PINEVILLE, Ky. — The Pineville Police Department said it was investigating after several KKK flyers were found in driveways and along roadways. According to a post from the police department on social media, flyers were found by both children and adults during the evening of Nov. 24.
The police department said a witness reported a person in a Jeep throwing folded flyers out of the car on Kentucky Avenue and Tennessee Avenue at around 8 p.m. on Friday, at the start of the Thanksgiving holiday. Police said similar flyers were also put in mailboxes and thrown in driveways in other cities, which turned out to be recruiting tactics for the hate group.
"It is not known if someone with the KKK is actually responsible for this or if it is an individual doing this to cause trouble and/or panic in the community," the police department said.
According to the police department, the flyers include a depiction of a person dressed in a KKK outfit, with the face hidden. The flyers also said, "You can sleep sound tonight. The Klan is awake." It told people to report crimes to a phone number with a local area code.
Specifically, the flyers reference the Trinity White Knights — a KKK-affiliated group that was known to authorities in previous years. The Southern Poverty Law Center said that group was active in Georgetown in 2015. It was one of many known chapters of the hate group across the U.S. and one of four known chapters in Kentucky in 2015.
In 2022, the SPLC said KKK activity was likely to stay stagnant or continue to decline during 2023, compared to other white supremacist movements.
In that report, the SPLC said three known KKK-affiliated groups were active in Tennessee while none were known to be active in Kentucky.
The hate group began at the end of the Civil War in Tennessee. It began as a group that mobilized a campaign of terror and violence against Black communities during the reconstruction period, eventually finding membership from different parts of white, Southern society.
The Southern Poverty Law Center describes it as "the oldest and most infamous of American hate groups." They said in 2022, there were 22 incidents involving flyers and the KKK, as well as small and remote rallies.
According to the SPLC, most incidents involving the KKK happened in Tennessee.
In the years following the Civil War, the hate group used terror and violence to prevent Black Americans from voting, holding political office and participating in many aspects of society. More than 4,400 racial terror lynchings were documented between 1877 and 1950, according to the Equal Justice Initiative.
In July 2023, a Sante Fe man was arrested for posting KKK flyers in Columbia, Tennessee. He faced four counts of civil rights intimidation, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and vandalism.
