Jessica Mathews / news@whmi.com


Some residents sounded off during call to the public during Monday night’s Livingston County Board of Commissioners meeting about racism and hate demonstrations taking place in Howell and other areas.

The most recent incident again referenced was the screening of “Face of Hate” at the Howell Historic Theater on February 6th; hosted by the local group SAGE - Stand Against Extremism Livingston County. The premier took a turn when alleged white supremacists turned out waving flags with swastikas. SAGE also had an armed, masked security team outside – which some felt was also not appropriate.

There have been reports of both sides engaging and provoking the other at that event and others, including harassment and ethnic intimidation, and the waiving of flags with swastikas.

Almost 20 people spoke during Monday’s first call to the public, and responses were divided – with some questioning what the board plans to do.

A Howell resident identified as Elaine C. stated she was a member of the SAGE group. She commented that “local leaders have got to do better - we are putting local leaders on notice to hold you all accountable and acknowledge the fact that we do have a white supremacy problem in our community and to start taking meaningful action to start working towards improving it”. She added “make no mistake that this community does not have a reputation problem, we very clearly have a racism problem”.

Edwin Hanson-Meier of Hamburg Township said he was deeply concerned with the recent increase of neo-Nazi and hate group activity in the county, and wanted to hear what the Commission’s plans are to address not only the future but what’s been done in the past.

Chair Jay Drick stated that call to the public is not a question-and-answer session, and their job is too listen.

Stacy Rutlege of Howell stated that groups like Livingston Integrity and SAGE are starting up issues that aren’t there and they’re dangerous – asserting there “are no Nazi’s in Livingston County, you people have never met a Nazi ”. He added that people won’t find any nationalist or white supremacy in Livingston County – “you gotta go 40 miles out”.

Commissioner Wes Nakagiri stated he attempted to attend the documentary preview but was told he couldn’t get in because he did not sign-up ahead of time, saying he had a true interest in seeing the movie and being part of the discussion but was prevented. He described the movie as “a history, a celebration of redemption”. Nakagiri went on to say that the true per-capita statistics for anti-black hate crime show that Livingston County is the lowest - commenting “it’s the media had to make up their own statistics to try to make us look bad…it’s the media that is fomenting this hate, in addition to these other groups”. He further asked “You that consider Livingston County a hotbed of hate to think about that and maybe reconsider your position”.

Jeff Mile of Howell told the board “We have a white supremacist problem in this county, today”. He stressed if the board wants to state facts, then they need to state all the facts -referencing comments made about the county being the lowest in per-capita in black hate crimes, compared to other counties. Mile said of the more than 196,000 residents in Livingston County, only 3.8% is black. He said with the comparison to surrounding counties where there’s a higher population density of African Americans, it is obvious the percentage of hate crimes would be higher. Mile went on to say “it is interesting how you classify the white supremacists that have been terrifying our county as good citizens and standing up to them is a smear campaign, it is politicians like you who have given permission to normalize this hate”.

Meanwhile, the City of Howell and community leadership continue to “denounce these messengers of hate, including messages that insinuate hate is tolerated in our community. ‘HATE HAS NO HOME IN HOWELL.’ The Howell community is morally strong, with people doing incredible things daily. This Michigan-based group, White Lives Matter – Michigan, is part of a larger organization called While Lives Matter – Global, a State of Michigan problem, NOT JUST HOWELL”.

Board meetings can be accessed on the county website.