Fla. KKK drops off fliers in mostly black neighborhood
NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. — A Ku Klux Klan group from North Carolina trying to recruit members from New Smyrna Beach targeted a predominantly black neighborhood, officials said.
Leaders passed out hundreds of fliers near North Myrtle Street over the past couple of days.
Resident Tim Washington said he was headed to work Monday morning when something stopped him in his tracks.
"(I) saw that it was a piece of paper on the ground and it had hate stuff on it," Washington said.
Washington was the recipient of a flier from a North Carolina Ku Klux Klan group seen during an August cross-burning.
Officials said that group sent the fliers to a Florida KKK group and leaders dropped hundreds of them in a New Smyrna Beach neighborhood in an effort to recruit new members.
Many people came outside Monday morning and found them in front of their homes.
The flier reads, "Our race is our nation," and includes a picture of a member dressed in the distinctive KKK attire.
"I think it's shallow, this day and age," Washington said.
Washington and at least three other residents called police to report the suspicious find.
Neighbors were shocked that they were left in their area.
KKK Leader Robert Jones said over the phone that members dropped the fliers at night, so they had no idea who lived in the neighborhood.
"You say this was a recruiting effort; however, your group targeted a predominately black neighborhood," asked Channel 9's Ryan Hughes.
"Well, we don't have no way of judging where we're putting the fliers at," Jones said.
Ericka Blount does and has her own message for the group.
"Stay away from our neighborhood. We live together here. All different races," Blount said.
The group plans to pass out up to 600 fliers in this area in the coming days. The leader said the group hasn't recruited anyone from the immediate area yet.
