There is a fear nationwide that the same kind of hate march that happened in Charlottesville could happen again, even in Ohio. A variety of community groups gathered at the Columbus Urban League last week to talk about hate and how to respond in its wake.
The groups represented everything from civil rights to several religions to public safety, including the Jewish Community Relations Council, the Islamic Center of Greater Cincinnati, and members of the Franklin County Commissioners and Ohio State Kirwin Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity.
Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown wanted to see how these groups are seeing hate and racism manifest in Ohio, adding that every elected official should be speaking out.
“Against hate and racism and anti-Semitism and at the same time hold people in office accountable,” Brown says, “and that means speaking out about being critical of the president if when in fact he does things like say, ‘Well, there’s good people on all sides.’”
Brown has requested information from the Department of Justice and FBI about domestic terror and hate groups, and how the federal government communicates with state and local law enforcement about hate crimes. He also announced his support of a bill to remove Confederate statues from the Capitol.
Brown hoped the event would help facilitate better communication so the community groups could get a better sense of the challenges in their communities.
