TATE COUNTY, Miss. — What was supposed to be a day of celebrating the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., turned sour for some residents in Tate County, Mississippi.
More than a dozen anti-MLK flyers were tossed onto driveways near Senatobia.
The flyers, with the KKK logo on them, showed a picture of the civil rights icon and called King a communist pervert.
It’s unknown who scattered the flyers around OB McClinton Road, but people like Vette Gardner would like to know.
“They had this piece of paper with Martin Luther King on there, talking about the KKK and all that. It just really shocked me,” Gardner said.
The flyer appears to have come from a group called the Loyal White Knights of the KKK.
The flyer states, “On Martin Luther King Day…You are celebrating a communist pervert.”
Sheriff Brad Lance said there’s no place in Tate County for this kind of hateful behavior.
“In this day and time, it’s just inexcusable. I just didn’t think it would occur, especially in our County,” he said.
After a complaint Monday morning from a property owner, Tate County deputies found as many as 15 of the flyers in driveways along OB McClinton Road East of Senatobia.
Each flyer was folded and placed in an individual plastic bag with several small stones to keep it from blowing away.
Lance believes there’s only one reason the flyers were tossed out on OB McClinton Road.
“No doubt because it’s predominately minority community. It’s almost exclusively minority community there,” Lance said.
Lance said he doesn’t know of any organized hate group like the KKK operating in Tate County. He said the last incident he can recall like this was several years ago, when a number of KKK recruiting forms showed up in a neighborhood on the west side of Senatobia.
Eunice Copeland was outraged after reading the flyer and said whoever left them is a coward.
“Dr. Martin Luther King didn’t hide behind a paper, he didn’t hide behind a mask,” Copeland said.
She said MLK Day was intended to be filled with love and understanding, not hate.
“Why would you wait on a day, on Dr. Martin Luther Kin’s celebration day? Why would you wait till that day to bring something like this out?” Copeland saod.
Lance said there’s nothing on any of the flyers that threatens violence. Still, one of the flyers has been sent to the FBI lab for analysis in hopes of identifying who distributed them.
If you can help authorities find who scattered the flyers on OB McClinton Road, you’re urged to call the Tate County Sheriff’s Department at 662-562-4434.