TOWN AND COUNTRY, Mo. — Signs of peace and love were above Interstate 64 in Town and Country on Monday.
It was in direct response to a scene just 48 hours prior on the same Mason Road overpass. A group of white nationalists waved Nazi flags.
Curious about the hate on the highway, Shelley Dean questioned the chaos as she drove by.
Saturday morning, Dean heard there were red and black flags with swastikas at the overpass but didn't realize people were there.
When she drove up, she questioned their chants and asked what they were saying.
In a Facebook livestream Dean filmed, They were chanting "non-white? Parasite" and "America for the white man." The group was also saying racist language and doing the Hitler salute.
In the livestream, she kept asking questions and soon, one of them welcomed her to come over.
They said, "I mean if you want to, come up here and talk to us?" She responded, "I kind of do."
Dean works at an organization dedicated to providing Jewish education and she's a yoga instructor at a Jewish community center.
"We say peace begins with me," Dean shared.
This mantra motivated her.
"The first thing I said was, 'Am I safe because I'm Jewish,' and he said yes," she added.
She said before her eyes, they'd say "hail Hitler" and deny the Holocaust. Dean was taken aback by this belief system.
This back-and-forth on Facebook live had about 30,000 views as of Monday.
"One of the things they said, they used these Nazi symbols because they know it gets people going," she explained.
Dean also asked the group to show their faces. "I did ask them if they can take their masks off numerous times. They said they’d lose their job and couldn’t open bank accounts, but if you feel so confident about what you’re doing, you want to show pride, stand behind it. Well one of the guys said, well this isn’t pride, it’s about educating," Dean said.
She asked if they want to hurt the groups they were verbally denouncing.
Their response, "No, we just want them to leave."
She also asked the men if they ever met anyone Jewish. Their answer was no.
Dean added, "I know it’s not fake, I know they're really uneducated so I didn’t take it for real but knowing what they’re saying and teaching people, that’s where it’s going to continue."
Despite the hateful rhetoric, she was driven to educate.
She said at the end, "Remember you met a nice Jewish girl."
One man responded, "I'll remember that."
Dean said her goal is to bypass the hate and pivot to peace. She was happy to see demonstrators return to the same spot on Monday to show love and to do it without a mask to hide behind.
Parkway United Church of Christ, along with community members, stood on the overpass to share love in the morning and evening.
Pastor Kevin Cameron said, "We wanted to let people know that love is the most important. We need to be loud with our love."
Dean called the overall experience a unique one.
"The biggest lesson that when we express hate, the next generation hears it and sees it and that hate is a taught experience," she shared. "If I found an opportunity that more people can say hey what can we do to learn more or be exposed to more, I'm thrilled to have an impact on even more people."
Town and Country Police Department released an updated statement on Monday:
During the afternoon on Saturday, October 5th, approximately ten demonstrators gathered on the Mason Road overpass at Interstate 64 for approximately three hours. We understand that this situation was upsetting, and this group's message with reprehensible. We have received numerous inquires asking why no arrests were made during the event and why this group was allowed to remain there.
It is important to understand that under the First Amendment of the Constitution, individuals have the right to assemble and express their views, even if those views are offensive. As long as the demonstrators are not breaking any laws, they are legally permitted to demonstrate. Our priority as law enforcement officers is to ensure public safety and protect individual rights. Please know that we were monitoring the situation the entire time, and if at any time we had observed laws violated, we most certainly would have acted.
While hate speech is protected under the First Amendment, it is not productive. Even though we do not condone this type of speech, as law enforcement officers we are bound to preserve and protect the rights of all, even the rights of those with whom we disagree. We want to thank everyone for your patience and understanding during this unfortunate event.
