Whittier isn't the same place it was when Richard Nixon grew up there.
There are still white picket fences and middle-class values. The median household income is $68,522, a healthy amount more than the L.A. County median of $55,909. But the demographics have gone from Quaker to viva Los Lakers.
Just about two-thirds of the population claims Latino heritage.
Which is why it was odd when local residents found KKK fliers, sealed in zip-top plastic bags, on their lawns alongside their Sunday papers over the weekend.
According to a Whittier police statement, cops found out about the pamphlets early Sunday after residents in the 5400 block of Adele Avenue called to complain. They …
… expressed concerns over receiving KKK propaganda. Throughout the block, clear Ziploc bags were placed to the front of homes that contained flyers, a rock and pieces of candy. No specific threats were noted on the flyers, and no crime has been established.
#Whittier Residents Find KKK Propaganda Fliers On Lawns https://t.co/nEIwsJwPmI pic.twitter.com/pUtIpO35dJ
— FOX 11 Los Angeles (@myfoxla) June 29In some cases Tootsie Rolls were placed on top of the fliers, residents reported. Cops say no crime has taken place here.
“Wake up, white America,” the fliers read.
A logo at the top of the pamphlets says “Loyal White Knights,” as in the Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan — not exactly an active or welcome group in Southern California.
In recent weeks similar fliers turned up in Santa Ana, the onetime Spanish-language capital of America, and in Fullerton, an Orange County suburb south of Whittier.
2015
Given the racial climate in the United States (Michael Brown, Charleston, Donald Trump), the timing is interesting. Maybe the KKK is hurting for members and needs to expand its base.
But we don't think the Klan is going to convert anyone around here to its religion of hate anytime soon.
“We don't appreciate that kind of stuff around here,” resident Marcelo Infusino told ABC Los Angeles. “I know my neighbors feel the exact same way as I do.”
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