A photo of a flier the Ku Klux Klan reportedly distributed on the Mississippi State University campus last week is circulating on social media.
The photo, which shows a person holding two KKK pamphlets, made its way onto Twitter on Wednesday, the day after the U.S. presidential election.
Brother Rogers, assistant director at MSU’s Stennis Center for Public Policy, said he became aware of the image when it was sent to a black co-worker.
“Someone sent a photo of a piece of literature that had Starkville written on it to a co-worker, Andrea Myles. I tweeted it out and said, ‘We can do better than this,'” Rogers said Thursday. “From what I understand, it’s the same kind of thing that has been distributed in other places like Oxford and Birmingham, (Alabama). I haven’t seen any KKK people around here, but I did hear they may have been on campus recently handing out pamphlets.”
The Dispatch could not reach Myles for comment by press time.
Police investigate
Starkville Police Department issued a statement Thursday evening stating investigators are still seeking a physical copy of the pamphlet.
“At this time, we have only seen this pamphlet on social media,” SPD’s statement read. “The Starkville Police Department has received no reports or calls of an actual copy of this pamphlet. We are asking anyone who has information on the actual pamphlet or origin of this photo to contact us so we may follow-up.”
SPD Public Information Officer Brandon Lovelady did not respond to The Dispatch’s request for additional comment.
KKK head confirms flier drive
Brent Waller of Leakesville, Imperial Wizard of the United Dixie White Knights of the KKK, confirmed via email his group had distributed fliers on the MSU campus.
“Our Starkville, Oxford and Tupelo Klaverns have been busy this summer as part of our 2016 flier drive,” Waller wrote in the email. “Mississippi State and Ole Miss were both fliered … last week because they have bowed to outside immoral pressure and took down the flag of the state they get funding from, thus making our list of deplorables.”
The image of the flier is printed with the words, “Sleep well tonight knowing that the Klan is alert and awake. Wake up Starkville. Get off the fence whitey and join the only group that has ever stood for the white man.”
Mississippi State removed the controversial state flag, which featured the Confederate flag in its canton, from all campus locations before the start of the fall semester, joining the state’s other seven state-supported universities that removed the flag. Delta State removed the flag on Nov. 3, the last of the universities in the state to take that action.
Sid Salter, communications director at MSU, said the university considers the state flag issue a settled matter. He added the university police are assisting city investigators in the matter.
“The university has said what it needs to say about the flag,” Salter said Thursday. “We have no intention of taking this bait.”
Salter: Klan exploiting a tragedy
Salter said he believes the fliers may also have been an attempt by the Klan to exploit the Sunday morning shooting death of Joseph Tillman, a white MSU student, in the Cotton District. Five black suspects are facing charges, two for capital murder, in that case.
“It has become apparent that this group is seeking to capitalize on a terrible tragedy in Starkville for its own purposes,” Salter said. “We see this as nothing more than a publicity stunt. … We have no intention of allowing our students, faculty and staff to be intimidated by groups of this nature.
“I feel like our student body, faculty and staff have reacted in the right way to what is an awful tragedy in the death of Joseph Tillman,” he added. “It’s terribly unfortunate that a group of this ilk would try to capitalize on this.”
Waller made no mention of the shooting in his emails, however, instead he focused his comments on the state flag.
“No school in this state deserves state funding that refuses to fly the flag of its state,” Waller’s email stated. “I asked for citizens in the flier to basically boycott the university’s … and stop donating for scholarships.
“Any attempts to change the flag of Mississippi without the consent of the people is an act of tyranny, one that will be met with stiff resistance. Fliers are just the start. We will never piss upon the graves of our ancestors or flag in Mississippi, and damn those to hell that do.”
In a subsequent email exchange, Waller explained the group’s outreach efforts.
“We mostly market our organization on pro-white websites, radio, and forums like Stormfront,” Waller wrote. “In addition we run our own website and since early summer we have distributed over 12,000 fliers.
“We do not do public (rallies) but do meet once a month at all Klaverns and hold State meetings,” he continued.
Managing Editor Zack Plair contributed to this article.
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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