KKK recruitment fliers found in downtown Lafayette
LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) – Several downtown businesses found plastic bags with a poster and a pamphlet promoting the American Christian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.
Some business owners said it was a sad and disturbing discovery.
“Their methods are cowardly,” Lafayette resident George Boes said. “Hiding behind a plastic bag and a flier.”
On Friday morning, several downtown Lafayette business owners found what they said are messages of hate.
Operation Ink Manager Nathanael Shumate said it’s frustrating to see.
“It’s just so disgusting that somebody would take the time to do this,” Shumate said.
Both papers promote the KKK and standing up for “White Rights.” The poster features a picture of Martin Luther King Jr., labeling him as a Zero, a communist and a pervert.
The pamphlet lists reasons for joining the KKK.
“There’s not much we can do when it comes to the right of free speech and things like that, but at the same time we can decline them or just grab their terrible reading material and throw it in the garbage,” Shumate said.
That’s what McCord’s Candies owner Denise Bootsma is doing,
“Throwing it away,” Bootsma said. “There’s too much hate in the world.”
Lafayette police have received a few calls about the fliers.
Lt. Scott Galloway said while the department does not agree with the group’s message, they cannot infringe upon free speech.
But Boes said a way to fight back is by flexing that same right.
“People shouldn’t brush it under a rug,” said Boes. “People should discuss it.”
WLFI received multiple reports of people finding the fliers along Main Street and as far as Teal Road.
Two messages left with the American Christian Knights 24/7 hotline were not returned.