By HOI ABC
BLOOMINGTON – The Bloomington City Council is speaking out on the discovery this weekend of racist pamphlets from the Ku Klux Klan distributed in parts of Bloomington and other Central Illinois locations, including Stanford and Atlanta.
Mayor Tari Renner said at Monday night’s council meeting that he considers the KKK as a cancer in the U.S., and he calls this weekend’s events “quite disturbing,” according to our news partner HOI ABC.
He had a message to people who have been handing out the leaflets in the community to increase KKK membership.
“While that is part of your First Amendment right, if anybody wants to act on those things, that’s a felony if you want to terrorize people, or scare people, or murder people,” said Renner.
“This organization has been littered with murders in its 150-plus year history,” the mayor said.
Police were canvasing a neighborhood in south central Bloomington that received the leaflets.
Council member Julie Emig said her family found flyers left by the Loyal White Knights, a self-proclaimed KKK group.
“…And if you do find anything of these flyers, notify the police so that the incidents can be documented, and then move on with important work of uplifting the community,” said Emig.
In the western McLean County village of Stanford, Police Chief Dustin Carter said on the department’s Facebook page that more than 25 residents reported finding the written material in zip lock bags and a rock.
“Stanford PD immediately began to investigate to see if anyone had any security camera footage of who may have been responsible for doing this,” the chief said.
The chief noted community members gathered Sunday afternoon at Pippin Park “to discuss how, as a community, we could show that this type of behavior is not acceptable, as well as brainstorming ideas to show how Stanford can be more inclusive and supportive of diversity.”
In the Logan County city of Atlanta, a resident there said she found the KKK’s leaflet in her driveway.
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