1st Walk Against Hate in Cleveland aims to diminish bigotry, antisemitism

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - Maude Cloutier knows how it feels to be singled out.

She came to the Walk Against Hate at the Wade oval in Cleveland to share her story.

“Sometimes it was hard to fit in people like to support people from their town and you’re an outsider and people don’t want you to succeed so it can be difficult,” Cloutier said.

The 1.6-mile walk around the lake and the museum aims to fight hate, antisemitism, & all forms of bigotry, so Cleveland can be a welcoming space for all.

People nationwide participated both in-person and virtually back in Oct. 2021, raising nearly $1 million to fight hate for good.

They’re hoping to do the same today.

Christian Smith is a sophomore in High School and said that although he hasn’t experienced it himself, he’s seen people treat others poorly.

“It’s just weird to see that people will purely hate on somebody based on things that they have no control over with their religion their ethnicity or anything like that,” he said.

Kelly Fishman is the education director for the anti-defamation league.

She told 19 News ADL, is a more than a century-old anti-hate organization.

“It’s great to really build up this work for students because they were so excited to have authentic conversations in the classroom,” Fishman said.

Everyone walking today including Mayor Justin Bibb want folks to realize we have so much more in common with each other than what divides us.

“I believe we can show America how to get it done,” Bibb added.

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