False Accusations of Haitian Cat-Eating

South Florida has the nation's largest Haitian community--nearly half a million people. I lived in South Florida for over fifty years and have heard my share of comments, good and bad, true and false, about the Haitian community. In the decades I lived in Florida, I never once heard any comments about Haitians eating cats. There were no rumors of disappearing pets. Maybe a mentally ill Haitian has killed and eaten a cat but eating cats is NOT the cultural norm for Haitians. 

Because I have taught Haitians high school students, I was particularly disturbed by the cat-eating allegations. These rumors make my former students look like subhumans when nothing could be further from the truth. Most Haitians coming to America work hard, have struggled to learn English, and encourage their kids to get a good education. It takes courage to immigrate to a country with another language and defaming them is a gross injustice.  

The rumor appears to have started because of two factors:

1. Apparently some Haitians have killed waterfowl--I am not sure if they are ducks or geese--swimming in ponds of public parks. However, they have not killed privately owned pets for food.  If you check on the stories, they never originate with the person who actually saw cats being killed for food. Rather, somebody's friend allegedly saw it and told the person appearing in the news.  In the absence of an eyewitness who comes forward, these hearsay accounts should be treated with skepticism.

[As an aside, there is a pond across the street from my house. Canadian geese are beautiful, fascinating animals. They often searched our lawn for stray kernels of bird  food to eat. I started feeding them last summer when brutal heat and an exceptional drought killed off much of their food supply. Yes, I know, feeding wildlife is a big no-no, but I felt justified in breaking the rule because of the extreme weather. I do not like it when geese are killed.] 

2. Apparently, in another Ohio town--not Springfield--a black woman did kill a cat and eat part of it. The police bodycam video shows a woman who looks mentally ill. The woman was American and not Haitian. In this case, the relevant issue is mental illness and *not* race. 

Somehow, the true story of the waterfowl became conflated with the story of ONE troubled, non-Haitian woman eating a cat and has morphed into "Haitians eat cats." 

Can I swear that no Haitian has ever eaten a cat? I cannot. However, I can say with certainty that cat-eating is not the norm in Haitian communities.