On Saturday, November 16, a small group of neo-Nazis marched through the Short North, near downtown Columbus, Ohio.
The group chanted vile expressions of racism and white supremacy, including the phrase “Bow down, [N-word]!” according to Rev. Derrick Holmes, senior pastor at Columbus’ Union Grove Baptist Church, speaking on behalf of members of his congregation who witnessed the vulgar display firsthand. The cowardly neo-Nazis spouted this hateful rhetoric while carrying black flags with red swastikas and spinelessly hiding distinguishing features behind black concealing outfits and red masks.
Hate Club, a white supremacist group out of St. Louis, took responsibility for the neo-Nazi march. Despite videos portraying the use of pepper spray by the neo-Nazis against citizens brave enough to verbally confront them, the Columbus Police Department (CPD) issued a press release, claiming “probable cause has not been established to make any arrests,” going on to say that “the Constitution protects First Amendment activity, no matter how hateful.”
Of course, for CPD, protections for freedom of speech apply more to neo-Nazis than to Black Lives Matter protestors or students peacefully protesting the genocide in Gaza. This highlights the difference in government approach to criticisms of Israel dismissed as antisemitism, and genuine antisemitism. Perhaps if the neo-Nazis were unarmed African Americans, the police would have been more decisive in their willingness to act.
Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, and President Joe Biden have all issued statements condemning the demonstration, and local Black leaders and residents organized a countermarch on Sunday, November 17, emphasizing a message of unity and solidarity. This incident comes at a time where African Americans, Latinx Americans, and members of the LGBTQIA+ community across the country have received hateful and threatening text messages from cowards using anonymous, untraceable numbers.
The recent surge in acts of racism and hatred has emerged following the election of Donald Trump to the presidency and the selection of cabinet members closely aligned with the interests of white supremacy and finance capital by the President-elect. The Trump transition team has emphasized policies that would target DEI initiatives and use the U.S. military to carry out mass deportations at an unprecedented scale; doubling down on the white supremacist rhetoric that Trump used throughout his campaign.
It then comes as no surprise that far-right hate groups now feel emboldened to use intimidation and threats of violence to spread their witless messages of hate to anyone they can; however, messages of hate and division by the far-right are not new to Columbus, or other areas of Ohio.
Over the last several years, there has been a virulent outbreak of hateful white supremacist activity in Columbus; in 2021, flyers containing the phrase “Have a WHITE Christmas” were put up on local businesses throughout the Ohio State campus area. In September of the same year, anti-immigrant flyers were found around campus, sporting quotes from Adolf Hitler, and anti-trans graffiti were seen, advocating for change to the Equality Act to discriminate against trans people and “save women’s spaces.” At the time, OSU students stated that hateful tactics such as these were a common occurrence around campus.
Around the same time in Clintonville, on North High Street, stickers and other propaganda depicting Black and Jewish peoples diluting a supposed “European gene pool” were spread around the community. Additionally, there were “White Lives Matter” stickers with links that connected to neo-Nazi secure chat groups.
More recently, in 2023, members of the fascist group Blood Tribe harassed and intimidated participants of a drag brunch at Land Grant Brewing, going as far as to repeatedly chant “There will be blood!” all in an attempt to disrupt an event meant to raise money for LGBTQIA+ youth.
In other parts of the state, Nazis and their ilk have recently targeted local reading events for children. Twice in 2023, in Wadsworth, and in Cleveland, fascists attempted to interrupt and intimidate drag queen story hours attended by children. In Wadsworth, armed Nazis took over a playground and repeatedly unleashed the traditional Hitler salute of “sieg heil.” In Cleveland, families and their children were subjected to threats and intimidation by fascist demonstrators outside of a local theater. Not only did the local police do nothing to step in and protect the innocent attendees at these events, but in the case of Wadsworth they also charged the organizer of the story hour with a crime and issued a warrant for his arrest, after he formally complained about his treatment by the city.
It should come as no surprise that the police stood by and spoke loudly by their inaction. A 2020 report from the Brennan Center for Justice revealed that significant portions of the white supremacist movement are made up of current and former law enforcement officers. Perhaps the police are simply looking after their own. As local poet, author, and activist Scott Woods said in an article on MSNBC, “as police and deputies around here kill innocent Black Men, Nazis only get monitored.”
If the so-called authorities will not stand up to the scourge of white supremacy, then now, more than ever, it is the responsibility of working people to come together and stand united against the fascist threat.
In 2021, the Anna Hass Morgan club of the CPUSA stepped up in response to the hateful propaganda being spread around the city. In 2023, counter protesters turned out in greater numbers than the fascists. And in the most recent incident, local Black leaders took the lead, as they so often do, and demonstrated what a true commitment to justice looks like. Nazis marching through the Short North is not a good look for Columbus, but the response of the working people of this city can be an example to the rest of the nation.
