Why is the KKK distributing 'neighborhood watch' fliers in North Charleston, S.C.?

The fliers read, 'You can sleep knowing the Klan is awake.' What is motivating the Ku Klux Klan to hand them out in a predominantly black neighborhood?

The Ku Klux Klan is reportedly distributing “neighborhood watch” fliers in a predominantly black North Charleston community just weeks after Dylann Roof shot and killed nine people at Emmanuel AME church in Charleston, S.C.

Cherri Delesline told the Post and Courier that she noticed pick-up trucks “full of white people” cruising through her largely African-American neighborhood, Confederate battle flags blowing in the wind. The next day she was surprised to find a flier tucked under the windshield of her car that read “Neighborhood Watch. You can sleep tonight knowing the Klan is awake." The flier also invites people to contact the “Traditionalist American Knights” if there’s “trouble in your neighborhood,” indicating that the organization sees itself as a protecting force.

The Ku Klux Klan has long insisted that it’s a peaceful group. A report by The Guardian took an in-depth look at the white supremacist group in a documentary titled “Inside the Ku Klux Klan." A man simply referred to as Jeff told the Guardian, “We’re not bad like everybody thinks we are.”  

A June 2012 report by CNN followed the controversy surrounding a Georgia KKK group that wanted to adopt a highway. The request was later denied. But April Chambers, secretary of the chapter, told CNN, “We’re not racists. We just want to be with white people. If that’s a crime, then I don’t know. It’s all right to be black and Latino and proud, but you can’t be white and proud. I don’t understand it.”

Others agreed. Frank Ancona, the imperial wizard of the Traditional American Knights of the KKK said, “We do not hate anyone,” then added, “The true Ku Klux Klan is an organization that is looking out for the interests of the white race. It is a fraternal organization, and we do good works.”

And yet the KKK is historically associated more with criminal acts against minority groups than with good works. The KKK was founded following the Civil War at the height of Reconstruction. The Klan quickly became known for its violent attacks on those who opposed white supremacy. In recent years, the organization has struggled to gain popularity and some have turned to more civic projects, CNN reported.

The fliers in North Charleston raise several questions in light of the KKK’s “civil” turn. “Why would you put a KKK flier in a black neighborhood?,” asked Jesse Williams, speaking with the Post and Courier. Mr. Williams is the neighborhood association’s president.

Some have suggested that it may be a response to the unity seen in Charleston, S.C., following the attack on the Emmanuel AME church. Robert Jones, grand dragon for the North Carolina-based Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, told the Post and Courier that Mr. Roof was “heading in the right direction,” although he added, “He should have actually aimed at the African-American gang-bangers, the ones who are selling the drugs to white youth, the ones who are robbing … every chance they get.”

The Loyal White Knights of the KKK, headquartered in Pelham, N.C., plans on holding a rally at the South Carolina capitol building on Friday to protest the removal of the Confederate battle flag.