Residents of Lincoln Heights pressed for answers Monday after a group of neo-Nazis hung a white nationalist banner and waved swastikas on an I-75 overpass between the village and Evandale.
Residents of the historically Black community — the first self-governing Black municipality north of the Mason-Dixon line — say they believe they were intentionally targeted. The members of the hate group wore masks and several brandished rifles.
Hamilton County Sheriffs deputies took positions on the Lincoln Heights side of the bridge. Evendale officers positioned themselves on the other side.
Videos of the incident show a group of counter protesters — many from Lincoln Heights — approaching the neo-Nazis. Videos of the exchange between the two groups include racial slurs directed at the counter-protesters.
"Temperatures quickly got hot," Hamilton County Sheriff Lt. Michael Steers said at a packed town hall meeting Monday. "And understandably so. Officers were shouting for them to leave, and eventually the Nazis made the decision that the crowd had grown hostile and that they were going to leave."
Videos show counter protesters burning one of the Nazi flags afterward.
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The incident has left an unsettled feeling in Lincoln Heights and beyond — as well as questions about law enforcement response to the hate group.
'It's heartbreaking'
Tia Evans and Rakeya Morris live in Lincoln Heights and showed up to a protest Monday morning in neighboring Lockland. The few dozen demonstrators wanted to know why Lockland and Evendale police didn't arrest any of the neo-Nazis.
"I grew up right off that bridge," Evans said. "Right there. Right up the street my niece goes to school at Lincoln Heights Elementary. What are these people coming and doing? Was that a threat? Are they coming to harm us? I just didn't know and I don't understand it. It's just heartbreaking these people still exist."
Some of the Lockland protesters also were armed. Many waved signs decrying the Nazis and the police response to them.
Later in the afternoon, Lincoln Heights residents packed into the village municipal building for a town hall meeting about the incident. The building's chambers were filled beyond capacity, with people lined up into the lobby. Down the street, armed residents stood guard near the bridge where the original hate group rally happened.
"Today is a day that our hearts are quite heavy for the beast that came to our community," Lincoln Heights Mayor Ruby Kinsey-Mumphrey said at the opening of the meeting.
The same question that protesters asked earlier in the day in Lockland rang through the meeting — why weren't the hate group members arrested?
"The reason I made the decision when I first encountered them that I was not making an arrest was that there was no law that was being violated," Lt. Steers told the crowd. "They were open-carrying in accordance with Ohio's open carry laws."
The response garnered groans from the crowd, who sounded off on their frustrations and fears over the three-hour town hall.
"My biggest concern was those children," one speaker said. "That wouldn't have been OK to take place close to any other elementary. Those thugs that you allowed into our community caused terror. If it happened anywhere else, you would have had them. Get those thugs out of here."
Addressing criticism
Hamilton County Sheriff Charmain McGuffey acknowledged the deep feeling of unease the neo-Nazi demonstration sparked.
"When I pulled into this community just a half hour ago, the first thing I saw was a man who is a resident or connected to Lincoln Heights," she said. "He was standing on the corner to guard the community. It brought tears to my eyes."
McGuffey tried to address some criticisms made toward Lockland and Evendale officers. She said a photo of a police cruiser near the U-Haul truck the neo-Nazis used took place right before the police officer followed the U-Haul out of the village of Lockland to make sure it was leaving.
McGuffey said an Evendale officer gave a ride to one of the demonstrators to take him to his vehicle after the members of the hate group fled. But McGuffey said that vehicle was impounded after it became clear the demonstrator wouldn't be able to retrieve it without incident.
"We are not going to release it," McGuffey said. "We're inventorying its contents."
Neither Lockland nor Evendale officials attended the town hall. The Village of Lockland issued a statement decrying the neo-Nazis, saying it had no prior knowledge of their event and did not aid the hate group.
McGuffey said Evendale Police Chief Tim Holloway was working on documenting law enforcement response.
"He is reviewing body camera footage," McGuffey said. "He doesn't have a large force and he's trying to get that done as soon as he can."
Hundreds of people participated in counter events after the neo-Nazis left, including vigils and prayers on the bridge over the weekend. Signs reading "Love Wins" and "Everyone is Welcome Here" were hung in the places where neo-Nazis had waved swastika flags and hung their white supremacist banner.
The later events give Lincoln Heights residents like Evans and Morris hope.
"That meant so much to me," she said of the events. "That's what it's about. It's not about what they did that day. It's about what happened the next day. It's about that unity."
Morris agreed.
"We just all have to stand together and fight them with our words," she said. "Just stick together."