Thursday, Loudoun County, Va. residents saw something quite disturbing on their day off: a flyer with white supremacist propaganda. According to Fox 5 DC, authorities are looking for tips on who distributed the flyers but have an idea that the culprits are related to the Ku Klux Klan.
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About 50 flyers were found in the driveways of homes, attached to a bag of birdseed with an apparent “warning” and phrases “100% Americanism” and “Pray for White Americans” written on the bottom. Other pieces of the flyer were censored by local news sites. The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office said there’s no indication the households who received flyers were targeted. However, they were addressed from the Loyal White Knights, the largest and most active hate group related to the KKK, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
In a 2018 ADL report, they found Knights were “operating in the shadows” of the white supremacist movement but are known for asserting their presence through racist, anti-semitic and everything-phobic propaganda. They have about 100 members. That may not seem like a lot but anyone who praises the white hood and burning cross is likely to recruit more people to hop on the hate train.
In fact, that’s what the birdseed filler implied. According to the Washington Post, VA residents received similar packages outside their homes in 2017 and 2018 as a part of a KKK recruiting campaign. The last time state residents saw these was around the same time of year: Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
This county seems to be polluted with racism aside from KKK shenanigans, actually. This is the latest of a string of racist events to happen to residents.
Read more from the Loudoun Times:
The distribution comes on the heels of several discoveries of antisemitic and racist graffiti in the last month around Loudoun including at schools, and in one case, at a shopping mall in South Riding. After the South Riding incident, Loudoun Interfaith BRIDGES, a coalition of area religious groups, held an anti-racist rally at the center. The Rev. David Milam, Loudoun Interfaith executive director, said on Thursday that it’s sad that the KKK leaf letting has become an annual occurrence.
“I know it’s intended to be intimidating,” he said. “I think the response to that is, we’re not intimidated.”
It’s unclear what will happen to the LWK if they’re apprehended for the flyers. To cover their asses, they cited Hague v Committee for Industrial Organization at the bottom of the flyer, a ruling that defended the First Amendment rights to free speech and gathering.
Unfortunately, they have a point. Various forms of racist language are protected by the Constitution.
If you know something or saw something, contact the LCSO at 703-777-1021.
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