Racist fliers dumped on lawns
Racist literature littered the lawns of numerous Spokane Valley residents this Labor Day weekend.
The fliers, apparently thrown from a car, disparaged minorities. Readers were urged to join the White Revolution, a neo-Nazi group based in Arkansas.
Approximately a half-dozen people called law enforcement officials to complain. The Spokane Valley Police Department is investigating to try and determine who was responsible.
“We want to know who they are, where they’re from and what they’re up to,” said department spokesman Cpl. Dave Reagan.
It doesn’t appear the fliers targeted minority households, as they seem to have been thrown on random lawns, Reagan said. The literature was left in yards along residential streets in the area of South Blake Road and East 24th Avenue.
While the act doesn’t constitute a hate crime, if caught, the perpetrators could be slapped with tickets for littering or malicious mischief, Reagan said.
“I don’t think they should’ve been tossing that stuff around,” said resident John Brislin.
Brislin heard a car with a loud muffler pull up to the house where he lives near Terrace View Park early Sunday. He saw two young white men inside a red 1987 or 1988 Ford Tempo or Mercury Topaz. Brislin heard something hit his truck as the car passed by the house.
Brislin went outside and found a small bag filled with rocks and a piece of paper with a picture of a Mexican in a sombrero and a racist slogan. The family called police, who came by later that morning and collected the flier.
Later that afternoon, Brislin’s nephew had a similar encounter. Levi Hoisington, 12, was riding his bike along nearby Evergreen Road. A friend was with him. A red car passed the two boys and someone threw a racist flier at them.
Hoisington said he brought it home to his grandmother, Jackie Brislin. Brislin said that since they had already reported the earlier incident to police, she didn’t call them again.
Jackie Brislin said she was alarmed someone would have thrown something so hateful at her grandson.
Brislin showed the flier to a reporter Tuesday. It depicts a black man dressed in African tribal garb. A racist epithet has been written across the man’s hair. In large lettering, it says: “Once you go black, we don’t want you back.”
The flier includes a phone number in Russellville, Ark., for Billy Roper. Roper founded White Revolution in 2002 after being expelled from the neo-Nazi National Alliance, according to the Web site of the Anti-Defamation League, which monitors racist and hate groups.
White Revolution promotes cooperation between various white supremacist organizations, according to the Anti-Defamation League. A call made to Roper was not returned Tuesday.
Anyone with information about the identities of the suspects should call Crime Check at 456-2233.