‘We love Hitler. We love Trump.’: White supremacists march through Howell

About a dozen masked white supremacists marched through downtown Howell on Saturday, chanting “Heil Hitler” and carrying signs with messages like “White Lives Matter” and “End the War on White Children.”

Howell, which lies between Lansing and Detroit, has long had a reputation for extremist activity. It became known as a Ku Klux Klan (KKK) hotspot in the 1970s and 80s when infamous Michigan KKK Grand Dragon Robert Miles held hate rallies and cross burnings at his Cohoctah Township property north of Howell until his death in 1992. 

That reputation has lingered, continually fueled by incidents such as a well-publicized auction of a Klan robe in 2005, and hate messages posted online by Howell students in 2014 after a basketball game with a racially-mixed Grand Blanc basketball team. Community leaders have worked hard to fight that image, including a symbolic scrubbing of the steps of the historic Livingston County courthouse in 1995 following a KKK rally. 

So it was no small irony that Saturday’s demonstration began on the lawn of that same historic courthouse, before the protestors marched down Grand River to the Howell Carnegie District Library, where they were told to leave by a library board member. At that point, Stacey Farrell, who lives in the Howell area, told Michigan Advance she came upon the group.

“I parked in the lot and talked to some other folks who were just as mortified that these people had the gall to walk around promoting that hateful propaganda, but we all agreed that there isn’t much courage required to put on a mask and glasses to march around town,” said Farrell, who added that many people were yelling at them to leave. “Honestly, I think they were surprised they weren’t welcome here. I think maybe the rumors of “old Howell” lead them to believe they could come here and do that but they sure made a mistake. No one wanted them around and I am proud of all the folks that stepped up to make sure those men did not stay here.”

The group eventually returned to their vehicles, one of which Farrell noted was a Mercedes with a Pennsylvania license plate, while another vehicle had a Michigan plate. 

“There were no threats, no violence, and they didn’t appear to have weapons,” she said. “They definitely looked intimidating but so does anyone dressed like that. The reality is no one carries those signs, chants that crap, and dresses in tactical clothes if they’re not looking for trouble. They just made a mistake coming to Howell, a mistake that I hope no one makes again. This community may have its flaws but what I saw was a united front denouncing that group’s violent, racist, anti-semitic propaganda.”

According to a joint statement by the City of Howell, the Livingston Diversity Council, and the Howell Chamber of Commerce, Howell Police made contact with several of the demonstrators and confirmed that they came from “as far away as Saginaw and Macomb counties,” although one participant was believed to have come from nearby Fowlerville.

“Although we recognize their right to free speech, these demonstrators do not reflect the values of the Howell community.  The incident was terminated within a half-hour of when it began,” said the statement. “The City of Howell, the Livingston Diversity Council and the Howell Area Chamber of Commerce stand united in condemning this group’s racist ideology.  We are very proud to be a welcoming and inclusive community, and this is likely why we were targeted by this outside group.  We would also like to acknowledge all our residents who quickly reacted to this event and made it clear that we do not share their views.”

However, Julie Ohashi of Stand Against Extremism LivCo (SAGE), said it was dangerous to assume that the hateful rhetoric was strictly an “outsider” issue.

“There is no doubt that racism/bigotry/hate continues to plague Livingston County no matter what branding comes down from those trying to improve the image,” she said in a statement provided to the Advance. “If you are ok with raising children to continue in these footsteps just keep sticking your head in the sand, but know that you are complicit in this. Nothing will get better until people are willing to accept that there IS a problem and actively work towards meaningful solutions.”

Demonstrators, at least one of whom Farrell said appeared to have been part of the Downtown Howell protest, also made their way several miles eastward to the Latson Road/I-96 overpass in Genoa Township, where pictures from a community Facebook group show them hanging Nazi and KKK flags over the side to be visible to traffic. One picture also showed them with a Trump flag and the Livingston Post uploaded a video from a passerby in which one of the protestors can be heard saying “We love Hitler. We love Trump.”

The demonstrations Saturday in and around Howell came just hours before former President Donald Trump spoke at a rally in Grand Rapids. Livingston County has long been a GOP stronghold.

They also mirror those in other communities across the country, including most recently in Nashville, Tenn., where masked protestors wearing shirts that said “Pro-White,” carried flags emblazoned with swastikas and shouted anti-semitic epithets before later being spotted dropping a banner over the side of a Nashville interstate overpass.

Nicole Matthews-Creech is the executive director of the Livingston Diversity Council and told the Advance that while the demonstrations were certainly disturbing, she’s proud of the response from the community. Matthews-Creech says that within minutes of her first hearing about the demonstrators, she was contacted by Howell Mayor Bob Ellis and they quickly decided a public statement of condemnation was needed, which was issued later in the afternoon Saturday.

“That’s why we have to be constantly moving, constantly on alert, constantly in communication with each other,” she said. “I think this was a great example. I mean, it’s a shame that we had to have a crisis kind of pull people together, but that, in fact, is typically what happens, right? People don’t pull together until a crisis happens. I’d love to see the momentum and the communication continue that way.”

This story was originally published by the Michigan Advance