Ohio’s ‘New’ Extremism?
It’s Just the Same Old Racism in Meme Format
By: Vix Burgett-Prunty
Let’s get one thing straight: Ohio’s "top political stories" aren’t just about white supremacy. They’re products of it. I see what’s happening here. The same racist machinery that stole this land from indigenous people and enforced Black Laws in 1807 is still running, just with fancier PR. Here’s how today’s "big three" political stories tie back to Ohio’s fascist roots and why they’re getting worse.
Sherrod Brown’s "Pro-Worker" Rebrand? Too Little, Too Late
Sherrod Brown (D-OH, 2007–2025) launches a Dignity of Work Institute to win back white working-class voters? Cute. But let’s remember: Ohio’s labor movement always excluded Black and brown workers. The same white union guys who fought for pensions in the 1950s also enforced segregation in Cleveland factories.
Now, Brown’s polling shows white voters think they’re the real victims of bias—while Haitian immigrants in Springfield get accused of eating pets by Trump and JD Vance. The result? Neo-Nazis march with swastikas through that same town, and cops shrug. Brown’s institute might talk about "economic dignity," but if it doesn’t confront how white workers still weaponize racism to blame their struggles on Black and immigrant communities, it’s just repackaging the same old shit.
The Flat Tax Push: Racism by Spreadsheet
Ohio Republicans want a flat tax that’d slash $1 billion from public services. Sounds boring until you realize: this is the 21st-century version of Ohio’s 1807 "Negro Evidence Law," which barred Black people from testifying in court .
Then: "We’ll defund your legal rights."
Now: "We’ll defund your schools and hospitals."
The targets are the same: Black and brown communities. Study after study shows Ohio’s tax policies already punish poor cities like Cleveland (60% Black) while subsidizing white suburbs . This flat tax is just white supremacy with a calculator. Starving public goods so privatized charter schools (hello, Betsy DeVos) and prison pipelines can thrive.
2025’s Anti-LGBTQ+ Laws: Fascism with a Smiley Face
Ohio’s new bathroom bans and "religious absence" policies for kids? Textbook fascist playbook:
In 1870s-1930s, Boarding schools punished Native children for using traditional sanitation practices, forcing them into Euro-style gendered bathrooms while cutting their hair; part of cultural genocide documented at Ohio's own White's Manual Labor Institute.
In 1880s Cincinnati, "Queue ordinances" barred Chinese men from public baths unless they cut their hair (a direct attack on cultural identity), while newspapers spread hysteria about "Chinese filth" contaminating white spaces.
In the 1920s, The city of Cleveland built separate "colored" restrooms in public parks, not in the South, but in progressive Northern Ohio. Maintenance budgets were 1/3 of white facilities.
In 1955, a mixed-race Indigenous/Black child was beaten for using the "wrong" bathroom in an Ohio department store - the same year as Emmett Till's murder. Local papers called it "a misunderstanding.”
In 1963 Birmingham, white supremacists bombed a Black church after activists demanded access to whites-only restrooms. Four little girls died.
In 2025 Ohio, GOP bans trans kids from bathrooms and lets parents pull kids from school for "religious objections" (read: to avoid learning about slavery or LGBTQ+ people) .
And let’s not forget: Ohio’s white supremacists are already homeschooling kids with Nazi curricula, teaching Hitler quotes as "copywork". The state won’t stop them because "parental rights" have always been a dog whistle for white parents’ rights. Just like the "states’ rights" crap used to justify segregation.
Why This Feels Unbearable Now
You’re seeing what many of us are. The mask is off. White supremacy isn’t hiding anymore because it doesn’t have to. When the state education board refuses to condemn white supremacy , when cops escort neo-Nazis out of Black neighborhoods , and when politicians scapegoat trans kids and immigrants, they’re not breaking with Ohio’s history—they’re fulfilling it.
The "unbearable" part? Knowing this was always here, but watching people still act shocked when the Blood Tribe marches past a Starbucks and look at you strange like you are the weird one.
What Now?
Ohio’s resistance is growing. From Black moms burning Nazi flags in Columbus to queer teachers sneaking real history into lessons. But solidarity means European Americans actually confronting our complicity. That means:
Calling out racist lies even when they come from "allies" like Sherrod Brown.
Demanding taxes fund reparations, not police.
Showing up when neo-Nazis target drag story hours because they’ll come for the rest of us next.
The question is: whose side are we on?
Sources
The Conversation on Springfield’s neo-Nazi marches(https://theconversation.com/though-home-to-about-50-white-extremist-groups-ohios-social-and-political-landscape-is-undergoing-rapid-racial-change-239997)
A History of Hate in Ohio (OSU Press, 2021)
ADL on Ohio’s hate surge(https://www.10tv.com/article/news/local/white-supremacist-activity-on-rise-in-ohio-across-us/530-e2a1b0e8-ae3a-4609-994f-ff7d3c8bcfcb)
Ohio’s racist death penalty (https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/research/analysis/reports/special-reports/broken-promises-ohio-racial-justice-report)
If this news makes you sick:
https://60kandbelow.substack.com/p/i-am-white-and-it-feels-disgusting?r=4zs2hy
www.joinEAGER.com
