NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) — Residents of two Connecticut areas made a troubling discovery this week: white supremacist and antisemitic flyers outside their New Haven and Hamden homes.
“I found this in front of my house — right in the driveway, right behind one of our cars,” said Richard Brown, of Hamden. “This is a white supremacist message. It’s clear when you open it up and take a look at it.”
Brown found the flyer at his house early Thursday morning. These flyers were left on several other streets in town and the East Rock neighborhood in New Haven.
“There’s somebody with some intent and some resources that are trying to stir up trouble. And we need to say that’s not who we are and not what we stand for,” New Haven resident Paul Wessel said.
The flyers reference Yale MBA student, Robert Lucas, who recently proposed renaming Whitney Avenue in New Haven. The street is named after Eli Whitney, the inventor of the cotton gin, which is a machine that led to the expansion of slavery.
“I thought it’s disturbing,” Lucas told News 8. “It’s disgusting but it’s not discouraging.”
Lucas, who is not Jewish, said he’s grateful residents brought these flyers to his attention.
“When these incidents happen, I think it’s important we speak out 100 times stronger than those who did these acts,” Lucas said.
An investigation is underway into these flyers. Hamden Mayor Lauren Garrett is encouraging anyone with information or surveillance video to share it.
“It has no place in Hamden,” Garrett said. “These hateful messages do not represent what Hamden is all about.”
These types of incidents continue to happen at an alarming rate in Connecticut.
“ADL Connecticut has recorded a 115% increase in white supremacist propaganda in one year,” stated Stacey Sobel, the Connecticut Regional Director for the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). “We believe the flyers are attributed to the New England Nationalist Social Club and they’re very, very active in Connecticut.”
According to the ADL, the group is composed of neo-Nazis who “consider themselves fighting a war against a Jewish-controlled system that is deliberately plotting the execution of the white race.” The ADL says one of the group’s main tactics is spreading propaganda in the form of fliers claiming it’s “watching” neighborhoods and encouraging people to report any “anti-white” activity.
If you receive one of these flyers, you’re being asked to report it to police immediately.