Neo-Nazi Posters Hung At Lakewood Bus Stops

LAKEWOOD, OH — Identity Evropa, a Neo-Nazi and white supremacist group, hung posters in bus stops around Lakewood on Memorial Day weekend, Councilman-at-Large Tristan Rader told Patch. He is encouraging residents to pull the posters down if they're spotted in the city.

"This overtly racist, Nazi propaganda, in my view, is hate speech. We are a community that welcomes diversity. We are actively seeking to break down barriers that have caused hyper-segregation, lack of opportunity for minorities, disparity and many other serious issues relating to race. These posters are hateful and are promoting the exact opposite of what we are trying to achieve," Rader said on his website.

The posters were hung in bus stops on Clifton Boulevard, Rader said. An RTA official confirmed to Patch that Identity Evropa posters were not allowed to be hung at bus stops. When RTA personnel went to deal with the posters on Tuesday morning, someone had already taken them down. Rader had been urging his supporters to remove any posters they saw.

The group — Identity Evropa — is identified as an extremist group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. They primarily target college campuses and areas with large concentrations of young people. "Identity Evropa members insist they’re not racist, but “identitarians” who are interested in preserving Western culture. The group owes its style and ideology to the European identitarian movement," the SPLC said on its website.

The goal of the group is to recruit young, white men into the "alt-right" fold, making them the face of white nationalism. Identity Evropa allegedly helped plan the 2017 rally in Charlotesville that led to the death of a counter-protester. The group has since distanced itself from the rally, the SPLC said.

This isn't Lakewood's first white nationalist or Neo-Nazi incident. In August 2017, someone spray painted swastikas in the driveway of a Belle Avenue home. The symbol, commonly used by Neo-Nazi groups, was also painted on the street. The victim said they had no idea who would target them with such vandalism.

Photo from Tristan Rader, used with permission