Community members rally outside Howell City Hall in response to recent white supremacist demonstrations. Nov. 23, 2024. Photo by Jon King
On a cloudy, blustery Saturday, approximately 100 people turned out for a “Community and Unity Rally” in Howell, a response to a demonstration by masked white supremacists waving Nazi flags earlier this month.
“We’re hoping that we can put some pressure on local state officials to start taking the increased hate and bias incidents that are happening around the state at a higher frequency more seriously,” said Julie Ohashi, with Stand Against Extremism (SAGE) Livingston County, which organized the event. “Specifically, Livingston County, we’ve had three incidents in the last four months, and they’re escalating.”
Ohashi told Michigan Advance that SAGE members were frustrated that there was a lack of an official response to the Nov. 9 incident when a small group of white supremacists with Nazi flags protested outside of a production of the play “The Diary of Anne Frank,” being put on at the American Legion post in Howell Township.
Ohashi said they had invited many elected officials, including all nine members of the Livingston County Board of Commissioners, to attend Saturday’s rally as a show of support in opposing the recent spate of open displays of white supremacy which included a similar protest that took place in Howell in July, and then about a month later in downtown Brighton. However, she said none of them responded.
“We think that that’s a little concerning that leadership in Livingston County are choosing to not only not take action, but stay away,” she said. “So, we are organizing on a more of a grassroots level, and we’re hoping that it can help inspire other communities that when they see this, that they can take action themselves, and they don’t have to wait for the officials to do anything.”
The only official who did attend was Howell Mayor Bob Ellis, who acknowledged that Livingston County, and Howell in particular, had been targeted by what he called “a group of small people that want to make an outsized impression.”
Ellis said demonstrations like the one outside the production of the “Diary of Anne Frank,” managed to get headlines, sometimes even on an international basis.
“I have a Spanish teacher in Colombia from a video chat, and he even heard about these things, so it just has a severe adverse effect on our whole community, and it doesn’t reflect the views of the vast majority of people who live here,” said Ellis. “So, we really do need a way to counter that message and let everyone know that Livingston County is inclusive and welcoming and we want to do anything we can to do that.”
Ohashi said Saturday’s rally was a necessary first step toward countering the message of hate and division that the previous protests have tried to spread. A similar effort was made back in July when SAGE led a symbolic scrubbing of the steps of the historic Livingston County Courthouse.
“We will continue to show that we’ve got way more numbers, and we’re way more proud,” said Ohashi. “We’re not hiding our faces and we’re not scared. They don’t intimidate us. They’re just a small, tiny nothing. They’re nothings, but unfortunately they get a lot of that press. So we want to show that there’s actually way, way more of us.”
Also speaking was Pamela Ortner of South Lyon who said the protests may have been motivated by white supremacy, but were a danger beyond simply race.
“You don’t have to be a Christian to know right from wrong,” she said. “It’s not only against Blacks. It’s not only against Jews. It’s against anyone who is different. It’s LGBTQ. It’s people who are trans, who are killed. It’s kids who are afraid to go to school and afraid to use the bathroom of their choice. So it’s not just one or two groups. It’s anyone who’s [considered] ‘other’ that is banned.”
Ortner told the Advance that she firmly believed the campaign and reelection of President-elect Donald Trump had emboldened extremists and that while many of his supporters were essentially ignoring the danger, they did so at their own peril.
“They’re coming for you, baby. If you’re ‘other’ or you’re not well off, and if you don’t sit at the table, where it’s going to impact all of us. And I’m here today just to say that. I’m here because I need community. I mean, I’m heartbroken. I’ve been crying almost every day since [the election], but I need to be around community, and I need to resist,” she said.
While the two-hour rally mostly drew honks and shouts of support from passersby, at least twice pickup trucks purposely accelerated as they drove past, releasing black smoke into the crowd of attendees, a practice known as “rolling coal” which has become a form of counterprotest.
Regardless, Ohashi says the rally was just a first step toward combating white supremacy in the community. The next step is to provide Livingston County residents information on successful strategies they can use to fight fascism in the community.
That will be accomplished with a two-part virtual training session set for Dec. 10 and 12 that she says will include information on how to defend against white supremacy on a longer term basis as opposed to reacting to each individual protest.
Ohashi also noted that a community response manual disseminated by the Michigan Department of Civil Rights was another useful tool.
“It’s literally a road map for any community in Michigan to be taking, actionable realistic steps that we can be working towards to have a more comprehensive plan when hate does erupt and to take to keep our marginalized neighbors safe because right now, our marginalized neighbors do not feel safe,” she said.