Georgia police are investigating the spread of a Ku Klux Klan recruitment flier to determine whether any laws have been broken. Several residents in the small city of Covington, Ga. found fliers in their driveways featuring an illustration of several Klan members standing in front of a tree, urging “Join the KKK – Loyal White Knights.”
Newton County sheriff officers are reviewing the fliers for possible threats or inappropriate information. CBS Atlanta reported that over 30 fliers were found folded and placed inside of plastic sandwich bags outside of residents’ homes.
“We probably threw it away and didn’t realize what it was,” Newton County resident Hadiyah Abdul-Mateen told CBS News. “They need to get a life, I mean really,” Abdul-Mateen added. “I’m hoping it had nothing to do with President Barack Obama being re-elected.”
The distribution of the flier coincided with Obama’s second inauguration and the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend.
A CBS Atlanta news representative called the number on the flier, and spoke with Chris Barker, who claimed to be an imperial wizard in the Klan. Barker told the news outlet that the release of the flier was indeed intended to fall on the holiday weekend, and that it was not exclusive to the city of Covington.
“More of a recruitment drive to let the neighborhood know the Klan is there and the Klan isn’t going anywhere,” Barker said. “We told our members to go out and pretty much counteract Martin Luther King’s birthday, who was a known communist – and we decided to put out Klan literature.”
Located just 35 miles outside of Atlanta, Covington boasts a relatively diverse population, 45 percent of which is African-American. However, Barker suggested that fliers were distributed in areas as far as New York and Florida as well.
