KKK Drops Bags of Candy in SC Neighborhood

Residents in a South Carolina neighborhood weren’t happy to find bags of candy outside their homes over the weekend—mainly because the Ku Klux Klan left them there, according to AP. The candy sacks discovered Saturday night and Sunday morning in an Oconee County subdivision each included a piece of paper that said “Save Our Land, Join the Klan” and included a phone number that led to an automated message about the group’s efforts against illegal immigration. Robert Jones, imperial klaliff of the Loyal White Knights, says that the overnight drops were part of a nationwide recruitment event that’s held three times a year and that the hotline has received 20,000 calls daily, reports Fox Carolina. Though one resident who received the candy said, "You shouldn't have to wake up and fear that somebody might burn a cross in your yard," Jones says no one need worry ... unless they’re doing something the KKK considers to be "morally wrong," Fox Carolina notes.

Jones also says that specific homes weren’t targeted. “We can't tell who lives in a house, whether they're black, white, Mexican, gay, we can't tell that," he says. "And if you were to look at somebody's house like that, that means you'd be pretty much a racist." His words of assurance aren't helping Oconee residents feel much better. One man calls the bags “unacceptable,” and a woman says she and her neighbors are "very angry, very upset, very ashamed … that this exists." It’s not the first time the Klan has used this stop-and-drop method: The Christian Science Monitor reports that fliers stating “Seal the border—protect our nation” were found in Katy, Texas, earlier this month, while the Chicago Tribune says that residents of an Illinois suburb received KKK fliers with candy canes during the holiday season. (The Klan has also been starting neighborhood watch programs.)