CITY RESPONDS TO RACIST FLYERS POSTED AT CITY HEIGHTS

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by Michael Monks 

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(DISCLOSURE: The writer is a member of the Covington Human Rights Commission, appointed by the Covington City Commission.)

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Some time in the middle of the night back in May, someone or some people posted flyers on telephone poles and on the walls of a store at City Heights, one of Covington's public housing communities. Though the identities of the people responsible for hanging the flyers remains a mystery a month and a half later, the words are attributed to the Trinity White Knights which purports to be part of the Ku Klux Klan.

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"The Only Reason You Are White! Today Is Because Your Ancestors Practiced & Believed In Segregation YESTERDAY!"

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The shoddily produced flyer with the above headline features Klan insignia and images with the following message, plagued by grammatical errors:

The above statement is very True!!!, Not just for White People, but Black People as well... In order for the White Race to survive, (Race Mixing) must be STOPPED!!! Why should any White Man or Black Man wish to see His or Her Heritage & Culture DESTROYED???.We of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, a WHITE RIGHTS GROUP, AND NOT THE HATERS that so many people think we are, but we are LOVERS of our Race & Nation. We wish to see the preservation of our Race, As we think all Black People wish to save there own. So that our Children can enjoy their Heritage & Culture, that they all so Richly deserve. Do Not Destroy Overnight, what has taken GENERATIONS TO PRESERVE.

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The Trinity White Knights even provided their mailing address (PO Box 122863, Covington KY 41014), their email address (Imperialwizardtwk@yahoo.com), and a "24-hour hotline" (513.237.6332). But whether or not anyone would get a response from any of those outlets has yet to be realized. Covington Police Chief Spike Jones said Monday that no contact has been made in spite of the department's efforts. 
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"They did this to evoke a reaction up here and did not get the reaction they wanted," Jones said, calling the group, "terrorists". "We didn't have TV crews show up."
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The Covington Human Rights Commission held its monthly meeting at City Heights inside the community room to address the issue of the flyers with residents. Jones and City Solicitor Frank Warnock joined the commission as did City Commissioners Sherry Carran and Steve Casper and Housing Authority of Covington executive director Aaron Wolfe-Bertling. Many of the residents present agreed that the fliers were a cause for concern, mainly for the safety of their children, but differed on how to react, or whether to react at all. 
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"You all must be together," said Rev. Charles Fann, chairman of the Covington Human Rights Commission. "Whether you are black or white, it doesn't matter. When you band together, no one can defeat you. They're trying to come up here and divide you but it's not going to work." 
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However, members of the residents council at City Heights and the community's block watch organization have not seen eye-to-eye recently, making difficult the ability to cooperate in monitoring and responding to activities like the posting of fliers and other issues. "The block watch and residents council can be a good relationship. Trust has to start somewhere," said Jerome Bowles, president of the Northern Kentucky chapter of the NAACP, who also attended the meeting. "You got people rallying here for hate and you have to counter that with an anti-hate rally. Create a positive, inclusive flyer and post it where they posted these other things."

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City Heights is a racially mixed, low-income housing community separated from most of the city by a steep hill called Benton Road in Peaselburg. Colloquially, the community is referred to simply as "The Hill". However, surrounding the homes there are trails through the woods that lead down to Latonia and that is how many in City Heights believe the people who posted the flyers got to their neighborhood. In fact, there were lots of rumors circulating over the six or so weeks since the flyers first appeared, most of them easily proven false at Monday night's meeting.
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One fact is clear, however: the flyers were posted and the neighbors and the Covington Police want answers. "We'd like to introduce ourselves to the people handing them out," Jones said. "It makes our community look negative. We're going to find out who they are."
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Four years ago a similar set of flyers emerged in Latonia Terrace, another Covington Housing project, but Jones was unsure whether the events discussed Monday night were related to that previous incident. In the 1980s, according to a resident at Monday night's meeting, a group of skinheads marched around City Heights. "There might be gunfire today," the resident said, "but in the eighties the black and white residents would march them away."
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Other residents assured each other that they are capable of coming together in times of stress, as recently evidenced by the community-wide search for a 1-year old boy who was reportedly missing in City Heights. In the meantime, Chief Jones promises more officers on the streets, not just in City Heights, but around Covington as he reorganizes the department he took over officially ten days ago.