Not Much Can Be Done About KKK Fliers, Police Say

Trenton, MI — Police in Trenton say there’s not much they can do about a dusting of Ku Klux Klan recruitment fliers left on front lawns and in mailboxes around town overnight Wednesday.

The white supremacist group’s fliers, found at homes in the vicinity of Trumbull and Ford Street, included the message, “Loyal White Knights, Ku Klux Klan wants you!” The group’s website followed, along with a national hotline number, WDIV-TV reported.

The fliers were sealed in a plastic bag and anchored with a rock in some cases so they wouldn’t blow away, according to the report.

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Residents turned the fliers over to Trenton police, who said their hands are tied. In the landmark 1969 ruling in Brandenburg vs. Ohio, the U.S. Supreme Court said that although KKK leader Carl Brandenburg’s remarks against African-Americans and Jews were inflammatory, they were protected under the First Amendment.

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The fliers target African-Americans, Jews and gay people.

“I don’t mess around with this crap,” a homeowner told the TV station. He gathered up all the fliers he could find in his neighborhood and dropped them by the police station on his way to work.

“It creeps me out,” another resident told WDIV.

With a long history of violence, the KKK is the most infamous, and oldest, of American hate groups, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Image: WDIV-TV screenshot