. “... That was one of the most despicable things I’ve ever heard having sat in this seat. So I might as well say it now as well: I will not be seeking a second term, and these are the things, there are the reasons. Because the vileness that has come from citizens as I’ve sat here ... I just can’t continue to consume that. It’s disgusting.”
Richard Jordan, a Springfield resident, said during the public comment portion of the meeting that Haitians had the same IQ as dogs and less than that of monkeys, espousing racist rhetoric that has historically been used against Black people. He said that Haitians drivers were causing accidents and the city “could be collecting money” off of them, but was not ticketing any of them. He said that court cases were being thrown out due to translation problems.
Previous News-Sun investigation has not found evidence to support Jordan’s claims about ticketing and court cases.
Jordan also said driving simulators were being used to play “video games.” Jordan said this was “a waste of our money,” although 10 simulators were donated by the Maria Tiberi Foundation and Virtual Drivers Interactive and two were donated in 2023.
“That money should have went to us for the misery that you caused, you have caused this whole city,” Jordan said. “You failed us on every level. Every single level. You [have] done nothing but demolish it and [expletive] on the citizens, all the citizens. You don’t hear our cries. Our cries go in the can of irrelevance and stupidity, and I’m tired of it.”
Jordan then called one of the white commissioners “a disgrace to your own race,” at which point a man in the crowd cheered.
Rue had police escort the man who cheered out of the meeting for the interruption, which angered Jordan, who claimed the man’s First Amendment Right to free speech was violated. Jordan continued to talk past his three-minute allocated time and was escorted out.
Rue told the crowd that everyone has three minutes to speak and the commission listens. He said no one’s First Amendment Rights were violated and the man who cheered was removed because he “disrupted the meeting.” Ohio law allows government bodies to set such rules for their public meetings.
“What that gentleman (Jordan) said about IQs is probably the most offensive and most racist thing you can bring up; let that be said, let that be heard very clearly,” Rue said. “That was one of the most foolish things I’ve heard and one of the most racist. Racist. Clearly.”
Brown said she has been “gaslit so many times” by citizens and called racist herself, to which she objected.
“I implore you to do your research because I’ve done mine for years,” Brown said. " ... I also understand that racism is a construct that continues to divide us, and it is a product of capitalism in my opinion. ... It’s another divider for us as people, for those of us who are not independently wealthy white men here in America. It’s a device that keeps us divided and busy."
Brown said that she has held in what she wanted to say since August 2023, when angry residents began showing up to city commission meetings — some espousing racist viewpoints — following the fatal school bus crash in which Haitian immigrant Hermanio Joseph crossed the centerline on Ohio 41, striking a school bus and killing one student.
Last year, neo-Nazi white supremacist group the Blood Tribe began a “months-long campaign of harassment and intimidation” of the city and its residents because of its Haitian population, the city alleges in a federal court case against the hate group.
Springfield was then thrust into the national spotlight in September after national Republican political figures spread false rumors about Haitian immigrants eating pets.
In many cities and school districts, attendees of public government meetings do not receive same-day responses when they raise concerns at a meeting. But those responses have been standard practice more recently at Springfield City Commission meetings. City officials have said they want to be as transparent as possible, although some residents have pushed back against that claim, saying the city is not really listening to their concerns.
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