About a dozen masked neo-Nazis marched with swastika flags through Ohio’s state capital of Columbus on Nov. 16, with at least one member of the group chanting a racial slur. While police made no arrests, they did detain a few individuals.
“We will not tolerate hate in Ohio,” said Gov. Mike DeWine in a statement. “Neo-nazis—their faces hidden behind red masks—roamed streets in Columbus today, carrying Nazi flags and spewing vile and racist speech against people of color and Jews. There were reports that they were also espousing white power sentiments.”
He proclaimed that “there is no place in this state for hate, bigotry, antisemitism or violence, and we must denounce it wherever we see it.”
Andrew Ginther, the mayor of Columbus, said “we will not allow any of our neighbors to be intimidated, threatened or harmed because of who they are, how they worship and whom they love.”
On Sunday, community leaders led a unity march. Rev. Derrick Holmes serves as senior pastor at Union Grove Baptist Church.
“I really want a counterweight to what happened yesterday,” Holmes said. “And really of just the mind that hate doesn’t get to have the last word, that injustice doesn’t get the last word, that bigotry doesn’t get to have the last word.”
