KKK recruiters are trying to lure children in New York with free candy and white supremacist fliers
The infamous Ku Klux Klan is reportedly trying to recruit children in upstate New York by dropping off packets containing white supremacist propaganda and free Snickers bars.
Reports state several residents of different counties in the region have complained about the group targeting their children in recent months. People claim that the KKK packages are generally delivered around the time when children are heading out to school, the Daily Mail reported.
Shortly after multiple reports by residents, the NY Governor Andrew Cuomo ordered a probe into the campaign on Friday. He also asked the police Hate Crimes Task Force to launch a “public awareness campaign” to counter such incidences in the region.
Residents of the county recently hit by the KKK campaign, Westmoreland, have also raised an alarm saying that the packets do not just contain propaganda material, but also recruiting information.
A member of the Westmoreland Board of Education, Denise Szarek, while talking to Fox 13, said: “They come between 4am and 6am in the morning so the candy bars and packets are at the end of the driveway when kids are getting on the school bus.”
“The community they hit was a mobile home park so there were a lot of kids in the area, and they hit on some of the side roads, too. Our feeling was that the children [were] being targeted — at least the high school and middle school kids in that age group,” Szarek said.
The local historical society’s president Rod Klopanstein said: “The KKK is a terrorist organization, and even dropping off these materials itself is terrifying, especially when you find something like this in your driveway in the morning.”
“It requires a response, and the only way to get through that fear is to stand up and come together. I think the worst part is that a lot of kids found it on the way to the bus in the morning,” he added.
Reports state that state police are now assisting local officials in blocking the KKK campaign. The officials have also sent teams to conduct educational outreach in the communities which have been hit by the racist campaigns.