Protesters wave Nazi flags outside performance of ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’ in Howell

BY JON KING, MICHIGAN ADVANCE

MICHIGAN—For at least the third time in recent months, white supremacists with Nazi flags protested in Livingston County, this time outside of a production of the play “The Diary of Anne Frank.”

The incident, which was captured on video, occurred Saturday night outside the American Legion Post 141 in Howell, where the iconic play about a young Jewish girl hiding from the Nazis during World War 2 was being staged by the Fowlerville Community Theatre.

In the video, recorded by former Post 141 Commander Bobby Brite, a group of people can be seen waving Nazi flags across the street from the post, while deputies with the Livingston County Sheriff’s Office are nearby with the lights on their vehicles activated as traffic passes by.

A press release from Livingston County Sheriff Mike Murphy says deputies responded just before 8 p.m. Saturday to the post, technically located in Howell Township, on the report that five demonstrators wearing face masks had pulled into the parking lot to demonstrate against the play.

“The demonstrators were asked to leave the property and did,” stated the release. “The demonstrators then went across the street and waved flags adorned with nazi (sic) insignia.  A subject then approached them, and an argument ensued.  Nothing physical transpired and ultimately the parties involved separated.”

Murphy told the Michigan Advance that the protesters said they were from Fowlerville, but because it “was peaceful and they were in the right of way,” there were no grounds to request their identification.

He said the final performance of the play went on as scheduled Sunday afternoon without further incident, and that deputies continued to patrol the area for the remainder of the weekend with no further issues reported.

Brite, meanwhile, is heard on the video commenting about the white supremacist protesters.

“The downside to hosting something like this is you bring out extremists,” said Brite. “Of course, we believe in the Constitution. That being said, we are certainly against all acts of extremism, acts of hate, and hate groups.”

Brite added that the individuals were “certainly seeking attention” and advised people to not provide that.

“If you see them out there, just drive on by. Ignore them,” he said.

State Rep. Jennifer Conlin (D-Ann Arbor Twp.) noted Brite’s response in her comment about the incident.

“One of the Legion hosts posted footage and asked everyone to please ignore them and explained the historical and educational importance of the play. Of course we do not know where these individuals came from, but there is no space in our communities for this behavior. We need to fight back against hate, as he did, in a civil manner, observing their first amendment rights while also denouncing their message,” said Conlin, part of whose 48th District represents the Howell area.

Peter LeMieux was one of the actors in the show, playing Anne Franks father, Otto Frank. He tells the Advance that while some of the younger cast members were shaken by the news, it didn’t come as much of a surprise to him.

“Being in Livingston County and seeing how those jokers came through Howell a couple months ago. I wasn’t surprised,” he said. “But I didn’t think it would take them this long. And then sure enough, they showed up Saturday.”

LeMieux said he thinks that word of the incident spreading maybe helped them sell out their final performance on Sunday, although he said the mood was certainly different.

“It was a very good crowd, and it being the the last show, there were so many points during the show where lines that we said just resonated,” he said. “They just resonated with us and with the crowd as well. ‘We don’t need the Nazis to destroy us. We’re destroying ourselves.’ And sure enough, there’s some Nazis that were just outside our door.”

Fowlerville Community Theatre also released a statement Monday about the incident.

“As a theatre, we are storytellers. We tell stories that transport audiences to different times and places — some real, some fantastical. This production centers on real people who lost their lives in the Holocaust, and we have endeavored to tell their story with as much realism as possible. On Saturday evening, things became more real than we expected; we were hiding with Nazis outside. As a theatre, we want to make people feel and think. We hope that by presenting Anne’s story, we can help prevent the atrocities of the past from happening again,” read the statement.

Another video, posted at WLNS and apparently taken later in the evening shows the group in downtown Fowlerville, also waving flags prominently featuring swastikas.

A Fowlerville resident, Peter Damerow, posted to Facebook about his encounter with the group.

“There were Nazis in downtown Fowlerville tonight,” he said. “When I asked what they were doing in Fowlerville, they insisted this town is now ‘Pureville’ and that they were here to keep it that way. ‘You look Jewish,’ one of them yelled, so I corrected him. I’m actually Hispanic. One of the Nazis then shouted, ‘SO GO BACK TO MEXICO.’ I let them know that I actually grew up just down the road and they responded all at once, showering me with insults.”

Damerow added a message to his friends who supported President-elect Donald Trump in last week’s election.

“They were comfortable being there because of who you just voted into office. What they had to say made it quite plain. I’m very curious how knowing this makes you feel,” he said, adding thanks to those in the community who have made him feel welcome for over 25 years.

“The love and joy of knowing your neighbors and taking part in community events is what makes Fowlerville a great place to live and grow,” said Damerow. “Needless to say I will not be going back to any country because I have only ever lived here. Mexico sounds lovely, but I was born an American, a Michigander and a Fowlervillian. And I am proud of it.”

The incident follows a similar protest that took place in Howell in July, when a dozen masked white supremacists marched through the downtown chanting “Heil Hitler,” and then later hung Nazi and KKK flags on a nearby overpass while yelling “We love Hitler. We love Trump,” through a loudspeaker. 

About a month later the group also protested in downtown Brighton.

But the fact that Howell, which lies between Lansing and Detroit, was again chosen by the white supremacists is not necessarily a coincidence.

The community has long had a reputation for extremist activity. It became known as a Ku Klux Klan (KKK) hotspot in the 1970s and 80s when infamous Michigan KKK Grand Dragon Robert Miles held hate rallies and cross burnings at his Cohoctah Township property north of Howell until his death in 1992.

That reputation has lingered, continually fueled by incidents such as a well-publicized auction of a Klan robe in 2005, and hate messages posted online by Howell students in 2014 after a basketball game with a racially-mixed Grand Blanc basketball team.

Community leaders have worked hard to fight that image, including a symbolic scrubbing of the steps of the historic Livingston County courthouse in 1995 following a KKK rally.

A similar scrubbing was held following the march in July.

READ MORE: Trump’s Howell event was a ‘blatant’ violation of Michigan campaign law, Dem lawyer says

This coverage was republished from Michigan Advance pursuant to a Creative Commons license.