A Black community nearly 20 minutes outside Cincinnati, Ohio, has created a security patrol unit following a scary run-in with neo-Nazi groups coming to their town.
As Blavity reported, an incident between residents of Lincoln Heights, a town with a rich Black history, and neo-Nazis who infiltrated their neighborhood with AR-15 rifles and spewing racist rhetoric happened in February. The unannounced group of protestors hung black flags with red swastika symbols on them but quickly retreated in a U-Haul box truck after Black residents confronted them.
Citizens felt that law enforcement officials didn’t take the confrontation seriously and decided it was best to protect themselves.
“When we saw that the police wasn’t helping us, every able-bodied man in the neighborhood, with or without a gun, has stood guard and has been standing guard ever since,” Dominic Brewton Jr., a business owner in the area, said, according to The Washington Post.
This led to the creation of the Lincoln Heights Safety and Watch Program.
“An American individual protecting his homeland with a firearm — I thought that was the most American thing that we [could] do,” the program’s spokesman Daronce Daniels.
Nearly 70 guards have volunteered to stand on the streets that serve as an entrance into Lincoln Heights. Some community members say the group’s quick coordination embodies the spirit of past times in the region.
“In some ways, it’s muscle memory for us,” Carlton Collins shared with the publication.
Others have opposed the program and are not fond of being questioned about their whereabouts when trying to enter the city, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported. One entrepreneur disclosed to the news outlets that a guard who claimed to be “protecting Lincoln Heights” raised a gun in his direction and ordered him to leave an empty lot he owned.
Last week, Hamilton County Sheriff Charmaine McGuffey revealed that she disapproved of the Lincoln Heights Safety and Watch Program and called it a “neighborhood militia.”
“There have been no charges of the armed residents, who are not breaking any laws by open carrying in Ohio,” Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Kyla Woods stated on February 26 per The Washington Post. “We do not intend to investigate any armed person unless a crime is committed.”
Daniels dismissed claims to The Washington Post that the group acted as a militia or vigilantes. He noted that reports of armed individuals approaching those passing by were isolated incidents involving residents not involved in the program. He emphasized that submitting any suspicious activity directly to the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office is part of the Safety and Watch Program rules and regulations.
“The only thing that’s happening is that these Americans are protecting their community against Nazis,” he said.
The Lincoln Heights community, backed by Mayor Ruby Kinsey, asks members to boycott Evendale’s businesses until a thorough investigation into police conduct and the firing of any officers who aided demonstrators is done. While Evendale launched a dedicated webpage and commissioned an independent probe of its police department, the Hamilton County prosecutor’s office is reviewing the neo-Nazi rally for potential criminal charges. Jacod Hamblin, Hamilton County legal spokesperson, mentioned that the amount of evidence will drag the process out.
Lincoln Heights dwellers stand by the guards. Pastor Julian Cook of Lincoln Heights Missionary Baptist Church explained that everyone he ran into was respectful.
“I pass them daily as I head to and fro,” he said. “And it’s important to remember that they have arisen out of a need.”
