CNN
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Local residents confronted and drove off neo-Nazi demonstrators waving large swastika-emblazoned flags along a highway overpass on Friday in Evendale, Ohio, home to a historically Black community that has endured a long history of racism.
White nationalist groups in Ohio have recently grown increasingly brazen in expressing hateful rhetoric and racist ideologies. Last November, Hate Club, a newly formed White supremacist organization, paraded through a Columbus neighborhood, waving swastika flags and shouting racist slurs.
About a dozen neo-Nazis, wearing all black clothing and red face masks the marchers in Columbus also wore, were seen on traffic cameras waving the swastika flags. They had also pinned red swastika banners on the fence of the overpass and a sign reading “America for the White Man,” according to photos shared with CNN.
Swastikas are a notorious symbol of hate, antisemitism and White supremacy tracing to the murderous legacy of Germany’s Nazi Party and the Holocaust.
In footage documented by CNN affiliate WLWT, people can be seen walking up to the demonstrators as police officers stood in between them. Moments within confronting them, the neo-Nazis quickly backed up, jumped into a U-Haul box truck and left the scene.
Law enforcement officials at the scene can also be seen ushering the demonstrators into the U-Haul truck and waving at them to go.
Police became aware of “unannounced protest activity” around 2 p.m. on Friday on Vision Way overlooking Interstate 75, the Evendale Police Department said in a news release. Evendale is about 12 miles north of downtown Cincinnati.
“The protest, while very offensive, was not unlawful,” police said. “The protest was short lived in duration. The protestors left the area on their own. No further action was taken by the Evendale Police Department.”
Events organized or attended by White supremacists in the United States hit a new high in 2023, the Anti-Defamation League reported. Public gatherings of White nationalists or people with Nazi flags have unfolded in recent years in Nashville, New Hampshire, Boston, Virginia, Michigan and Washington, DC.
“We are underestimating the dangers of the police not even attempting to identify them. Who are they trying to protect? Because it isn’t us,” local resident Kachara Talbert, who confronted the protesters, told CNN. “It could be another Hitler behind those masks. It could be a school shooter behind those masks.”
The Vision Way overpass connects Evendale to the village of Lincoln Heights, the first all-Black, self-governing city north of the Mason-Dixon Line, according to the Cincinnati Preservation Association.
Evendale is also just two miles away from Reading, which used to be one of thousands of White-only communities throughout the US known as “sundown towns,” where local laws prohibited Black people and other people of color to be out after sunset to intimidate them from living in the area.
“The sign they posted said ‘America for the White Man’ and it makes me ask, what makes this group, that literally originated in another country, think they are more entitled to America than me and my folks?” Talbert said. “This country was made of Black blood, sweat and tears, so why do these colonizers feel so comfortable?”
The Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office responded to the scene and helped de-escalate the situation “and make sure that no one was hurt,” Sheriff Charmaine McGuffey said in a statement.
“Lincoln Heights residents are understandably upset,” the statement read. “We continue to work with the community, and emphasize that there is no place for hate in Hamilton County.”
Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval also released a statement on X condemning the incident and said it was “shocking and disgusting to see swastikas displayed in Evendale today.”
“This is not what we stand for, and it will never be what we stand for,” the mayor added. “Messages of hate like this have no place in our region.”
CNN has reached out to the mayor, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, the Evendale Police Department and the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office for additional comment but did not receive a reply.
The statements from officials and law enforcement upset local residents who said the lack of effort to hold the racist demonstrators accountable will enable them to return and sends a message to Americans that what they are doing is acceptable.
“Their statements talk about how hate has no place here, but no justice was served. These are terrorists we’re talking about,” Talbert said. “Seeing the flag being represented here and seeing the police stand there in what looked like unity, not disgust, made us feel like they’re saying what the Nazis stand for is OK.”
News of the demonstrators’ display spread quickly throughout the city as photos and videos were shared all over Facebook. One by one, dozens of residents, including Talbert, showed up to form a crowd that did not hesitate to approach the neo-Nazis and pull one of their flags, which they later set on fire.
“Anger and rage just came over me. I literally got there in about 15 minutes,” Talbert told CNN. “The Nazis were disrespecting my family, my lineage, my heritage. I took it very much personally. I needed to be there to take that flag down, and I needed to push those people out of our community.”
As they approached the neo-Nazis, the demonstrators, which Talbert said were carrying guns, called them the N-word.
Video posted by an unknown account on Facebook obtained by local community members showed what appeared to be the demonstrators from Friday using the N-word and other derogatory language to refer to approaching residents who were coming to confront them.
“Look at the n***ers coming,” one masked demonstrator says, as multiple others echo the racist slur. Another says, “the cops are going to give us an escort to Freddy’s car,” and another replies “f**k yeah.”
Talbert said the chaotic confrontation lasted just minutes before the demonstrators hurriedly ran off in the U-Haul.
“Members of my community ripped the flag out of their hand and burned it up, we spit on it, and if needed, it really could have gotten ugly,” Talbert said. “We will not hesitate to protect our community. And after the show they put on, every Black community that you can think of is going to show up for us 100%.”
The lack of action from law enforcement to question and obtain the identities of the demonstrators was an “insult” to the community, Talbert said, which she says has seen the same police department interrogate locals and minors for simple, non-dangerous offenses like congregating on sidewalks.
“I’ve watched Black men all my life in this community being frisked and detained without probable cause,” she said. “But I didn’t see any rubber bullets that day. I didn’t see anybody getting shot, like during Black Lives Matter protests. I didn’t see gas. The calmness of the police overall, the way they were standing in front of them, it made us very upset.”
Shya Smith, another Lincoln Heights resident who confronted the demonstrators after they called her an “N-word b*tch,” told CNN her community believes President Donald Trump and his administration have given the White nationalists the confidence to show up without fear of being punished.
“It is so upsetting to see how a group of extremist people who promote hate can ‘peacefully’ protest while openly carrying rifles just 700 yards away from an elementary school,” she said.
“And it’s a slap in the face to watch the police protect them while a predominantly African American neighborhood fears for their safety and well-being.”
Despite the fear, anger and pain that has reverberated through the community in the wake of this reprehensible incident, it is unwavering love and unyielding unity that has emerged in response, sending a clear message to the hate-filled demonstrators: their behavior is not welcome here.
Throughout the following morning and afternoon, local residents and neighbors from nearby towns gathered at the same overpass, this time holding signs and posters of solidarity, including one that read, “My father fought Nazis, and so will I.”
As they were doing so, three cars belonging to the peaceful demonstrators had their rear windshields shattered by unknown perpetrators, according to Kim Lachance, whose car was broken into.
“I came here because I couldn’t just sit by and not do anything for any longer,” Lachance, who grew up in Lincoln Heights during desegregation, told CNN from the parking lot where her car had been vandalized. “We have to fight back.”
Lachance was holding a sign that said “love” when two women drove by and stopped their cars to come out to give her a hug.
“They were crying because they said yesterday they were so heartbroken,” Lachance said. “We have to take care of our communities, especially ones that have gone through things like this and continue to go through things like this.”
The presence of White supremacist groups in Ohio is not new. In the early 20th century, the Ku Klux Klan bombed the University of Dayton, held rallies in the state and assembled in towns such as Westerville, where the group established a stronghold.
“When you have years and years of oppression and you have Nazi supporters in office, as police officers, judges, that is what’s making these people feel confident to do something like that,” Talbert said.
“America needs to stand up and stop this madness, because it’s only going to get worse and it’s going to get dangerous.”
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