White Supremacists Group Forced to Retreat from Highway Overpass After Black Residents Drive Them Out, Burn Racist Flag

Residents of a historically Black community in Ohio forced neo-Nazi demonstrators to retreat from a highway overpass, where they hurled racial slurs and waved large flags emblazoned with swastikas. 

The Feb. 7 confrontation occurred near Lincoln Heights, Ohio, about 15 miles north of Cincinnati — which was once the largest predominantly Black city in the U.S. and the first all-Black, self-governing city in the North.

About a dozen neo-Nazis, dressed in black with red face masks matching those worn in a similar demonstration in Columbus, Ohio, last fall, were captured on traffic cameras waving swastika flags. They also fastened red swastika banners to the overpass fence and displayed a sign reading “America for the White Man,” according to photos shared with CNN.

Swastikas, the notorious emblem of Germany’s Nazi Party, remains a symbol of hate, anti-Semitism, and white supremacy, tied to the legacy of WWII-era Germany and the Holocaust.

It’s not clear what specifically prompted the racist demonstration or if it was just a randomly staged incident.

Footage circulating online shows people approaching the demonstrators as police stood between them. Within moments of the confrontation, the neo-Nazis retreated, hastily jumping into a U-Haul box truck before fleeing the scene. Law enforcement officers at the scene were also seen ushering the demonstrators into the U-Haul truck and signaling for them to leave.

Evendale Police learned of an “unannounced protest” around 2 p.m. Friday on the Vision Way overpass over I-75 north of Cincinnati, according to CNN. The protest, though offensive, was legal and brief, police said, adding that the demonstrators left on their own and no action was taken.

The Vision Way overpass links Evendale to Lincoln Heights, the first all-Black, self-governing city north of the Mason-Dixon Line, according to the Cincinnati Preservation Association.

Evendale is just two miles from Reading, once a “sundown town” where local laws barred Black people and other people of color from being out after sunset to deter them from living there.

“We are underestimating the dangers of the police not even attempting to identify them. Who are they trying to protect? Because it isn’t us,” local resident Kachara Talbert told CNN after confronting the protesters. “It could be another Hitler behind those masks. It could be a school shooter behind those masks.”

Talbert questioned the neo-Nazis’ claim to America, pointing out the irony of their foreign-rooted ideology.

“The sign they posted said ‘America for the White Man’ and it makes me ask, what makes this group, that literally originated in another country, think they are more entitled to America than me and my folks?” Talbert said. “This country was made of Black blood, sweat and tears, so why do these colonizers feel so comfortable?”

The Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office arrived quickly and stepped in before the confrontation could escalate “and make sure that no one was hurt,” Sheriff Charmaine McGuffey said in a statement. “Lincoln Heights residents are understandably upset,” the statement read. “We continue to work with the community, and emphasize that there is no place for hate in Hamilton County.”

Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval condemned the incident in a statement on X, calling the display of swastikas in Evendale “shocking and disgusting.”

“This is not what we stand for, and it will never be what we stand for,” the mayor added. “Messages of hate like this have no place in our region.”

Despite the vocal condemnations of hate, residents expressed frustration with public officials and law enforcement, saying the lack of official action forced them to take matters into their own hands.

Since there were no consequences, Talbert feared the racist demonstrators would feel emboldened, as law enforcement had left the scene without as much as issuing a warning, signaling that racism and hate would be tolerated in Hamilton County.

“Their statements talk about how hate has no place here, but no justice was served. These are terrorists we’re talking about,” Talbert said. “Seeing the flag being represented here and seeing the police stand there in what looked like unity, not disgust, made us feel like they’re saying what the Nazis stand for is OK.”

Talbert called law enforcement’s failure to question or identify the demonstrators an “insult” to the community, noting that the same police department has interrogated locals and minors for minor offenses like gathering on sidewalks.

“I’ve watched Black men all my life in this community being frisked and detained without probable cause,” she said. “But I didn’t see any rubber bullets that day. I didn’t see anybody getting shot, like during Black Lives Matter protests. I didn’t see gas. The calmness of the police overall, the way they were standing in front of them, it made us very upset.”

The community rose up after the police refused to take action.

Teressa Brooks, a Lincoln Heights resident, told CNN one of the white demonstrators called her a “ni—er b-tch” during the confrontation. However, she said police dismissed concerns that she felt threatened, citing the neo-Nazis’ right to free speech.

Shya Smith, a Lincoln Heights resident who confronted the demonstrators, told CNN her community believes President Donald Trump had emboldened white nationalists to act without fear of consequences, especially after he pardoned all Jan. 6 rioters on the first day of his second term in office.

“It is so upsetting to see how a group of extremist people who promote hate can ‘peacefully’ protest while openly carrying rifles just 700 yards away from an elementary school,” she said. “And it’s a slap in the face to watch the police protect them while a predominantly African American neighborhood fears for their safety and well-being.”

Dozens of residents, including Talbert, quickly gathered after photos and videos of the neo-Nazi demonstration spread on Facebook. They confronted the group and seized one of their flags, later setting it on fire.

“Anger and rage just came over me. I literally got there in about 15 minutes,” Talbert told CNN. “The Nazis were disrespecting my family, my lineage, my heritage. I took it very much personally. I needed to be there to take that flag down, and I needed to push those people out of our community.”

As residents confronted the neo-Nazis, the group—who Talbert said were armed—hurled the N-word at them. A Facebook video, shared by an unknown account and obtained by local community members, appeared to show the white demonstrators using the N-word and other slurs as residents approached to confront them.

“Look at the ni—ers coming,” one masked demonstrator says, as others joined in the racist slur. Another said, “The cops are going to give us an escort to Freddy’s car,” and another replied, “f—k yeah.”

Talbert said the tense confrontation lasted only minutes before the racist demonstrators fled in the U-Haul.

“Members of my community ripped the flag out of their hand and burned it up, we spit on it, and if needed, it really could have gotten ugly,” Talbert said. “We will not hesitate to protect our community. And after the show they put on, every Black community that you can think of is going to show up for us 100%.”

Despite the fear and anger stirred by the incident, the community has responded with unity and resilience, making it clear that hate has no place there.

The next day, residents and neighbors returned to the overpass, holding signs of solidarity, including one that read, “My father fought Nazis, and so will I.”

As they stood in solidarity, three demonstrators’ cars had their rear windshields shattered by unknown perpetrators, according to Kim Lachance, whose car was among them.

“I came here because I couldn’t just sit by and not do anything for any longer,” said Lachance, who grew up in Lincoln Heights during desegregation. “We have to fight back.”