Lincoln Heights, Ohio — March 28, 2025 In a quiet Cincinnati suburb, a striking scene has emerged: parents clad in tactical vests and carrying firearms are escorting their children to school, a response to escalating fears following a recent confrontation with neo-Nazis. The historic Black community of Lincoln Heights, home to 3,100 residents, has become a flashpoint of tension after white supremacists marched through the neighborhood last month, brandishing swastika flags and hurling racial slurs. Local militia members, now armed and vigilant, say they’re stepping up to protect their own amid what they perceive as inadequate police action.
The unrest began when neo-Nazis appeared in Lincoln Heights, an event that left residents shaken. Witnesses claim local law enforcement treated the agitators leniently, making no arrests and failing to collect identifying information despite some being armed. In the weeks since, the situation has worsened, with reports of a Ku Klux Klan member distributing propaganda fliers in the area. For many in this tight-knit community—founded in the 1920s as the first self-governing Black municipality north of the Mason-Dixon line—these incidents are a direct threat to their safety and heritage.
Daronce Daniels, a 37-year-old lifelong resident and organizer of the Lincoln Heights Safety and Watch patrols, insists the armed escorts are a necessary measure. “We’re not Black Panthers or BLM,” Daniels told reporters. “We’re free people exercising our American and God-given rights to protect ourselves from outsiders who terrorize our community while the cops seem to help them.” Under Ohio’s open-carry laws, residents can legally carry firearms in public without a permit, a right the militia is leveraging to secure bus stops, churches, and the local elementary school.
The patrols have sparked a mix of support and alarm. Yard signs backing the militia dot driveways across town, signaling widespread community approval. Volunteers, often masked and wearing combat gear, say their presence ensures children can get to school safely. Yet local police have called the armed civilian patrols “very dangerous,” warning of the potential for escalation. Some non-Black visitors to Lincoln Heights have reported feeling harassed by the militia, while nearby white suburbs express growing unease about the situation.
William Umphres, an associate professor at the University of Cincinnati, described the region as gripped by “uncertainty and anxiety.” He emphasized that this isn’t a race war but a symptom of deeper distrust. “When people aren’t sure the government will secure their rights, the urge to take security into their own hands grows urgent,” Umphres said. For Lincoln Heights, a former Underground Railroad stop where descendants of freed slaves built a legacy of resilience, that urgency has turned into action.
Residents fear it’s only a matter of time before violence erupts. “There’ll be blood on Cincinnati’s streets if this keeps up,” one local warned. Polling suggests nearly half of Americans—47%—now expect a civil war in their lifetime, a statistic that looms large over this Ohio suburb. As parents walk their kids to school, rifles in hand, Lincoln Heights stands as a stark symbol of a nation wrestling with division, distrust, and the lengths people will go to feel safe. 17GEN4.com
Comments