September 25, 2024 at 8:00 a.m. EDT

Watching news reports of Haitian kids being forced to stay home from school to prevent violent attacks in Springfield, Ohio, makes me cry about my own childhood in New York.

In 1990, on my way home from school, I was jumped by five boys on the corner of Flatbush Avenue and Kings Highway in Brooklyn. I don’t remember anyone intervening to stop the violence. When the kicks and punches came flying, what saved my life was taking the turtle position in my purple puffy coat with a backpack filled with hardcover textbooks. A shy and smart Trinidadian classmate literally picked me up, handed me my missing shoe and walked me home.

Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2024/09/25/haitian-cuisine-ohio-immigrants-creole/