KKK Fliers Distributed In Prince William County

TRIANGLE, VA—Pamphlets containing hate propaganda were found over the weekend on multiple neighborhood lawns in the area of 4500 Forestburg Lane, according to Prince William County Police. The material was in bags weighted down with birdseed—a familiar MO for such incidents that have popped up several times over the past year or so in Northern Virginia.

Shortly after 7:30 p.m. Saturday, police responded to the area after a resident reported finding material on the lawn that appeared to be a recruiting pitch for the Klu Klux Klan. It included anti-Semitic and and anti-black language. When checking around the neighborhood, police found that multiple such bags had been tossed onto yards over the past two days. No suspicious persons or vehicles were reported in the area.

The pamphlets didn't contain any threats, and didn't appear to target anyone specific who lives in the area. Similar incidents have occurred relatively recently in Leesburg, Ashburn and Fredericksburg. The incident in Fredericksburg happened on Martin Luther King Day.

Even so, there's little authorities can legally do. 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. In Frederickburg's incidents, a spokesman said whoever left the fliers could be charged with misdemeanor littering.

Several similar incidents have happened across the country, include one last spring in Texas, where recruiting flyers 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