Spring Valley hosts Haitian-American Rally

Spring Valley’s Memorial Park was awash in blue and red on Sunday as members of Rockland’s Haitian community gathered to celebrate their heritage and denounce alarmingly racist rhetoric coming from Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump and his running mate J.D. Vance.

Organized in part by Carl-Hennrey Joseph a former trustee of the Village of Spring Valley, and Demeza Delhomme, a former mayor of Spring Valley, Sunday’s rally was a response to comments made by former President Trump, who during a September debate with Vice President Kamala Harris repeated lies about Haitian immigrants legally residing in the community of Springfield, Ohio.

“The purpose of this rally is to give a response Donald Trump and J.D. Vance that the Haitian people do not eat dogs and cats!” read an invitation to the event shared with the RCT.

It is no surprise that Trump’s comments drew such a strong response from the village; Spring Valley is home to the second largest Haitian population per capita in the U.S. according to national census data.

Many prominent local Democrats and civil rights leaders were in attendance including Dr. Francis Pratt, former head of Nyack’s chapter of the NAACP, Vivian Street, former head of the Spring Valley Chapter of the NAACP and Paul Adler, former head of the Rockland Democratic party, who told the crowd “we are all Haitian today.” 

Local religious leaders, including Pastor Yves Latouche of Spring Valley Church of Lazurs, who addressed the crowd in both Creole and English.,  urged attendees to stand up for their dignity in the face of dehumanizing rhetoric. “No one should put you down” said Latouche.  

Also in attendance were Mondaire Jones, the Democrat candidate for NY’s 17th Congressional District, and Elijah Rechlin Melnick the Democrat candidate  for NY States 38th congressional district. Jones, a Spring Valley native, told the crowd that he was proud to represent them in 2020 and eager to fight on their behalf once again, stating “my heart is hurting, watching and hearing disgusting falsehoods.” 

Neither candidate missed a chance to denounce their Republican opponents  for office for their perceived reluctance to speak out against their presidential candidate’s  harmful rhetoric.