Haitian community sets demonstration in Spring Valley Sunday. 'Using us...is unacceptable'

SPRING VALLEY - Organizers of a Sunday rally in this diverse village do not mince words when explaining the demonstration's purpose: "To give a response to Donald Trump & JD Vance that the Haitian people do not eat dogs & cats."

The event is scheduled to take place from 4-8 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 13 at Memorial Park, near the main parking lot off Dr. Berg Lane.

The event provides both a message to political leaders, including the top of the GOP ticket, and a unity-building exercise for the community, said Carl-Henry Joseph, a former Spring Valley village trustee who is one of the organizers.

Referencing the repeated lies told about the Haitian community in Springfield, Ohio , Joseph said the march will make clear that "using us Haitians as a political tool is unacceptable."

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Spring Valley, a 2-square-mile village in Rockland's towns of Ramapo and Clarkstown, is home to the second largest Haitian population, per capita, in the U.S. While 2022 Census data show more than 10,900 Rocklanders are of Haitian descent, according to the Rockland County Planning Department, village and county activists have long said that number is undercounted and believe Spring Valley's population alone was near that.

An uptick in legal immigration from Haiti, with Temporary Protected Status and humanitarian parole extended for people from Haiti under the Biden administration, has been experienced in Spring Valley and other locations, like Springfield.

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Spring Valley's Haitian diaspora has roots that are deep and well known. Over the years, Haitian prime ministers and other high-ranking officials have paid visits to the village.

Haitian embassy officials and the region's churches have also been informed of Sunday's demonstration, coordinators said.

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Co-organizer Demeza Delhomme, a former mayor of Spring Valley who ran as a Democrat, said the event is about demanding respect across the political spectrum.

"Everything you do these days is politics. You can’t get away from it," Delhomme said. "That’s why we have to make the rest of the world know: We’re taking note."

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Haitian community sets demonstration in Spring Valley Sunday. 'Using us...is unacceptable'