ANDERSON TOWNSHIP, Ohio — People in Anderson Township gathered Wednesday night to speak out against hate after someone distributed fliers last month with Nazi and white supremacist ideologies in Tri-State neighborhoods.
Organizers said they want to send a message that everyone is welcome in Anderson Township.
“We can choose to be part of the problem, or we can choose to be part of the solution,” said Hamilton County Clerk of Courts Pavan Parikh.
Parikh said he moved his family to Anderson Township in 2021.
“We were looking for a community that’s open and inclusive and welcoming that had good schools that our kids could attend,” he said.
For his first two years living in Anderson, Parikh said his impression of the community has been exactly what he expected.
“That it’s a welcoming diverse community — we have friends from every walk of life throughout,” he said. “But there have been some incidents that have occurred at different scales and different people that have really made us question.”
One of those incidents he’s referring to is the antisemitic fliers that someone placed on driveways in Anderson Township last month.
“Photos I’ve seen show that they're by a neo-Nazi group with Aryan in their name,” said Martha Viehmann, co-director of the nonprofit Greater Anderson Promotes Peace. “And they are white supremacist and anti-LGBTQ.”
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Community members are now gathering to do something about it. Nearly 60 people attended the "No Hate in Anderson" meeting at the Anderson Center to develop strategies to respond to hate. Speakers include people from the Jewish Community Relations Council and the YWCA.
“I always tell people that ignoring antisemitism and extremism has never been a good strategy for making it go away, so as uncomfortable as it is we have to push back,” said Rabbi Ari Jun with the JCRC.
Taylor Curtis, director of racial justice and equity with the YWCA of Greater Cincinnati, said the goal is for people to determine what they're willing to do to make a change.
“The community has to change from within,” Curtis said. “The community has to figure out how can we be proponents of change. What can we do individually and collectively.”
HAPPENING NOW: The people of Anderson Township are meeting to discuss hateful flyers that were distributed last month. Their goal tonight is to come up with ways the community can respond to hateful messages. @WCPO pic.twitter.com/C8UY28J7Db
— Jessica Hart WCPO (@JessicaHartTV) October 11, 2023
Mana Hale came to the meeting looking for hope and said she got so much more.
“It’s been really intense tonight but I will leave feeling better knowing that this room of people exists," Hale said. “Our big takeaway is to talk with other people in our communities about what we believe in what we feel is important. Though this looks like a small group if we really do that the group enlarges."
Parikh also attended the meeting.
“I think it’s important to show we’re one community,” he said. “That as a community we are welcoming and diverse and inclusive. Doesn’t matter who you are, we want to be part of the solution.”
In the end, Parikh said he hopes the meeting makes it clear that hate won’t be tolerated.
“There’s no one thing you can do to fix the hate in someone’s heart,” said Parikh. “But if people can say hate doesn’t have a place here, our community stands together, I think that show of solidarity is very important.”
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