Officials decry Saturday’s demonstrators in Howell

July 20, 2024
1 min read

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Saying that they are “very proud to be a welcoming and inclusive community,” the City of Howell, the Livingston Diversity Council, and the Howell Area Chamber of Commerce condemned the demonstrations that took place in the community on Saturday.

Two small groups of demonstrators — one in Genoa Township and one in the City of Howell — waved flags, shouted slogans, and gave the Nazi salute to passersby.

An unidentified group of about seven masked young men was recorded shouting “We love Hitler, we love Trump” from the I-96 overpass at Latson Road. They waved a swastika flag and Trump banners for drivers on the freeway, and others — including one with an anti-semitic trope — for drivers on Latson Road.

It’s not known whether the group on the I-96 overpass was affiliated with or part of the group of about a dozen young men who began their visit to Howell on the grounds of the historic Livingston County Courthouse. While members of both groups were masked, their outfits and signs differed.

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Literature that members of the downtown group were distributing indicated that they are part of an organization called “White Lives Matter Official.” The group’s name and logo was visible on a sign, and their concerns included a “war on white children,” and they urged a “fight against white replacement.” They also shouted “Heil Hitler.”

From the courthouse grounds, the group walked down Grand River Avenue to the lawn of the Howell Carnegie District Library.

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The group, which did not have a permit to use the library grounds, left the property.

The group then walked to the area by the Depot Museum on Wetmore Street.

According to a release from the City of Howell, officers from the Howell Police Department made contact with several of the demonstrators, all of whom were from outside the community, some from “as far away as Saginaw and Macomb counties.”

“Although we recognize (the demonstrators’) right to free speech, these demonstrators do not reflect the values of the Howell community,” the statement read. “The City of Howell, the Livingston Diversity Council and the Howell Area Chamber of Commerce stand united in condemning this group’s racist ideology.”

The Livingston Post

The Livingston Post is the only locally owned, all-digital information and opinion site in Livingston County, Mich. It was launched by award-winning journalists who were laid off from the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus by Gannett Co. Inc. in 2009.

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