Neighbors on edge after finding KKK recruitment flyers in their driveway
GASTON COUNTY, NC (FOX 46) - Neighbors say they're on edge after finding KKK fliers in their driveways. On Monday, the KKK member who said he's behind the letters told FOX 46 Charlotte he is using it to recruit new members.
The person insisted the letters are not a hoax and that they were just distributed for recruitment. Either way, people who found them aren't very happy.
"If you know what the Ku Klux Klan is, why you know, why would idiots call it and not understand what it's about. Why would it be a hoax? No. Did anybody ask for anything from you? No. It's a free country," said the man who called himself a KKK recruiter when FOX 46 Charlotte called the number listed on the flyer.
People who live in the Stonewood subdivision in Gaston County and parts of Cherryville found the fliers this week.
"I was kind of setback for a moment. I'm like OK that's just and then I found two more or really three more today and you know I've heard about it being in different neighborhoods. It's really disturbing that there's someone out there that wants to stir up hate like this," a neighbor said.
Parents say they were forced to explain to their children what the letters were. One local mother said her 11-year-old son found a flyer while riding his bike.
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"My son was very worried about some of our friends who are minorities in the neighborhood. He didn't want this out there. He offered to go and gather all of them up but I told him I was going to go and call the cops first," she said.
The KKK member told me the letters are for recruitment.
"It's just a recruitment tactic. They're not trying to intimidate anybody. It's just a plain and simple picture. It gets right to the point and then a phone number," the recruiter said.
Gaston County police say the only crime that's been committed with the letters is littering.
"I was a little bit surprised by that because I feel like this is a hate group. It makes our neighborhood feel unsafe and I feel like there's probably other groups out there that if they did something like this it would be looked at a little bit differently," a neighbor explained.
A member of the Neighborhood Watch says they plan to be diligent about watching who is coming and going from now on, that Stonewood is a peaceful neighborhood and it's going to stay that way.