Garrettsville, Ohio Epicenter for Racism
By: Ethan Tabor
Let me tell you all a little about my home town, Garrettsville, Ohio... A small town just south of Cleveland; one street light, horse and buggies parked at the grocery store, hole in the wall bars, and plenty of pizza. It’s definitely one of those places where everyone knows your name and usually your business as well. Did I mention, it’s now being touted as a village full of racists?
A local media company called “The Portager” released an in-depth article on the spewing racism problem in Garrettsville and I’m here to tell them to go fuck themselves. The attention seekers of the BLM movement in Garrettsville went to this news source, because no real company would take this story, and of course the uneducated are running with it. The article is written by Ben Wolford, who grew up in Atwater, perhaps the only town more rural than Garrettsville in all of Portage county. In fact, I’ve had more racist encounters in Atwater than I have seen living in Garrettsville for 20 years. I’ll come back to you later.
Let’s talk about the BLM movement in Garrettsville. The idea first came about after the tragic death of George Floyd. We all watched these protests, often not peaceful, rain terror on cities across our country. Notice I said cities... Which makes sense, because the best way to have your voice heard is usually by getting in front of people. So why are the 2,000 residents of Garrettsville, Ohio the target? I mentioned earlier that everybody knows everyones business. This is certainly a normal occurrence in a small town and with that, Garrettsville has no shortage of dramatic individuals that feed off people’s problems and all that juicy, small-town gossip.
Tons of people I graduated with shared this post and shared their disgust for our town. I’ve got a solution. MOVE AND SHUT UP!! I think people fail to realize the power of social media. When your dumb ass shares this message it is now seen by thousands of people. Who then think, she’s from this town and saying this, so it must be bad. Now they share it to their friends, and then to their friends, and the fuckery never ends. Do you think about your family and friends who live there and are now being titled as members of some cult? Do you think about value of property for those you love, the school district and their children? Do you think of the numerous black families who were born and raised in Garrettsville, with not a shred of hate or animosity towards them? I’ll answer for you, NO you didn’t think!! You saw drama and you jumped on the wagon.
I want to clear up a few things from this article. Do you know why the people of Garrettsville are standing up to the BLM movement? This comment from the Mayor, used in The Portagers article explains it.
Of course, a small town doesn’t want drama like this on their streets. I’ve walked through the protest once since the madness all started, and heard 5-10 people screaming across the street that the owners of the Mill, a restaurant in Garrettsville, are racist scum and not to give them business. “Close down the Mill”, “Fuck the Mill”. I even saw a woman shouting at a local subway employee about her racism on her shirt? So now subway shirts are racist? There are some baffling things happening on Main St. in Garrettsville and as much as they have the right to protest, the people have the right to fight back. Being white and not supporting your bullshit doesn’t make someone racist.
This entire article revolves around a unique story that really showcases the racism in Garrettsville, as seen below.
This article thats shaming AN ENTIRE COMMUNITY, is built off the premise that a man in a white van had a confederate flag mask on and yelled white power out the window leaving a gas station. No proof WHAT SO EVER that the man was even from Garrettsville, and no way to judge the truth in her story. What kind of white power hillbilly is wearing a mask in the first place? Certainly as they yell racial hate out their car window. What kind of media station picks up on this and makes it their headline of the week?
The Portager and Ben Wolford, of course.
I’d actually tea bag this twat if I ever met him. He starts a company to cover news in Portage county and suddenly he’s a sub division of CNN, covering bullshit headlines for clickbait. Claiming a town is racist?? Really?? I can’t fathom being from Waterloo with no life experiences in Garrettsville and being able to publish this story. I might call the Portager tomorrow to report that Atwater, as a township, is sex trafficking children because there’s a guy standing outside with a picket sign that reads “Pedophilia is the Pandemic”. Clearly it means that everyone there watches kiddy porn and this should make the headlines tomorrow.
This town, the businesses, and the people are being coined racist because it’s a rural town with a bunch of white people. Although they might support the BLM movement, they don’t think shaming businesses and town officials on Main St. fixes anything and want the protestors gone. If they don’t support BLM, that’s cool too, it’s their right! At the end of the day, I have never met someone; friend or stranger of ANY color, that was afraid to be in these “racist streets” of Garrettsville, Ohio. I’m sure that an article in “The Portager” with their 152 followers surely wasn’t the end goal but why does it feel like it was? Congratulations, you got a scum bag news company to include your scum bag name for a day. I’ll gladly help pack up your shit, and get you out of this racist town.
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