SPRINGFIELD — Police have no idea who distributed several fliers overnight in an attempt at recruiting people from one neighborhood to “stand up for their rights as white people” and join the Ku Klux Klan.
Police Wednesday morning collected about 30 or 35 of the fliers, which were distributed in plastic sandwich bags that also contained Tootsie Rolls, said Springfield Police Chief Philip Thorne.
“We have no idea what the significance of the Tootsie Rolls is,” Thorne said.
The fliers appeared to have been thrown from a moving vehicle sometime before sunrise Wednesday, Thorne said, in a neighborhood where residents are neither predominantly white nor black. Thorne said police don’t know if the fliers are a prank or a legitimate attempt to recruit new members to the KKK.
“We have no idea what the reasoning behind it is,” he said.
Robert Jones, who identified himself as a “grand titan” for a KKK group headquartered in North Carolina, said the fliers are aimed at recruiting new members, and the practice has been successful in the past. He said police infringed on the group’s right to free speech by picking up the flyers.
Thorne said the materials were all in the public right-of-way and collected by officers as discarded property.
Jones explained the Tootsie Rolls serve two purposes. First, the candy weighs the bags down so they don’t get scattered in the wind. They also appeal to any children who might find the bags, Jones said. The community has nothing to fear from the KKK, Jones said.
“The Klan is not out to commit any acts of violence against the community,” Jones said.
Littering would be the only possible criminal charge the distributer of the fliers would potentially be exposed to, Thorne said.
“We have no reason to believe there’s any concern for violence,” Thorne said. “We encourage residents to report anything suspicious.”
Springfield police contacted neighboring law enforcement agencies. None reported similar activity, Thorne said.
Jones said he was affiliated with the same group that distributed similar materials in New Smyrna Beach recently. According to news reports, those materials were distributed in a predominantly black neighborhood, and Jones told a reporter those efforts were not successful.