SWOYERSVILLE — More flyers are turning up in more neighborhoods in Luzerne County advertising the Ku Klux Klan and right now, authorities say they really can’t do much about it.
The flyers are essentially trying to recruit members for a new local KKK organization. They started showing up in the Wilkes-Barre and Mountain Top area two months ago. Now people in Swoyersville found the flyers on their doorsteps Tuesday.
“Boy, they threw it on the wrong street, in the wrong place. I don’t even know they knew this is a multi-cultural family in here,” said Mary Kurlandski of Swoyersville.
Mary has five adopted African American children. Christina, her 13-year-old daughter, picked up the flyer as Mary walked her to the school bus.
“She was a little scared, you know, because they learn this in school, don’t forget. I honestly don’t know what’s making it come again. You know after all these years. Years! You know, I don’t know.”
We called the Harrisburg area number on the flyer to hear from the organization distributing them. We got this message:
“We’re seeking membership from males and females who are interested in saving our country.”
A few weeks ago people protested the flyers when they showed up in the Wilkes-Barre area. Now Reverend Michele Kaufman of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Mountain Top joined about a dozen other church leaders to put an ad in local newspapers, taking a stand against a KKK presence in their community.
“We can sit back and hope that the problem is going to go away, but if we stand up and speak out and say, ‘We are not standing for it,’ perhaps they will hightail out of here,” Rev. Kaufman said.
The Swoyersville police chief says he is concerned about these flyers showing up in his community, but right now the only offense this group is committing is littering.
He has however, made the FBI and state police aware of the flyers.
