Latest news with #LincolnHeights
The Guardian
03-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
‘Our sense of safety was violated': a Black suburb in Ohio confronts repeated threats from white supremacists
Despite its proximity to a busy highway, Lincoln Heights' rolling hills, parks and well-kept lawns are pictures of calm suburban life north of Cincinnati. Today it's home to about 3,000 mostly African American people a few miles from Kentucky and the Ohio River, which divided free northern states from the slave-owning south. In the 1920s, Lincoln Heights became one of the first self-governing Black communities north of the Mason-Dixon line. But residents say much of that peace and security was destroyed on 7 February, when a group of neo-Nazis paraded on a highway overpass adjacent to the community. About a dozen armed and masked extremists unfurled flags with Nazi and other racist iconography bearing language such as 'America for the white man'. When locals heard what was happening on the bridge, many didn't think twice to act. Soon, a large group gathered to warn the extremists off. Racial slurs were hurled at locals while a small police presence attempted to maintain calm. 'I cannot understand how you can say that that was a peaceful protest. They were there with their flags, saying those things, they had guns,' says Lincoln Heights resident Syretha Brown. 'Their whole intent was to intimidate and cause fear. That is a crime. They used hateful speech. That together is a hate crime.' In the months since, locals have been left to wonder why the authorities acted the way they did that day. Although the white supremacists had no permit for their gathering, it was deemed legal by Evendale police, under whose jurisdiction the bridge falls, due to US free speech laws. Nor were the extremists ticketed by police for transporting themselves in the back of a box truck without using seatbelts. Evendale law enforcement said no citations were issued and the extremists were allowed to make off to a nearby school – with a police escort – in order to help de-escalate the situation. 'It's just beyond belief how they intermingled with the neo-Nazis,' says Lincoln Heights' mayor, Ruby Kinsey-Mumphrey, of the law enforcement response. 'I just don't think that they are sensitive to how that impacted this Black community.' The outcry forced Evendale police to apologize for their handling of the incident, and two investigations soon followed. Released last month, one found – to no little controversy among Lincoln Heights residents – that 'Evendale officers did perform well in recognizing and understanding the constitutional rights of all parties involved', and recommended that officers receive further training in handling large groups and protests. Many Lincoln Heights residents are not impressed. 'For the police to participate in the way that they did sort of solidified what I thought,' says Brown of the 7 February march and the Evendale police's response. She says that the claims by police that the neo-Nazis were allowed to leave the scene by illegally transporting themselves in the back of a box truck in order to maintain the peace doesn't stand up to reason. 'If that's the case, once [the police] got them away from the situation, why was nobody pulled out of the truck or asked for ID? I feel like at this point, there's laws for [African Americans] and laws for [everyone else],' she says. 'Why? Because Trump has said that this is how it has to go for the police that the extremists can't be charged. Nothing that has happened from 7 February until today am I shocked about.' Many Americans feel the Trump administration's pardoning of the 6 January rioters, and, more recently, its deployments of the national guard on the streets of Los Angeles and granting refugee status to white South Africans highlight a racist undertone that creates a broader, permissive environment for groups and individuals with rightwing tendencies. This month it was announced that no charges would be filed against the neo-Nazi group that marched on the Cincinnati bridge; many Lincoln Heights residents are boycotting Evendale in response to its handling of the incident. Sign up to This Week in Trumpland A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration after newsletter promotion Within weeks, the Lincoln Heights community set up a safety and watch program that sees locals, some of them armed, patrol the streets. When she attended a news conference highlighting the Evendale police investigation's findings last month, Brown found herself escorted out of the room shortly after asking a question. Despite what has happened, Brown says she feels safer in Lincoln Heights than elsewhere. 