11/25/24 100+ people at the community & unity rally!

SAGE holds a Community & Unity rally in Howell pushing back on recent white supremacy demonstrations.

Out of all the Counties in Michigan, Livingston is the only one to have repeated hate marches as well as multiple school districts with court cases about racist incidents. You don't cure cancer by covering your eyes and/or sticking your fingers in your ears, you find the source and get rid of it. No amount of fancy expensive bandages (PR firm) is going to fix this problem. What has become obvious is that we, as a community, are going to have to take it upon ourselves if anything is going to be done about it.

“Specifically, Livingston County, we’ve had three incidents in the last four months, and they’re escalating. . . Ohashi said they had invited many elected officials, including all nine members of the Livingston County Board of Commissioners, to attend Saturday’s rally as a show of support in opposing the recent spate of open displays of white supremacy which included a similar protest that took place in Howell in July, and then about a month later in downtown Brighton. However, she said none of them responded.

“We think that that’s a little concerning that leadership in Livingston County are choosing to not only not take action, but stay away,” she said. “So, we are organizing on a more of a grassroots level, and we’re hoping that it can help inspire other communities that when they see this, that they can take action themselves, and they don’t have to wait for the officials to do anything.” . .

the rally was just a first step toward combating white supremacy in the community. The next step is to provide Livingston County residents information on successful strategies they can use to fight fascism in the community.

That will be accomplished with a two-part virtual training session set for Dec. 10 and 12 that she says will include information on how to defend against white supremacy on a longer term basis as opposed to reacting to each individual protest.

Ohashi also noted that a community response manual disseminated by the Michigan Department of Civil Rights was another useful tool.

“It’s literally a road map for any community in Michigan to be taking, actionable realistic steps that we can be working towards to have a more comprehensive plan when hate does erupt and to take to keep our marginalized neighbors safe because right now, they do not feel safe,” she said. Link.