CHILLICOTHE, Ohio — Several people in Chillicothe woke up Sunday morning to find fliers, apparently from the Ku Klux Klan, on their vehicles outside their homes.
The fliers, obtained by 10TV, contain graphic and racist content, and include information for the Trinity White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, based in Maysville, Kentucky.
“The flyers contain hate speech and are designed to create controversy and division in the community,” police said.
The fliers were distributed in neighborhoods in the west end of the city.
Pastor J. Troy Gray at the Zion Baptist Church said he believes residences in his church’s neighborhood were targeted with “segregation fliers” due to the African American population in the area. In other neighborhoods, residents reported receiving fliers that looked to recruit them to the KKK.
“We are an interracial congregation. We have moved forward with race relations so when you get something like that it makes you step back like woah that is still here so we have address those issues and say it is not welcome,” he said.
Pastor Gray organized a video message with Mayor Luke Feeney, Ross County Sheriff George Lavender, Rev Moses Edwards Jr. to show the community that this kind of hatred will not be tolerated in the community.
“I think that even though it appears things went backwards because of that it also shows how we are moving forward because of the way people came together black and white to say not in our town, not in our county,” Gray said.
Fliers were also distributed in neighborhoods about 15 miles south of Chillicothe over the weekend, according to the Waverly Police Department.
Police said the fliers have also popped up in other Ohio communities, West Virginia and Kentucky.
Chillicothe Police are asking anyone with video of people placing the fliers on vehicles or throwing them on the ground, to email crimetips@chillicotheoh.gov.