3/10/25 sage speaks out at howell city council

Good evening,

At my Feb 24th call to public speech I stated that we assumed Erv’s press release had gone out without the review of the Council first since it was only his name on the statement. We had given you the benefit of the doubt and asked that you all please read it and reflect. Since then, we have not heard anyone here speak their thoughts on it. Considering that it was that press statement and the subsequent presentation justifying it that is directly responsible for the City of Howell being back in national news for all the wrong reasons we ask again that you all really look at it and understand how it is that we got to this point. 

On Nov 17th SAGE sent this Council an email inviting you to stand with the over 100 concerned folks in a Community & Unity rally response to nazis Anne Frank protest that put Howell in worldwide news. We asked you to “be those frontline voices in speaking out against hate, and to share with your constituents what you feel needs to be done to address it here locally and statewide.” Unfortunately, Mr. Clos, Ms. Lobur, Mr. Schlittler, Mr. Wilson, and Ms. Britten joined the County Commissioners and our state “representatives” state senator, etc. but only Mr Hertrich and Mr. Ellis replied. This is despite expressing in that correspondence our concerns that  “Passive inaction and silence from local leaders provides tacit acceptance to white supremacy as our marginalized neighbors and their legitimate safety concerns for themselves and their families are ignored.” We begged for a unified front from community leaders to protect the rights and dignity of ALL our residents, but were ignored with no response from most all of you. We told you that “The impact has been traumatic to those groups who are targets of this intimidation. In the face of hatred, silence and apathy have been interpreted as acceptance by our neighboring communities, white supremacists and their victims.“ Instead we hear this constant passing the buck “not our township, not Howell” which comes off as denial and the city is being negatively impacted by its inaction. The damage to businesses, reputation, etc. does not respect geographical boundaries. 

This is a countywide issue and Howell is most associated with Livingston County when something happens that gets broad coverage. Additionally, Howell is the county seat, it's where all County business is done which is why we are holding Howell City Council accountable for this.

Elected officials across the county could save taxpayers the expensive burden of a PR bandaid for City of Howell taxpayers if only they would have the outspoken courage of the people of this community who actually stand against hate campaigns and white supremacist intimidation on our streets.

Where are you guys? This isn’t controversial, at least it shouldn’t be in a country where we still celebrate the birthdays of our WWII veterans who fought this same fascist movement less than a century ago.