Courtesy of CNN. Photo credit: ODOT
By CJ Gossage
Assistant Editor
On Friday February 7th, a dozen or so neo-nazis gathered near Lincoln Heights and Evendale for an unannounced demonstration leading to a large police presence and opposition from local residents.
The group prominently displayed hateful signs and swastika flags on the I-75 overpass to be witnessed by oncoming traffic.
Residents of Lincoln Heights, a predominantly Black village, resisted the demonstration and tried to bypass police to get to the demonstrators. One resident finally broke through and “snatched a flag” from the demonstrators, said the Cincinnati Enquirer.
Many social media posts show local residents setting fire to the hateful signs left at the scene.
Local residents stayed after the demonstration and prayed for the community.
“This kind of activity has no place in Lincoln Heights, or anywhere,” said Lincoln Heights in a social media post late Friday evening.
Danielle V. Minson, CEO of the JFC, said in an official statement, “We urge all citizens of Cincinnati to stand with us in rejecting hate and building a community where all people can live without fear or intimidation.”
This demonstration is part of a growing trend of anti-semitic behavior in the United States. The Anti-Defamation League’s preliminary data from 2023 suggests there were “more than 10,000 antisemitic incidents” from October 7th, 2023 until October of 2024. This is the highest number since the Anti-Defamation League began keeping track in 1979.
In the last few days, pop-culture icon Kanye West went on an anti-semitic rant on social media, garnering thousands of likes.
