RI Official Says She Was Threatened By Email With Photo Of Noose

NORTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. — A member of the Democratic North Kingstown School Committee says she received an email with a photo of a noose and the words "It's coming" Sunday, just days after police said pamphlets promoting a white supremacist group were found in North Kingstown.

Jennifer Lima, who was first elected in 2020 and has become known for her policy positions as an ally for BIPOC people and the LGBTQ community in North Kingstown, wrote on Facebook that as a wife to a Black man and mother of four children— three of whom are biracial—she is "no stranger to receiving emails from people who are angry and upset with the work that I do related to ensuring all students' voices are heard and respected."

"But never would I have expected that I would one day be the recipient of this particular symbol of hate and racism," Lima continued. "To those of you who continually tell me that racism does not exist in our community, I would genuinely like to know what explanation you would offer for this."

Lima told Target 12 she’s reported the email to the North Kingstown Police Department.

“We are actively investigating it,” Captain John Urban Jr. told the outlet.

The chilling email comes after pamphlets promoting a white supremacist group were found on a North Kingstown driveway Tuesday. Police said that after receiving an email from a resident, they checked the area and found that several homes also had pamphlets in ziplock bags on their driveways.

The pamphlets promoted a group called NSC-131. NSC stands for "Nationalist Social Club," according to the Anti-Defamation League, and 131 is the alphanumeric code for ACA, or Anti-Communist Action. There are chapters around the United States and in France, Hungary and Germany.

The group described itself as pro-white in the pamphlets and said it is seeking men of European descent.

"Originally named the New England Nationalists Club (NENC), the group was started in December 2019 by a handful of neo-Nazis in Eastern Massachusetts," the ADL says in its dossier on NSC-131. "Led by Chris Hood, the group's original focus was covering up anarchist and gang graffiti with their own graffiti in the areas of Worcester, Boston, Quincy, Rutland and Sturbridge."

The group renamed itself the Nationalist Social Club in early 2020 and expanded in the spring of that year when the white supremacist group Legion of St. Ambrose fell apart and many of its members joined NSC-131. Since then, according to ADL, the group has added chapters in Florida, Kentucky, Texas and Virginia. The ADL said it also identified members in Arizona, Indiana, New Hampshire and New York.

North Kingstown police said they forwarded the pamphlets to the Fusion Center.

Anyone with relevant information is urged to call North Kingstown police at 401-294-3311.