BRIGHTON – A third white supremacist demonstration took place in Livingston County, this time near a Brighton business district on Saturday, August 17.
Those businesses are scorning the demonstration, which included less than a dozen members of a group that appeared to resemble demonstrators in Howell last month.
According to Spencer Goller, who owns the Brighton Coffeehouse and Theater with his mother, the demonstrators “intimidated” customers and crew members throughout the day.
More:Trump will visit Howell on Tuesday, a month after the controversial demonstrations
In a video posted on social media, Goller said: “If you’ve been downtown today … you may have noticed a white supremacist protest happening very close to our building … They’re on the sidewalk, it’s public property, so they have a right to protest and we support the right to protest, however, we do not support this particular message and we certainly do not support the type of crew and intimidation that is going on all day. I hope that this situation can be resolved quickly and peacefully.”
A photo circulating on social media, including a post from Bookshop 2 Dandelions, said: “Hate has no home in Brighton. The demonstrators today are not a representation of our community and we stand united in our commitment to being a welcoming place for everyone.”
More:“We love Hitler. We love Trump. While Trump rallied in GR, white supremacists chanted in Howell
Forest and Fillies, a nearby boutique, closed.
“We regret to inform you that we will be closing the store for the day due to a hate demonstration taking place nearby,” the business wrote on Facebook. “We believe that hate has no place in our community and we want to ensure the safety and well-being of our employees and customers.”
The demonstration came the same day that former President Donald Trump announced that he will deliver remarks on crime and safety at the Livingston County Sheriff’s Office in Howell on Tuesday, August 20.
More:Trump will visit Howell on Tuesday, a month after the controversial demonstrations
The planned visit to Howell is Trump’s sixth in Michigan, a key battleground state, this year. Howell made national headlines during Trump’s visit to Grand Rapids in July — his first rally since an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania — when white supremacists, some of whom expressed support for the former president, staged demonstrations there.
One group chanted “Heil Hitler” during a march that lasted about half an hour, according to city officials. There were about a dozen participants, their faces covered and their hands marked, gathered on the lawn of the Livingston County Historic Courthouse.
Demonstrators marched down Grand River Avenue onto the lawn of the Howell Carnegie District Library before a library board member confronted them and told them to leave. They continued to their cars while being monitored by the Howell Police Department, who confirmed that some of the demonstrators came from outside the community, including Saginaw and Macomb counties.
A second demonstration, which saw participants waving flags emblazoned with a swastika, the term “KKK” and other anti-Semitic messages, took place at the I-96 and Latson Road overpass, according to photos and videos posted to a community Facebook group. . It was not immediately clear whether the demonstrators were the same as those who marched in the city centre, but both groups wore masks and clothing similar to those who took part in Brighton on Saturday.
In the video of the July incident, demonstrators chanted repeatedly: “We love Hitler. We love Trump.” They also held a Trump flag.
A Trump spokeswoman vehemently denied a link between Tuesday’s campaign event and last month’s demonstrations, calling the allegation “absurd,” as reported by The Washington Post.
But Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign has concerns.
The racists and white supremacists who marched on Trump’s behalf last month in Howell have all seen him praise Hitler, defend the neo-Nazis in Charlottesville and tell far-right extremists to ‘stand back and stand by’. Trump’s actions have emboldened them, and Michigan residents can expect more of the same when he comes to town next week,” Harris Michigan Communications Director Alyssa Bradley said in a statement, according to The Post.
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Livingston County has long had a complicated history with racism, ever since Robert Miles, once Grand Dragon of the Michigan Ku Klux Klan, settled on a 70-acre farm in Cohoctah Township, north of Howell.
“President Trump will travel to Howell to deliver a strong message on law and order, making it clear that crime, violence and hatred of any form will have zero place in our country when he returns to the White House.” ,” Leavitt wrote to him. Post office.
— Cassandra Lybrink is local editor of The Livingston Daily. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @CassLybrink.
