Racist notes distributed in NKY raise concerns among residents, prompting calls for action

This story was originally published by LINK nkya media partner of WCPO.com.

Catrena Bowman, an Erlanger resident, business owner, and executive director of the Northern Kentucky Community Action Commission, had suspected something was up for a while, but she didn’t know for sure until her gardener sent her a photo about a week and a half ago of a note he’d scribbled on a paper bag he’d found in her yard. It was the same bag Bowman had seen from a distance earlier but hadn’t thought much of.

On one side of the paper was a drawing of a gaping head. On the other side was a swastika and the words “MB Hates N****s.”

“He sent me the pictures of the letter and I was like, ‘I knew it,'” Bowman said. “In a way, it was a confirmation that I knew something was going on, just based on all the things that had happened.”

Bowman is not alone. In the Eastside neighborhood of Covington, fliers with pictures of Ku Klux Klan members have been placed on the streets. Residents are concerned and are calling on other community members to speak out.

“We are asking anyone who may have seen (or has) knowledge of this to contact their local law enforcement,” said Jerome Bowles, president of the NAACP’s NKY chapter.

Bowman doesn’t know who or what the “MB” on the note refers to, but she said there had been several incidents leading up to finding the note that had raised her suspicions. She has lived in the property for six years, but she said these incidents only really became a problem in the last year or so. These included the destruction of a lamppost in front of her property, which prompted Bowman to install CCTV, and the repeated slashing of her mother’s tyres – Bowman’s mother used to live with her.

Bowman even said that a few months ago, her mother received racial slurs while walking through the neighborhood. All of these events, Bowman said, made her feel like she was being targeted, like she was being watched.

“These people have no idea who I am, what my background is; they don’t know anything about me,” Bowman said. “But just because you see a black woman, you can get to the point where you say you hate them.”

Bowman complimented the Erlanger police, who are investigating the case and have increased security in the area.

Meanwhile, in the Eastside neighborhood of Covington, flyers have recently been distributed with KKK imagery. The papers specifically show a masked Ku Klux Klan man pointing at the reader and saying, “You can sleep soundly tonight. The Ku Klux Klan is awake!”

The fliers bear the name of the Trinity White Knights chapter of the Ku Klux Klan, which the Southern Poverty Law Center says is a subgroup of the KKK based in Dry Ridge, Grant County. The flier also includes a phone number with a (606) area code, asking readers to report “crime and drug dealers.” The (606) area code covers eastern and parts of southcentral Kentucky.

Melissa Kelley, president of the Eastside+ neighborhood association, who shared a photo of the flyer with LINK nky, said it’s unclear whether the flyers were intended as a recruitment tactic or to intimidate people. She said the neighborhood would be working with local and federal law enforcement in the coming weeks to figure out how to handle the situation.

Similar flyer distributions have also taken place in the past in other parts of Kentucky and Indiana.

Ari Jun, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council, spoke to LINK nky last year about the distribution of anti-Semitic literature in Covington’s Main Street neighborhood, saying that white supremacists and other hate groups often travel from place to place.

“Some of these people don’t even live in the state, and they’re just driving up and down the East Coast of the U.S., handing out flyers as they go,” Jun said last year.

According to Bowman, tensions appear to be increasing during the election period.

“I’m just saying that anecdotally,” Bowman said. “It’s just what it seems like, because those flyers and all that stuff was also distributed during the last election season.”

Bowles said the region as a whole has improved in its efforts to improve diversity and openness to different cultures, so when incidents like this occur, it’s “disheartening. But it just shows that we still have a lot of work to do to overcome racial issues in our region.”

Bowman encouraged community members to speak out against racist rhetoric when they encounter it in their daily lives.

“We can’t do it all by ourselves,” Bowman said. “We need allies to help us fight this, fight against this, fight against this.”

Bowles is meeting with FBI officials on Monday to discuss the matter further. He encouraged anyone who may have seen anything related to these incidents to contact their local law enforcement.