Jewish head of Ohio health department targeted with protest at her home, anti-Semitic slurs

A protester holds up a sign against Dr. Amy Acton outside of the Ohio State House in Columbus, Ohio on April 18, 2020, to protest the stay home order that is in effect until May 1st. Image by Megan Jelinger/Getty
Protesters gathered in front of the home of Dr. Amy Acton, the head of Ohio’s health department, on Saturday afternoon to push back against state rules that are keeping businesses closed in order to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Protesters and politicians who oppose the state rules have targeted Acton, who is Jewish, with critical signs and thinly veiled anti-Semitic rhetoric, especially in the wake of her announcement last week that state shutdown rules would be extended to May 29. Ohio has seen nearly 20,000 cases of Covid-19, with more than 1,000 deaths. The number of new cases has been rising for several days, according to data gathered by The New York Times.
On Friday morning, a state representative, Nino Vitale, called Acton a “globalist” in a post published on Facebook.
“Your basic human rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness do not come from an unelected Globalist Health Director, who signed the order in the dark of night,” Vitale wrote.
Police told News 5 Cleveland that two officers watched the protest, which consisted of between 15-20 people and did not last long. Acton lives in Bexley, Ohio, a suburb of Columbus with a large Jewish population.
A freelance photographer who posted pictures of the protest to Twitter said that neighbors reported seeing people with semiautomatic rifles taking part in the protest.
A small group of protestors have gathered in front of the central Ohio home of Dr Amy Acton. Neighbors report several men walking up and down the street with assault weapons stating that there will be no violence. “For now” #ohio #amyacton #thisisamerica #asseenincbus pic.twitter.com/xC3HT0oVi6
— KRForbesPhotography (@KRForbesPhoto) May 2, 2020
On Sunday, doctors held a rally in support of her at the state capitol in Columbus. They stood six feet apart from one another, connected by a rope.
“We want Dr. Acton to know that doctors here in Ohio are absolutely behind her,” said Dr. Anita Somani, a member of the Ohio-based progressive activist group Physicians Action Network.
Ari Feldman is a staff writer at the Forward. Contact him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @aefeldman
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
2X match on all Passover gifts!
Most Popular
- 1
Film & TV What Gal Gadot has said about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- 2
News A Jewish Republican and Muslim Democrat are suddenly in a tight race for a special seat in Congress
- 3
Fast Forward The NCAA men’s Final Four has 3 Jewish coaches
- 4
Culture How two Jewish names — Kohen and Mira — are dividing red and blue states
In Case You Missed It
-
Books The White House Seder started in a Pennsylvania basement. Its legacy lives on.
-
Fast Forward The NCAA men’s Final Four has 3 Jewish coaches
-
Fast Forward Yarden Bibas says ‘I am here because of Trump’ and pleads with him to stop the Gaza war
-
Fast Forward Trump’s plan to enlist Elon Musk began at Lubavitcher Rebbe’s grave
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.