Newport Heights Neighborhood Papered With Racist Flyers: Report

NEWPORT BEACH, CA — A disturbing wave of flyers papered a Newport Beach neighborhood Sunday morning, residents say. The photocopied pages promote ideologies favored by white supremacy groups, the Ku Klux Klan, according to media reports.

The flyers, left in plastic baggies weighted with rocks, showed a drawing of a klansman astride a horse, with American and Civil War flags, promoting racial ideologies.

One Newport Heights resident, Olivia Slutzky, told ABC7 that her husband found the flyer outside their house Sunday morning. Though her husband trashed the missive she planned on bringing it up as a talking point over dinner.

Newport Beach residents have seen and addressed racist behavior in their midst before. Newport Mesa Unified School District dealt with a handful of high schoolers playing Nazi Beer Pong as they performed salutes. At that time, Newport Beach Mayor Diane Dixon said that the city is "appalled and saddened by the alarming photo of Newport students." The behavior is unacceptable and not reflective of the community, she said.

Following that incident, Anne Frank's Stepsister, Eva Schloss, met with the teens involved in the swastika beer pong event. Such an event was a "teachable moment," Rabbi Reuven Mintz of the Chabad Center For Jewish Life of Newport Beach said at the time. Schloss, whose father, brother and stepsister Anne Frank perished in the Holocaust, and others, later gathered with the group of Newport Beach students involved in the incident in the hope of impacting those who callously disregarded history.

As for Sunday's event, residents were disturbed, many reported over social media, and others reported the incident to local police officials.

Harley Rouda, the former congressman for the 48th district, which includes Newport Beach, spoke out on the incident over social media.

"White supremacy has no place in this country," Rouda wrote, "and this evil must be rooted out from our community once and for all."

Congresswoman Michelle Steel, 48th district, described the distribution of flyers as "despicable" on her Twitter account.

Newport Beach Police spokesperson Heather Rangel tells Patch that police have taken reports and are investigating the incident. She declined to comment further on the open investigation as of this report.

Still, ABC7 reported that one resident said "he didn't see a problem with them."