‘We Are the Police’: Armed Citizen Patrols Vetting Drivers Spark Tensions In Ohio Town Two Weeks After White Supremacists Seized Highway Overpass with Racist Flags

A group of armed citizens has begun patrolling a historically Black Ohio community after a neo-Nazi rally in early February that left many residents on edge. With tensions running hot, some see the self-appointed militia as necessary defenders, while others say the patrols are a clear sign of darker days to come. About two weeks ago, a group of neo-Nazis stepped out of a U-Haul truck near Interstate 75 by Lincoln Heights, shouting racial slurs and displaying swastika-emblazoned flags from an overpass. Residents confronted them, turning the encounter into a tense standoff as police and deputies rushed in, according to body camera footage from the Evendale Police Department. Armed men patrol an Ohio neighborhood after a clash between Black residents and white supremacists. (Photos: Facebook/WCPO 9) In the aftermath of the violent confrontation, several riflemen — often masked and dressed in black — started patrolling the suburb located 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 north of the Mason-Dixon line. Two weeks later, they remain on guard but have had to respond to concerns from those uneasy about the armed street patrols — with men...