‘Not in this city.’ Residents symbolically cleanse Ann Arbor in response to white supremacists

ANN ARBOR, MI — “No hate! Not here!”

That message was chanted by about two dozen people who gathered Sunday afternoon, Nov. 17, for a counterprotest in response to Saturday’s “White Lives Matter” demonstration outside Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor.

Several carried brooms as they symbolically swept the grounds clean on Sunday, at one point spontaneously singing “All You Need is Love” by the Beatles.

“Let’s get every last bit out so it does not take root in the cracks in the brick — not in this city, not anywhere,” Ann Arbor resident Jaime Moore, one of the organizers, told the crowd through a megaphone.

The symbolic demonstration was the least they could do after what happened Saturday, Moore said.

“There’s the right to freedom of speech. I believe in that, but we also know when it’s wrong,” she said. “We can’t sit back and just let it go. We have to step up and say and do something now.”

Their signs with messages such as “Racism has no home here,” “Nazis are not welcome here,” “All lives can’t matter until Black lives matter” and “Love not hate” drew supportive honks, thumbs up and thanks from drivers passing by.

According to globalextremism.net, White Lives Matter is an international white supremacist movement that has organized protests across the United States and Europe.

“I just keep seeing it on the rise, and I feel like a do-nothing approach allows it to live and breed and spread,” said Ann Arbor resident Amanda Shutko, another of Sunday’s counterprotest organizers.

She got the idea to bring brooms and sweep the area clean after seeing residents do the same in Howell over the summer after a white supremacist demonstration there.

“I thought what a great, symbolic, peaceful way to say we don’t want that here,” Shutko said.

Her hope is it inspires people to come together and do more to stand up against white supremacy, she said.

Fliers were handed out Sunday with links to resources for residents to learn more about how they can join the fight.

“I really do believe that we as the white people in the community have a lot of work to do to shut down this kind of behavior, and I really do think it falls on us,” Moore said.

“And again, I think this is not the response — this is the beginning of the response. And this is the awareness that you need to know that it’s actually happening.”

Amy Johnson said she traveled from Fowlerville to take part in Sunday’s event and planned to attend another counterprotest in Howell next Saturday, Nov. 23.

“I’m sweeping the stench of the Nazis out,” she said as she joined in sweeping outside the Big House. “And what I’d like to say is, if not now, when? We have to stand together. This is America. We do not want Nazis here.”

Noting Saturday’s demonstrators wore masks and Sunday’s crowd didn’t, she added, “Look at all these beautiful faces here. Nobody’s afraid to show their face.”

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