Video link
http://www.myfoxmemphis.com/story/20508196/kkk-recruiting-flyers-liter-memphis-yards
January 4, 2013 - This flyer for the Ku Klux Klan was reportedly dropped in some Mid-South residents' driveways.
People throughout greater Memphis opened their front doors Friday morning to find they had been invited to join the Ku Klux Klan.
The invitation came in the form of a flyer left in their driveways, featuring a robed and hooded figure pointing his finger like Uncle Sam.
"Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan wants you to join," it read.
A man contacted through the organization's national website, who identified himself only as "Edward," the "Exalted Cyclops" of Tennessee's KKK, said he and a few other volunteers distributed 2,000 flyers in the middle of the night, mostly in East Memphis.
Word of the flyers' distribution spread over Facebook and Twitter Friday, prompting condemnation from the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center.
Jacob Flowers, the center's executive director, encouraged people to give as little attention as possible to the KKK, which is historically known for racially motivated violence.
Many of those who found flyers planned to notify the police, Flowers said. A spokesman for the Memphis Police Department did not respond to an inquiry about complaints.
"These small acts of hate are met by great acts of love in our community," Flowers said in his statement. "This attempt to divide has caused neighbors ... to join together in their driveways this morning to denounce your hate."
Distribution of flyers, which Edward said would continue Friday night and throughout the ensuing week, is part of a large scale recruitment campaign he started after taking over the KKK's highest office in the state two weeks ago.
He said he was not calling for racial violence, adding that he was just trying to get the group's message out opposing further erosion of the rights of white people everywhere.
Edward said he received dozens of applications since the campaign began, and is waiting to get the results of background checks on each applicant to weed out those with a history of violence, sexual offenses or felony convictions.
He said the organization was looking for "upstanding people."
Despite community outrage about the distribution of the flyers, Chip Washington, spokesman for the Shelby County Sheriff's Office, said there was nothing illegal about them and no action for law enforcement to take.
"If you think about what that is, it's a flyer," Washington said. "If somebody was threatened, maybe. But it's a flyer. So, I mean, what do you do with that?"
Patti Tosti serves on the operations committee of Common Ground, an organization dedicated to fostering productive dialogue about racial issues. She said at least one of her friends found the paper in their driveway Friday morning.
"People who received that flyer are not feeling safe," Tosti said, "There's definitely concern from people who've received it."
they need to come to my part of town
