Following social media posts and local news reports about flyers promoting a white supremacy group in Mt. Sterling, Kentucky, police have launched an investigation.?
A copy of a flyer posted online shows it is from the Trinity White Knights Ku Klux Klan. It asks residents to report crimes and drug dealers to the group.??
“We have copies of the flyers, so feel free to throw yours in the trash, where they belong,” a Mt. Sterling Police Department press release said. “The M.S.P.D. and City of Mt. Sterling does not tolerate any kind of hate or bigotry in our community.”
On Sunday, the department received several reports of flyers left overnight on vehicles in the areas of Pines on Main and the Holly Hills subdivision. Police say the flyers contained “the beliefs of a hate group from another city.”?
“Investigators are working to identify the individuals and we are asking the public for their help,” the press release said. “If you reside in any of these subdivisions and have any information, please call us at (859) 498-8899. You can also leave us a message on our FB page. We are seeking any possible surveillance videos or descriptions.”
Lexington TV station LEX18 reported that some of its viewers said similar flyers were distributed in Paris, Kentucky.?
The Southern Poverty Law Center has designated the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan as a hate group for its racist views and attempts to portray itself as a modern “white civil rights” organization. In 2015, SPLC said the Trinity White Knights chapter was based in Georgetown.?
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McKenna Horsley
McKenna Horsley covers state politics for the Kentucky Lantern. She previously worked for newspapers in Huntington, West Virginia, and Frankfort, Kentucky. She is from northeastern Kentucky.
Kentucky Lantern is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
