Julian Cook, a Lincoln Heights resident, emphasized that the group is here “out of a need.”
Following an attack by a group of neo-Nazis, residents in Lincoln Heights, Ohio, decided to take matters into their own hands and form an armed watch group, according to The Washington Post.
Visitors can see men from the newly formed Lincoln Heights Safety and Watch Program wearing masks and body armor, protecting the residents of the predominantly Black town outside of Cincinnati, who they say are on edge as a result of the viral ordeal.
In early February 2025, a group of masked, armed racists attempted to take over Lincoln Heights’ streets.
While hurling racist slurs and waving swastika flags on a highway overpass, the community bravely arrived to inform them that they were not welcome, as police attempted to break things up.
Since the police did not make any arrests, as Ohio police lieutenant Michael Steers stated there were no violations of laws, group spokesperson Daronce Daniels stated that they did “the most American thing that we [could] do” – become “an American individual protecting his homeland with a firearm.”
Lincoln Heights natives and residents are extremely proud of their historical background, as the neighborhood was established in the 1920s as a result of Black laborers being barred from settling in Cincinnati and surrounding towns due to their race.
With nearly 3,000 residents, some claim the small Ohio town is neglected. Without a police force, which was disbanded in 2014, the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office serves the community.
Residents and members of the Lincoln Heights Safety and Watch Program are motivated to protect one another for reasons like these.
“When we saw that the police weren’t helping us, every able-bodied man in the neighborhood, with or without a gun, stood guard and has been standing guard ever since,” Dominic Brewton Jr., who owns a repair shop in town, explained.
However, such safety is met with opposition. Business owners claim the protection group scares some residents because they frequently stop traffic and question people about their whereabouts in the city.
According to The Cincinnati Enquirer, Jim Meister, a business owner, claims that when he approached a parked car in his vacant parking lot, armed men pointed a rifle at him and threatened to shoot.
When he said he’d call the cops, group members replied, “We’re the cops. What is wrong? We are protecting Lincoln Heights.”
Hamilton County Sheriff Charmaine McGuffey stated that she does not support the “neighborhood militia” despite the fact that a department spokesperson claims there have been numerous 911 calls reporting them.
However, Daniels continues to argue that the group is simply Americans doing what is best for their community. “The only thing that’s happening is that these Americans are protecting their community against Nazis,” he told me.
Other Lincoln Heights residents, such as Julian Cook, pastor of the Lincoln Heights Missionary Baptist Church, support the movement and remind law enforcement why they are here in the first place. “I pass them every day as I go to and from,” Cook said.
“And it’s important to remember that they have arisen out of a need.”
