Kathy Miller, 70, used to serve on the Board of Building and Zoning Appeals in Mentor, Ohio. She also helped run Trump’s campaign in Mahoning County back in 2016. Now, she is out of her city role after a video went viral online. She was caught screaming a racial slur at her Black neighbor during a fight about driveway marker stakes.
It played out like a nightmare. Miller looked upset, barefoot in slippers and pajamas, walked right onto her neighbor’s lawn, pulled up the stakes, and shouted: “You can go *expletive* yourself, you goddamn *expletive*.”
The neighbor kept rolling, calm and cool. His response went viral, too, hitting a nerve: “The police is gonna love this, you know that, right? You’re in their files already. You’re going places.”
Once Miller noticed, she spun back and demanded he delete the footage. He refused. By the time city officials in Ohio caught wind of the viral clip, her position was gone.
Miller hadn’t been in her city spot long, appointed in May 2023. Public records show she collected $1,550 for attending 31 meetings at fifty bucks each. She also signed off on standard city policies, covering everything from harassment to IT rules.
In a statement to 3News Investigates, Mentor officials called Miller’s actions “indefensible under any and all circumstances,” and stressed that she didn’t speak for the community.
City Council moved swiftly to act on her removal. While WKYC3 broke the story and said they hadn’t verified the clip themselves, city leaders confirmed it was what pushed them to act.
Internet Reacts to Ohio City Board Member Kathy Miller’s Racial Slur Video
The neighbor’s composure did as much work as the footage itself in the replies. “That much hate made her forget she had a bad knee,” one person wrote. Another went straight to the age question: “You would think she’d grow wisdom in her old age. Not! Terrible for a human to behave this way. Just plain racist!”
Some framed it as a symptom of something bigger. “This is the legacy Trump will be leaving us,” one commenter said. Another zeroed in on the irony of the triggering incident: “What sign was she offended about? Cause she’s hella offensive.”
One reply took the broadest possible view: “The fact that in 2026 you have a group of people who think they are better than another group of people because they think themselves superior because of simply being pigmentally deficient is wild to me. What type of caveman Neanderthal way of thinking is this?!”
Miller has a history in public life, going back to the 2016 election in Ohio. In an interview with The Guardian, then, she said, “If you’re Black, and you haven’t been successful in the past 50 years, it’s your own fault,” and dismissed Black Lives Matter as “a stupid waste of time.” She is also a licensed real estate agent. No criminal charges have been reported in connection with the incident.
