Residents on edge after KKK cards appear in yards with Biden signs in Tennessee
Residents of a Tennessee town are on edge after Ku Klux Klan propaganda was found scattered in the yards of homes with political signs expressing support for Joe Biden.
“I was really startled by it and also kind of scared,” Shelbyville resident Breana Green told WPLN News of the moment she noticed a neighbor’s yard littered with 20 “business cards” purporting to be from the white supremacist hate group.
The cards described a “social visit” from the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan and warned, “don’t make the next visit a business call.”
Green said her neighbor’s Biden-Harris yard sign was also destroyed and appeared to have been run over, WSMV reported.
”It’s scary knowing that just supporting a presidential candidate can incite this kind of vandalism,” she told the news station.
Another resident reported that the same cards were left behind after someone swiped a Biden-Harris sign from a friend’s yard, the outlet reported.
Shelbyville deputy police chief Brian Crews told WPLN it doesn’t appear that a specific race or ethnic group is being targeted.
“We believe that it’s targeting certain neighborhoods that would even be predominantly white,” Crews said. “I think most people just view it as trash.”
Shelbyville, with a population of about 22,410, is 71% white and 14% Black, according to worldpopulationreview.com.
Addressing the “business cards,” the department noted that similar propaganda has been popping up on lawns and driveways for years now. Still, residents are encouraged to report any sightings to police.
“The Shelbyville Police Department has been made aware of a limited number of incidents involving theft and/or damage to campaign signs,” police said in a statement, according to Newsweek. “This is true for both Trump and Biden yard signs. We’ve also been made aware of local residents receiving literature from individuals purporting to be from the knights of the Ku Klux of Klan.”
McClatchy News contacted the department for further comment.
This story was originally published October 13, 2020 at 1:56 PM with the headline "Residents on edge after KKK cards appear in yards with Biden signs in Tennessee."