Tag Archives: Donald Trump

Words can cause great harm. The case of Springfield, Ohio.

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Words, especially in the mouth of leaders and influential people, can cause great harm. People who cause great harm should be held accountable, and those who do not speak out to debunk lies and harmful language are also complicit in the harm.

Over this past week, Springfield, Ohio has been in the news, and not in a good way. Just one person starting a rumor and then supposed leaders latching onto a false narrative specifically to demonize a group of fellow human beings caused irreparable harm to a community.

How did this sad story unfold? It started by one person posting on social media that “illegal immigrants from Haiti were eating people’s pets” in Springfield, Ohio. Springfield is a city of about 60,000 people near Dayton, Ohio with around 20,000 Haitian immigrants settled legally settled through an amnesty program.

No Donald Trump, immigrants in Springfield, Ohio are not eating pets.

Presidential candidate Donald Trump and vice-presidential candidate JD Vance then propagated this unsubstantiated rumor as fact, and Trump even spoke about this during the September 10th presidential debate with Kamala Harris. He stated, “”In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs, the people that came in (illegal Haitian immigrants),” Trump said. “They’re eating the cats. They’re eating the pets of the people that live there. This is what’s happening in our country, and it’s a shame.”

So what was the result of Trump’s words?
• Two days in a row, city offices and schools were closed due to bomb threats
• Haitians in Springfield are facing physical threats and hateful rhetoric
• A small city is trust into national news causing disruption to daily life.

All Springfield public officials have spoken out and clarified that these pet eating allegations are false. Two of the people who took photos and started the rumor are now seeing the huge negative ramifications of their actions and expressing remorse. And yes, several years ago a woman was arrested for cooking a cat, but she was an American and it was in a different Ohio city.

Do read the newspaper story from the Columbus Dispatch as well as listen to this video that includes the words of Springfield mayor Jeffrey Mims.

My concluding key messages:
• Inflammatory words and falsehoods can cause great harm, especially when amplified by people in leadership or powerful positions.
• It is the responsibility of everyone to debunk hateful and untrue language, and do what we can to mitigate the harm and support those in the crossfire.
• Standing by and doing nothing makes us complicit in the hate and partially responsible for the damage it causes.
• And even worse, supporting those who spout hateful and untrue lies by voting for them or excusing their actions is directly contributing to the negative impacts.

Let us all unite and commit to never supporting those who harm others with their words, and that includes at the ballot box.

Good Leaders Lead with Open Minds – a Harris / Trump Example

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I have written several blogs about various attributes of good leadership, and in this blog I want to explore leading with an open mind and contrast US Presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. Interestingly enough, I almost think of Kamala Harris being sort of a Princess Leia (aka General Leia Organa) and Trump as Kylo Ren, the evil love child of Leia and Hans Solo. Do check out my 2016 blog, “Leadership Lessons from Star Wars – The Force Awakens.”

The best leaders are open to listening and considering ideas from many diverse sources to arrive at the best solutions, whereas poor leaders have a “NIH – Not Invented Here” attitude. “If the idea is not mine, then it is not worth considering. Everything has to come from me.”

So what are two examples from Donald Trump and Kamala Harris?

Starting with Trump: when the Republicans and Democrats in the US Senate worked together to pass the bipartisan Immigration Reform bill to address immigration issues and border security by a 68 – 32 vote, Trump killed it. The bill, mainly developed by Sens. James Lankford (R-Oklahoma), Kyrsten Sinema (I-Arizona), and Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut), represented the most significant changes to immigration policy in thirty years, reimagining the asylum process and the ways border officials deal with migrants requesting humanitarian protection.

Donald Trump, instead of supporting a positive bill agreed to across both political parties, directed his allies in the US House of Representatives to vote it down since a positive step for our country would hurt his election chances. Trump would only support his own drastic measures like continuing to build a costly and ineffective border wall and deporting millions of immigrants. Any idea that is not Trump’s personally is not worth considering.

The best leaders consider ideas and input from multiple diverse sources,

Now let’s look at Kamala Harris’ approach. A few months ago, Donald Trump floated the idea of not taxing tips of service industry workers. Instead of an attitude of opposing the idea since it was not hers, Harris supported the idea and pledged to do likewise. Of course, Trump complained that “Kamala stole his idea,” but my view is that a great leader embraces all good ideas no matter where they come from.

Instead of opposing or discarding ideas that are not their own, enlightened leaders listen to all input from multiple sources and arrive at conclusions that come from the collective minds of a large diverse group instead of just their own limited thinking.

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Blog author Stan Kimer is a DEIB (diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging) consultant and trainer who also focuses on inclusive leadership.  In addition, I have dynamic transwoman Deanna Jones on my team who is a fantastic key note speaker discussing her journey being her authentic self.  Please be in touch to book Deanna or myself.