The past few weeks have been challenging, to say the least, for Dennis Williams, 70, president of Springfield’s NAACP branch.
Last month, flyers calling for mass deportations of immigrants were distributed in majority-black neighborhoods in south Springfield by the so-called Trinity White Knights, a group associated with the Ku Klux Klan.
“I tell people, don’t do anything, don’t come close. But it’s not easy for people to realize this,” she said.
“I think that’s something a lot of people don’t understand. Why do we have so much hate?”
About 22% of Springfield residents are African American, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
“People are angry. African-Americans here don’t understand how this can be tolerated. Wait a minute. I know it’s difficult.”
The Trinity White Knights are headquartered in Kentucky, and residents of Covington, a suburb of Cincinnati, also saw fliers in July as part of an apparent recruitment effort. The flyer listed a post office box address and phone number in Maysville, Kentucky.
Since Donald Trump claimed in a Sept. 10 televised debate watched by 67 million people that immigrants in Springfield were eating people’s pets, the claim has been found to be unsubstantiated. However, far-right extremism is on the rise in Springfield.
On a recent weekend, several members of the Blood Tribe, a neo-Nazi organization founded in 2020, stood in front of the Springfield mayor’s home holding swastika flags. The same weekend, people were seen outside Springfield City Hall holding signs that read, “Haitians have no home here” in English and Haitian Creole.
In a separate incident, a Clark County Democratic Party volunteer was verbally threatened by a group of Proud Boys members last month, the Dayton Daily News reported.
The Proud Boys are a far-right group that has re-emerged in recent months as the “unofficial protectors of former President Donald Trump,” according to Reuters.
Following this, a hate group designated by the Southern Poverty Law Center called Israel United in Christ held a large rally in south Springfield on September 21st.
They feel inspired by the former president. Dennis Williams they feel it’s okay to do this
Israel United in Christ says it “does not support or condone acts of violence against any race, ethnicity, or gender,” but the Anti-Defamation League has accused the organization of anti-Semitism.
During the vice presidential debate, Republican candidate J.D. Vance repeated the false claim that Springfield’s Haitian community is “illegal immigrants.” The majority of Haitians in Springfield enter the United States legally through the Temporary Protected Status program, which is granted to nationals of certain countries facing significant security challenges.
“They feel emboldened by the former president. They feel like it’s OK to do this,” Williams said.
“He gives them the green light. For him to say hateful words and falsehoods, they feel safe to speak the way they speak (and) to come here and do what they’re doing.” You will be able to do things.”
But the increase in hate group activity in recent weeks is not limited to Springfield.
In Charleroi, a town of about 4,000 people in western Pennsylvania, digital flyers were distributed on Facebook this week on behalf of the Trinity White Knights, or Trinity White Knights.
Part of the text read: “Don’t let the government destroy your city. These Third World immigrants are destroying every city they arrive in. It’s pushing into town.”
Charleroi Borough President Joe Manning said Charleroi is home to about 700 Haitian immigrants, many of whom work in local food processing plants.
“They’ve been here for five, maybe six years, and no one paid any attention to them,” he says.
On September 15, President Trump spoke at a rally in Tucson, Arizona, saying Charleroi was “not that pretty anymore” and that the town was “consisting of lawless gangs,” addressing the town’s growing immigrant population. That was before I made that comment.
“We’re a pretty small community here in Western Pennsylvania, and to be identified by name (by Trump) is like the one that started this whole firestorm,” KKK-related fliers appeared after Trump’s remarks. said Manning, who believes it was published. It wasn’t a coincidence.
“Before, no one was paying attention to the immigrant community here, and now all of a sudden it’s like, ‘Oh my God, we’re being invaded.’ They say it’s a crisis. If that’s the case, this is the slowest and worst crisis I’ve ever seen.
In Wyoming, clearly visible graffiti supporting the white supremacist group Patriot Front appeared on a bridge on a major interstate highway last week, as did banners advertising the group and calling for the “take back” (sic) of America. It was removed from the bridge. A bridge in downtown Winston-Salem, North Carolina, days after Trump’s presidential debate remarks. A student event featuring Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes, held at the University of South Carolina on September 18, is believed to have drawn about 150 attendees.
“Springfield is not an isolated incident. We have tracked four other incidents, including one that targeted the Haitian community in Alabama.” said Rachel Carol Rivas of the Southern Poverty Law Center.
“Over the past few weeks, we have seen the great heir theory of racism and anti-Semitism being shared and promoted in various campaigns and hate group messages.”
Recent events have taken a personal toll on Williams, who is personally managing growing community anger over the increased activity of the KKK and other hate groups in Springfield.
She said she received a text message from someone claiming to be a representative of Blood Tribe and said they had increased security in recent weeks. Last weekend, when members of the same group showed up at the Springfield mayor’s home, the police chief sent security personnel to her home.
“I’m looking over my shoulder,” she says.
“You would think this would end, but I don’t understand, in 2024.”
