Ohio leaders, White House and Jewish groups unite against 'vile and racist' neo-Nazi march

The White House and Jewish community leaders in Ohio came together on Monday to condemn a group that marched through Columbus chanting racial slurs recently while carrying Nazi flags.

Videos circulating on social media and verified by NBC News, which were geolocated to the same neighborhood, showed at least 11 individuals carrying black flags emblazoned with red swastikas and dressed in black outfits with red masks shouting racist slogans, including “Bow down, [n-word]!” into a bullhorn.


White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said, "President Biden abhors the hateful poison of Nazism, anti-semitism, and racism — which are hostile to everything the United States stands for, including protecting the dignity of all our citizens and the freedom to worship."

This comes one week after protesters waved Nazi flags outside a community production of The diary of Anne Frank in Michigan, shocking performers and theatergoers.

Lee Shapiro, regional director for the American Jewish Committee, informed on Saturday that Columbus police were "acting to quell this unauthorized march. The vile display of hate by a small band of masked neo-Nazis in the Short North is another sad example of the bigotry that we have witnessed across the country.”

She further added that far-right groups have recently garnered attention for fueling division in other parts of the state.

Oren Segal, vice president of the Anti-Defamation League's Center on Extremism, told New York Times that a new group called Hate Club, based in St. Louis was responsible for the Columbus march. He also suggested that the event may have been fueled by a rivalry with another extremist group in Ohio.