2006-04-16 Herald-Sun: racist fliers

Racist fliers left in Durham driveways

 * BY WILLIAM F. WEST : The Herald-Sun
 * bwest@heraldsun
 * Apr 16, 2006 : 9:51 pm ET

DURHAM -- Old North Durham neighborhood resident Liz Paley and several others in the city awoke Sunday morning to find white supremacist propaganda fliers rolled up like newspapers and tossed into their driveways.

"It's an outrage," she told The Herald-Sun. "How does one describe how offensive this is? It's racist. It's anti-Semitic. It's pages and pages of disgusting hate and lies."

Paley, who is Jewish, said she was particularly offended by a mock "WANTED" leaflet showing a photograph of a Caucasian toddler with the caption, "A FUTURE FOR WHITE CHILDREN IS MISSING."

The contents, which used highly detailed cartoons and illustrations, portrayed blacks as apes, Hispanics as illegal aliens greedy for welfare checks and Jews as determined to undermine Christian culture.

The contents also insinuated the holocaust was a myth.

Durham Police Lt. K.W. Cates said officers started receiving phone calls at approximately 7 a.m. from Farthing Street, and that his department also received word that the fliers had been left at other locations, including along Duke Park, Hope Valley Road, Willowdale Drive and Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway.

Cates noted other racial incidents that had happened in the past year, including the discovery of burning crosses and Ku Klux Klan fliers in three locations and KKK flags flying alongside MLK Parkway.

"It seems like this year, we've had a recent rash, I guess is the best way of putting it," he said. "I think what it is now is our community is a little more attuned to it."

Cates said residents were concerned, but not upset about what happened Sunday.

"They've actually been a big help," he said, adding that one man brought several of the fliers to the station house.

Police also picked up dozens of the fliers and brought them in.

No references to Durham were included in the fliers.

Racist newspapers were left at some Durham residences in October.