Authorities examine Zachary KKK fliers
State and local law enforcement authorities said they are examining fliers found this week in areas near Zachary aimed at recruiting people to join a Louisiana faction of the Ku Klux Klan.
The fliers promote the Aryan Nations Knights of Louisiana, a KKK organization based in Converse, a Sabine Parish village near the Louisiana-Texas border about a half hour south of Mansfield.
Zachary Police Chief David McDavid said Tuesday that one of his officers located a flier and two others were turned over to Zachary police on Monday.
“We’re looking into it,” he said, adding the fliers appeared in the Yardley and Safer Drive areas of north Zachary.
McDavid said his office has forwarded the recruiting fliers to Louisiana State Police and the Louisiana State Analytical and Fusion Exchange, or “Fusion Center,” which analyzes security threats.
State Police spokesman Capt. Doug Cain said Wednesday that State Police and the Fusion Center are trying to determine if the fliers, as well as the Aryan Nations Knights of Louisiana, are tied to any kind of criminal activity or if the organization is just trying to recruit members.
“There’s a freedom of speech aspect involved,” Cain said.
The Aryan Nations Knights of Louisiana is a division of the Aryan Nations, a white supremacist group that has existed for decades and is also based in Converse, said Joseph T. Roy, chief investigator for the Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit civil rights organization based in Montgomery, Ala.
The Aryan Nations Knights of Louisiana is listed on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s website as one of 27 “hate groups” active in Louisiana as of 2011. The website lists 1,018 such active groups in the United States.
Roy said he was unaware of the flier but knew of Klan activity going on in Louisiana.
The flier, which features an old Klan symbol, asks readers if they are tired of “white people being the only race accused of being racist,” of “being forced to accept homosexuality” and “seeing the underpants of uncivilized mongrels,” among other things.
The flier tells readers to consider joining the “fastest growing Klan in our nation.”
“The Aryan Nations Knights of the Ku Klux Klan are searching for able-bodied, like-minded men and women to join our ranks,” the flier reads.
The flier lists a phone number for anyone to call if interested in joining the Aryan Nations Knights of Louisiana.
Calls made by The Advocate to the number listed have not been returned.
Morris Gulett, world leader of the Aryan Nations, said he was not aware of the specific flier found by Zachary police and State Police, but that he was not surprised to hear that one popped up in Zachary.
“I know some of my guys are over there passing fliers out,” Gulett said.
Gulett said the Aryan Nations routinely passes out fliers across the nation and even has offices in South Africa, Austria and Serbia trying to recruit members around the world.
Gulett said the purpose of the fliers is to recruit members and bring awareness to national issues.
“Our people, we’re being pushed aside here in this nation,” he said. “This is a nation that was founded by, of, and for Caucasian people. Our forefathers are the men that penned the Constitution and fought the wars that founded this nation. Today, illegal immigration is destroying this nation. Affirmative action is taking jobs away from white working class Americans.”
Gulett said his organization is not tied to any criminal activity.
“Our people are law-abiding citizens,” he said. “We don’t have members that commit crimes. If we find out any of our members are engaged in any illegal activity, we remove them from our membership roster.”
Gulett said the Aryan Nations does not have any major political events or rallies planned in the near future.
“It just depends on what comes up on the political spectrum,” he said.
Gulett declined to say how many members belong to the Aryan Nations or the Aryan Nations Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. He did say some members live in the Baton Rouge metro area.
“We’ve got a strong enough presence over there that it got your attention,” he said.
Advocate staff writer James Minton contributed
to this report.