'Am I more concerned now? No. Am I prepared? Yes,' she says, adding that she plans to run for a seat on Lincoln Heights' city council. Residents of Lincoln Heights have faced discrimination ever since its foundation a century ago. When leaders attempted to incorporate the city in the 1930s and early 1940s in order to provide residents with basic services, neighboring cities opposed the move. While Lincoln Heights' repeated attempts to incorporate were pushed back, neighboring communities, including Evendale, were allowed to become established. When they did, they took with them a host of industrial areas and factories, leaving Lincoln Heights without much in the way of access to commercial tax income by the time it finally incorporated in 1946. Just east of Interstate 75, the headquarters of the GE Aerospace conglomerate provides Evendale authorities with millions of dollars in tax revenue every year and employs about 5,000 people. And while Evendale's median household income is about $155,000, next door in Lincoln Heights, it's just $17,333. Having lost more than half its population since its 1960s heyday, today Lincoln Heights is now less than 1 sq mile in size. With a tiny tax base, its schools are underfunded, forcing many families to educate their children elsewhere. In 2023, its high school, long since derelict, was bulldozed. And yet, extremists have kept coming back. Weeks after the neo-Nazi incident, members of the safety and watch program spotted a man dumping Ku Klux Klan recruitment literature on the streets in the middle of the night, and alerted law enforcement. When police stopped and cited the white supremacist man – for littering – they found a peace banner that was previously placed on the highway overpass by locals in his trunk. The hateful literature was quickly picked up. 'We feel grateful that the men in our community stood up and protected us, that our children didn't wake up to those flyers. That our seniors didn't have to wake up fearful,' says Brown of the safety and watch program participants. For others, fears that past racism is resurging are hugely unsettling. 'We see this in our history books, that [racist attacks] happened to Dr Martin Luther King, to Malcolm X. But to see it in today's society leaves you speechless,' says Kinsey-Mumphrey. 'They were trying to tell us – the oldest African American community here in the United States – [that] we were targeted. Our sense of safety was violated.'
RNZ News
26-05-2025
- General
- RNZ News
School lunch documents reveal nutritional assessments, student taste test results
Butter chicken lunch from Lincoln Heights school (left) and chicken teriyaki lunch at Massey Primary School. Photo: RNZ / Louise Ternouth The amount of coconut cream allowed in a curry, the questionable categorisation of potato as a salad vegetable, and the wildly varying results of taste tests are among matters covered by school lunch scheme documents obtained under the Official Information Act. The documents provided insight into meal development by the School Lunch Collective last year and earlier this year as it prepared to take over the contract for feeding students at about 440 schools . They included Education Ministry assessment of the nutritional value of the meals and accompanying side snacks, ministry emails to staff at Compass, the company leading the School Lunch Collective, and the results of taste testing of three meals last year. They showed that curries should not have more than 15ml (about one tablespoon) of coconut cream per serving and soy sauce in a teriyaki meal should not exceed half-a-teaspoon. They also showed that children's reactions varied enormously with one child describing a meal as "five star", but another in the same class writing "taste bad and looks bad and smell is bad" about the same meal. The documents included advice from the now-defunct food preparation company Libelle on how schools could increase children's uptake of the meals. It suggested withholding treats until after lunch, serving meals at the first break of the day rather than waiting until lunch time, and providing condiments such as tomato sauce. It also suggested serving food buffet style so children could choose, changing lunch orders on an online portal to avoid unpopular meals, and "the five senses initiative" which asked children to consider their meal and note their observations on a brightly-colour checklist. Advice from food preparation company Libelle told schools how they could increase children's uptake of the provided meals. Photo: Screenshot / Compass Group The documents inluded results from taste tests last year of three meals with children in different schools. In February last year a taste testing of a beef curry and rice meal across a number of schools and classrooms resulted in comments ranging from "meat is amazing" and "liked everything about the meal" to "too bland" and "didn't look appetising". Multiple comments noted difficulty opening the meal containers and that a hot meal was not appealing on a hot day. Overall, 13 percent of students did not like the meal, 35 percent were neutral and 53 percent liked or strongly liked it. "As a result of receiving the above summary feedback, Libelle made changes to the process of cooking the diced meat and started to investigate the claims of difficult to open lids again," the document said. It showed a macaroni and cheese meal was revised to improve the cheese flavour and hide vegetables following feedback that akonga "do not like vegetables and couldn't taste the cheese flavour". A test of the revised meal across six schools resulted in 57 percent of pupils giving a positive rating, 21 percent neutral and 23 percent negative. One school said all children ate the meal and wanted it back on the menu, but another said