Colonial Beach, Virginia is known for its tranquility and peaceful communities but, residents in the area are in an uproar over a Ku Klux Klan recruitment flyer that made its way onto the front page of the local Westmoreland News newspaper.
The flyer itself featured a logo for the local ‘Loyal White Knights’ and featured contact information including a website and phone number. The Westmoreland News displayed a disclaimer stating the following, “Westmoreland News in no way condones or supports the content or message of this flyer, nor does it condone or support any branch of the Loyal White Knights, or the KKK.”
Local Police Chief Danny Plott supposedly sent the flyer to the newspaper in order to inform the publication that the recruitment flyer was being distributed amongst the residents of Colonial Beach, VA and never intended for the flyer to be posted in the newspaper at all.
Police Chief Danny Plott had this to say about the shocking Klan recruitment inclusion into the Westmoreland News, “That kind of shocked me, and I wrote them a very strongly worded email.”
Plott also noted that he spoke the newspaper’s editor, “She explained that she wanted to put it in to show people that those of us in Colonial Beach who may think there’s not racism; there is and I think she didn’t expect for this to blow up the way it did and with this outcome.”
Plott also added,“Unfortunately, it was racially hateful propaganda… In a free society… you are going to have people that say some pretty disgusting things in my view.”
Fortunately, residents are still furious about the what some would consider blatant advertisement for the hate group, Betty Tate Thompson had this to say about the shocking KKK front page flyer, “They posted the whole flyer as if they were giving them free advertising… It even had the number on the flyer to contact the head of the KKK. Which I thought was totally ridiculous!”
Another resident added, “They are domestic terrorists… They terrorize communities. Their intent is to get their America back, but you have to think, how are they going to get their America back? At this point, the flyer doesn’t even matter. It’s on the front page of the newspaper for everybody to see.”
Free speech is what makes America great, but there are consequences for the things you say and do making hate speech and the promotion of hate speech unacceptable. Drop your thoughts on the Ku Klux Klan newspaper advertisement in the comments.
Source: wdbj7.com
Dee Beasley is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of FreshAsFrankie.com. After starting out as a musician-producer he went on to study the music business and work in Urban Promotions, followed by artist management. Mr. Beasley entrepreneurial spirit has led him to launch numerous businesses in music and fashion marketing. He’s a huge fan of the ’80s and ’90s Hip Hop and R&B, and he’s a firm believer that Hip Hop Music will never die.