“I knew they were going to run into trouble. The question was how much?'
Kathy Newman raises a sign she brought to the rally in Bethel, OH on June 26, 2020. Hundreds of armed counter-protesters confronted peaceful demonstrators at a Black Lives Matter rally in the town.teaching second grade in the village of Bethel, Ohio — official population just under 2,800 — back in 1976. People in town call her Mrs. Dennis.
Lois Dennis needed to be there, she later told me, because when she was a kid, growing up 30 minutes away in Ripley, Ohio, she would spend her summers at the local pool. From that pool, she could see a nearby hillside. And on that hillside, silently watching the kids in the pool, were her Black classmates. The schools weren’t segregated. But private pools still could be. “I never questioned or asked why.
Bethel is at once wholly singular and totally indistinguishable from hundreds of other towns of its size and stature scattered across the United States. You can still buy a home, a pretty big one, for under $100,000, and one of several foreclosed properties for significantly less. There’s one high school, one middle school, one Ben Franklin five-and-dime — where people go for everything from quilting supplies to Halloween costumes — and one feed store.
“There aren’t many events to look forward to anymore,” Anwen Darcy explained. “Things like Pioneer Days or whatever, it might not sound like a big deal, but that’s the stuff that knits a community together. Now it’s just a bunch of people loosely living together in the same place.”Downtown Bethel, where the local movie theater marquee reads,"book showing", June 26, 2020.is a distinctly Ohioan version of Appalachia.
The shock of these stories has faded for many white residents — or has just been ignored. They maintain that Bethel is not racist; there’s no need for any fundamental reexamination of how power and race align in a town that’s more than 96% white. “Mayhem, racism, and anger does not describe this village in any way,” Village Council member Bryan Coogan told me in an email. “I have lived all over this great country and moved to Bethel to stay away from just the sort of stuff I just described.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
On The Brink, Rural Hospitals Brace For New Surge In COVID-19 CasesAcross the U.S., rural 'critical access' hospitals were already closing at an alarming rate before the pandemic. Twelve have shuttered since the start of this year alone.
Read more »
Thousands rally across Australia in Black Lives Matter protestsThousands of protesters gathered on Saturday in cities across Australia, shouting slogans in support of the Black Lives Matter movement and aiming to raise awareness of the mistreatment of indigenous people.
Read more »
Indigenous groups, Black Lives Matters join forces to decry historical 'sins' on July FourthIndigenous groups, Black Lives Matters join forces to mark historical 'sins' on July Fourth
Read more »
Southern towns grapple with their pasts as they host Black Lives Matter protestsBlack Lives Matter protests in small towns across the South have stirred up long-silenced conversations on racial justice.
Read more »
As Black buying power grows, racial profiling by retailers remains persistent problemGeorge Floyd's killing and Black Lives Matter protests have sparked a national conversation not only about police reform, but about the everyday places where Black Americans face discrimination.
Read more »