everyone disliked it: "Their feedback was that it was gluggy. I dissected a meal and it was quite congealed and the pasta did appear overcooked and mushy". The document showed further investigation revealed the negative feedback was from a school that received the meal several hours before it was consumed and negative opinions about the meal from school staff might have influenced pupil opinions. Comments about the meal included "I love it, give us more of it please", "it was so cheesey", "looks weird", "smell yuck", "basic and ok". A trial of beef rissoles across two schools proved the most divisive with 44 percent positive, 24 percent neutral and 32 percent negative. "It was good but not that good," wrote one student, while another wrote "I like all of it and it was amazing". "Too much thyme or mixed herbs - it's in everything almost every day," wrote another. By 22 May last year, Libelle noted that 13 schools had opted to stop receiving the beef rissoles and gravy meal and it was planning to update the meal with a new improved version for the following term. Documents released under the Official Information Act reveal 13 schools opted to stop receiving a beef rissoles and gravy meal from the school lunch programme. Photo: Screenshot / Compass Group Among the released documents was a spreadsheet showing Education Ministry assessments of 24 meals and, for older children, accompanying snacks against nutritional requirements. It showed an early version of Mac n Cheese failed to make the grade because it was too light, 209 grams instead of at least 240 grams with just 30 percent of the required protein, while a gluten-free version had 99.875 percent of the protein required. Muesli bars, yoghurt raisins, banana chips and pretzels failed to make the grade as acceptable snacks. A 12 December 2024 email from the Education Ministry to Compass Group said all main meals for the proposed menu for term 1 2025 had been assessed as meeting nutrition requirements, but two changes were requried for the sides that accompanied lunches for students in Year 9 and above to ensure the total meal met nutritional requirements. "There are four meals that fall short of meeting nutrition standards, two are within an acceptable margin (Beef Rissoles and Mac n Cheese), however the other two will need to be adjusted to meet nutrition standards. Beef bolognese is 9g below the protein food requirement and Chicken Teriyaki Rice exceeds the amber allowance by 8g," the email said. The School Lunch Collective said amber ingredients, such as coconut cream, were allowed in meals, but only up to a certain amount. On 10 January 2025, the ministry emailed Compass Group asking for changes to four meals. "Butter Chicken: Coconut cream is double the allowed serving size for both age group. Needs to be reduced to 15mls per serve. "Ham Mac n Cheese: no percentage of cheese in the sauce so can't confirm meets protein requirements. "Thai Chicken: Coconut cream again is over the amber serving limit of 15mls per serve. "Beef rissoles: Doesn't meet veg content (note saying potato considered as salad veg?) but even with veg in rissole, brownie and onion in gravy it is still short." On 13 January 2025 a ministry email to Compass Group listed changes required to five meals. "Butter Chicken and Thai Chicken - reduce the coconut cream content to no more than 15mls per serve. "Mac n Cheese: confirm cheese content (needs to be at least 17g per servce to meet yr 4-8 protein requirement) and ensure sides contribute sufficient protein to meet Y9+ requirements of at least 50g. "Teriyaki Chicken: ensure that soy sauce content is less than 1/2 tsp (2.5ml) per serve. "Beef Rissoles: increase vegetables by at least 15g to meet Y4-8 min requirement (60g)." School Lunch Collective figures showed it was delivering about 103-107,000 lunches to about 440 schools a day with waste or uneaten lunches ranging from six to 10 percent. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Yahoo
Man found shot inside car in Lincoln Heights; suspects flee on electric scooter
Two suspects who fled on an electric scooter remain at large after a man was found shot inside his car in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood Saturday morning. Los Angeles police responded to reports of the shooting near Humboldt Street and Avenue 23 at 1:15 a.m. The victim, a 48-year-old man, was sitting inside his Dodge Charger when two male suspects approached his car. Witnesses told police they began arguing and that's when a suspect opened fire and shot the victim. The suspects then fled the scene while riding an electric scooter. Arriving officers found the victim suffering from a gunshot wound. He was transported to a nearby hospital where he remained in stable condition. Photos from the scene showed that at least one bullet had pierced the man's windshield on the driver's side. Nearby roads were cordoned off as police investigated the scene. It's unclear whether the suspects were known to the victim. Descriptions of the suspects were not provided. No further details, including the victim's identity, were released. Anyone with information on the shooting can call the Los Angeles Police Department at 1-877-527-3247. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
