KKK Fliers Distributed In Loudoun County: Police

LOUDOUN COUNTY, VA — Some residents found Klu Klux Klan recruitment fliers Friday and Saturday in Leesburg and the Round Hill area of the county, according to the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office. Similar incidents were reported to Leesburg Police and Purcellville Police, and Leesburg Police said the fliers "were most likely distributed due to the close proximity of the day the nation honors the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday."

In Leesburg, police said fliers were found throughout the northeast quadrant of town. They received the first report 10 p.m. Friday outside a home in the 700 block of Aurora Court NE. Police say they believe the material was distributed randomly and wasn't targeted toward specific homes or people.

In Round Hill, shortly before noon Saturday, a resident told the LCSO he found KKK propaganda material on the running trail near Smith Creek Circle and Scotland Heights Road. They were found with small bags of hard candy. Then, shortly before 4 p.m., a woman said she found KKK propaganda material near her mailbox in the 35000 block of Round Knoll Court.

Police, who are working with the FBI to identify where the fliers came from, again said there's no indication any of the homes were targeted. Anyone with information is urged to call Leesburg Police at 703-771-4500 or the LCSO at 703-777-1021.

The incidents are not a first for the county. Late last October, several downtown Leesburg residents found bags of candy along with images and literature representing the Klu Klux Klan on their doorsteps. Leesburg Police said they received complaints from several people, but inasmuch that there were no threatening messages in the bags, they were protected by free speech.

Several similar incidents have happened across the country, include one last spring in Texas, where recruiting fliers for the Klan were disguised in a bag of candy and distributed to 17 homes in Texas City. Tucked inside the plastic bags of candy was a message written in bold black letters from the Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan that read: "Help save our race! Join the best or die like the rest" and "Say No To Cultural Genocide."

In August 2016, Gary Monker, who said he is the Exalted Cyclops, or chief officer, in New York of the Loyal White Knights of the KKK, told Patch that many people have misconceptions about the organization.

"We're the only organization right now standing up for whites, upholding the second amendment of the Constitution," he said. "We are not a hate group. We are Christian and we're trying to restore America back to what it used to be."

The Klan, though, has long been recognized as one of the most vile hate groups in the United States, judged so by, among others, The Southern Poverty Law Center.

Patch file photo courtesy of Gary Monker