KKK flyer found on steps of Black church in Mississippi

A Ku Klux Klan flyer was left on the steps of a Black Mississippi church, according to a social media post made on May 30 by a member of the congregation.

“KKK flyer left on the steps of Union Hill Missionary Baptist Church yesterday. Predominately black church in Desoto County. A month away from the church’s 143rd anniversary.  Y’all DM me if you know any of these folks organizing with the Klan, the proud boys and other white supremacist groups.  We need to know who to look out for,” the post said.

Union Hill Missionary Baptist Church in Desoto County (via Google Maps)

The flyer says that the Old Glory Knights of the Ku Klux Klan is alive and growing in 14 states, Mississippi being one, and seems to be an attempt to recruit members saying “Join your local klavern today to preserve white Christian unity before multiculturalism destroys America for good.”

The KKK is one of the oldest and most well-known hate groups in the country.  Founded in 1865 in Pulaski, Tennessee, the group quickly spread across the South and became a vehicle for white southern resistance to political and economic equality for Black Americans. For all its notoriety, experts say the group is not experiencing growth in membership or support, as the flyer suggests.

“Them saying that they are growing in 14 states is pretty unbelievable,” Lydia Bates, a Senior Research Analyst with the Southern Poverty Law Center, said. “The Klan has been declining a lot in the last five to ten years. They are really losing a lot of members, not attracting new recruits. That is really just self aggrandizing.”

Although the wording of the flyer is geared more to recruitment, that does not make its placement on the church steps less threatening.

“A hate group built on a 150-plus year history of violence, you can’t dismiss it as just them trying to seem bigger than they are, because there is violence in their words inherently,” Bates said.