Activist groups in the City of Whittier are asking police to launch a hate crime investigation after apparent KKK propaganda fliers were distributed on several residents’ lawns. The incident occurred along the 5400 hundred block of Adele Avenue on Sunday morning, as many residents went to retrieve their Sunday newspapers.
“When I first read it, I thought it was a hoax,” said Stella Paquin, a longtime Whittier resident who received one of the fliers sheltered in a zip-lock bag. The bags also contained a rock, candy, and contact information for the Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.
During a press conference Monday outside City Hall, advocates with the Whittier Area Peace and Justice Coalition, the Whittier Latino Coalition, and the Whittier Voters Coalition expressed concerns that the incident could be a precursor to violent events in the area.
“We must act now to show that such incidents are not welcome in our community,” said Matt Berkelhammer of the Whittier Area Peace and Justice Coalition. “This is serious and should be treated as a criminal matter. We demand the Whittier police approach this as a hate crime.”
Whittier is a city of around 86,000 located just 12 miles southeast of Los Angeles. The middle-class suburb, where Richard Nixon grew up, is also home to a bourgeoning Latino community.
Read more about the incident here.
Image Credit: Flickr User blakeemrys, https://flic.kr/p/4w5tf via (CC BY 2.0)