TOLEDOTASTIC

I haven't yet written anything here about the riots because, well, I (and everyone else in Toledo) have talked myself hoarse on the subject. However, several out-of-town friends have asked for a local account since the national news has not gone very in-depth.

First of all, let me explain the Nazi presence in Toledo. These Nazis were not locals. They came in from Virginia. A few locals may have been part of the group but for the most part the would-be marchers were not from this area.


What happened to start all this?

Apparently, a man living on Bronson Avenue in north Toledo somehow had his complaints aired on the internet where they were picked up by white supremacists. His complaints were about black gangs in his neighborhood - primarily the Bloods and the Dexter Boys (Dexter is a street just one block south of the man's Bronson Avenue home). My guess is that this man complained on a Nazi message board but I have no proof of this.


Who is this guy?

Anyone in Toledo who watches the local news knows who this guy is. There is no need for me to write his name here. I do not care about protecting him but there are (from what I understand) children in the family. I do not want to risk having the children further hurt because of him. I'll refer to him as "S**."


Are there really black gangs there? And what is the neighborhood like?

The north Toledo neighborhood where S** lives is the poorest area in Toledo. Its magnet high school is Woodward, near to where the rioting took place. I am not sure exactly where north Toledo ranks in terms of national poverty levels, but Woodward High School gives out a lot of free lunches, coat vouchers, etc., and even features a place called "Woodward's Closet" where basic supplies like paper, pens and pencils are given to students whose families cannot provide them. Racially, the neighborhood is an about even mix of white, black and Hispanic.

Like pretty much any poor urban area in the United States, there are gangs. However, gangs do not make up the bulk of the crime there. Gangs are simply, by the basis of having some sort of visible structure, the more easily identifiable culprit. Of course I am not saying that the gangs are innocent...I am saying that the gangs are just the tip of the iceberg. Even if the police locked up every gang member in north Toledo, I still would never leave my car unlocked there. Like most urban crime, the problems in north Toledo are directly related to the level of poverty there.

The national news media said during and after the riots that Toledo has been referred to for years as some sort of potential racial bomb. This had me and everyone I know scratching our heads. There are neighborhoods here that lean heavily in one direction or another (mine was one of three white families living on my street when I was a kid). But I cannot think of any place that is 100% or even 90% or 80% comprised of just one ethnic group. So the greater irony here is that Toledo, more particularly north Toledo, is probably the most evenly diverse community in northwestern Ohio, perhaps in all of Ohio.


So then what happened?

My mother was there that morning for the anti-Nazi rally a few blocks from the planned Nazi sidewalk march. That rally went peacefully and the people dispersed once they got word that the Nazis wouldn't be protesting. When my mother left, she had no idea that rioting might take place later on in the day.

One thing that I believe the national news got wrong is when they said that the Nazis had a permit. They did not have a permit. Why? Because they planned to march along the sidewalk. A permit is necessary only if you are planning to march down a street, thereby interrupting the flow of traffic.

This is where things get more confusing. From what eyewitnesses told me, the crowd near the Nazis was quite big. All sorts of people were there of different races, backgrounds, etc. My friend reported (I'll try to get his permission to reprint it here later) that he saw the police smiling and chatting with the Nazis. This angered a lot of people. As the crowd grew bigger and feelings became more tense, people began throwing rocks and eggs at the Nazis. Once that happened, things got out of control.

The national news (via the one helicopter that was there which I myself saw while driving by the area) focused on a group of young black males destroying a structure. This few minutes of footage was replayed again and again on CNN and Fox, I can only imagine for its dramatic value. It does not reflect the diversity of the group on the ground from what people on the scene reported.


So is it safe to go out?

I have been all over this neighborhood since the riot and there is no visible difference. The destroyed properties blend in perfectly with the general urban decay and other condemned homes and businesses. No one seems polarized at all. Young people I have spoken with seem more intrigued by the drama of what occurred than by the politics behind it. I am sure that the family of S** on Bronson Avenue is scared of repercussions but otherwise, no one is eyeballing anyone. The general concensus is that the Nazis were outsiders being defended against by locals. Think "Toledo vs. Nazis" rather than "whites vs. blacks" or vice versa.

The curfew that was put in place was generally ignored and largely unnecessary. Nothing happened beyond what was shown ad nauseum on the major news networks. Once the Nazis left and the rioters quieted down, life in Toledo went back to normal. One must remember that this whole thing was brought about by non-locals coming into town. The Nazis were brought here by the ramblings of one man on the internet. There was no big event that brought on some race riot. It was just a matter of the people of Toledo getting carried away with defending their city from a group that is obviously unwelcome.


"Didn't the Nazis prove their point?"

Pretty much everyone, black and white, has said this in the aftermath of the rioting. But I have not heard it said in the sense that some racist point of "blacks being violent" was proven. Rather it is being said in terms of "now people will think they have proof that blacks are violent." The important difference here is that the "point" the Nazis believe - about blacks' violent tendencies - is not shared by the vast majority of Toledoans. Whites as well as blacks are embarrassed by the scenes that the world saw on the news.

Ironically, the Nazis themselves on their website do not cast blame on blacks for starting the riot but instead write: "The communists started passing out eggs and rocks to the black juveniles." Later in the same report, the Nazis blamed three groups of people for the violence. The top spot on the list goes to: "The communists, who came to the area with weapons, handed them out to the blacks, and incited the blacks to riot." So from the Nazis themselves we learn that African Americans were not even armed for rioting. Instead, African Americans were egged on (no pun intended).


Any other thoughts, Toledotastic?

So basically what happened was Nazis came to town. Everyone with half a brain knows that Nazis hate all non-whites. Remember World War II? Enough said. So people assembled to show that they do not like Nazis. Anarchists and Communists started throwing things at the Nazis and encouraged the young African Americans to do the same. The African Americans joined in. Shortly thereafter the world was treaty to blacks showing their "violent" nature on TV.

Halt! Go back! Who is violent here? Who started this? Re-read the last paragraph.

Unfortunately, the news cameras have left. The major news networks cannot grab viewers' attention (and thereby sell commercial time) by showing what really happened. But black guys burning a building, that sells. That's what the majority, in an America more racist than Toledo has ever been, wants to see. Replay that a hundred more times. Ignorance and misinformation march on.