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Racist Message Eggs Alarm Residents
Racist Eggs 4-23
A Vineyard resident holds an egg and the messages he found placed into a front entryway planter box. The racist messages appear to be a nationwide effort by White Man March, a white supremacy organization. RICHARD PALOMA/The Leader

 

Two Oakdale neighborhoods discovered Easter eggs dispersed into front yards that weren’t filled with sweets, but instead contained messages of hate.

According to Oakdale Police Sergeant Joe Johnson, police received an initial report on Friday afternoon, April 18, in the 300 block of Ada Way regarding two males, one wearing camouflage-type clothing, placing plastic eggs in front yards.

The contents of the eggs were printed messages such as “Asia for Asians, Africa for Africans, and white countries for everyone” and “Anti-racist is a code word for anti-white. Diversity is our strength! Diversity is our future! Diversity is why Oakland is so peaceful!”

A second call regarding similar activity was received later in the day from The Vineyards subdivision where several other racially-spiked eggs were discovered in other yards in the neighborhood.

One Vineyard resident reported finding one in their front entry planter box.

“One neighbor told me three or four other houses on the street got them,” said the resident. “It’s disgusting.”

On each occasion, officers checked the area for the subjects but were not able to locate them.

The back of each note had the name of a website that promotes pro-white activism –www.whitemanmarch.com.

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, Whiteman march-founder Kyle Hunt mentioned using Easter eggs in a blog post earlier this month.

In the post titled “Game Planning for Future Marches” Hunt mentions invading Easter celebrations in the country by planting white supremacist messages in plastic eggs.

“You could buy some of those really cheap plastic Easter eggs, maybe put in something for a little bit of weight, and include a small strip of paper in there with some of our material printed on one side, with your favorite websites printed on the back,” Hunt writes. “Since we are not targeting children, think of some ways to get these eggs into the hands of adults.”

Other suburban neighborhoods in Michigan and Virginia had reports of similar activity over the Easter weekend.

“We are concerned about this because it’s a very controversial topic and has the potential to make people very angry, however the message is protected as free speech under the First Amendment,” said Sergeant Johnson. “During the rodeo parade on Saturday similar fliers were also found posted on poles along F Street.”

Even though the act does not amount to a “hate crime,” police possibly have other resources available if the persons who committed the distributing are found such as trespassing or littering. The city also has an ordinance that prohibits distributing fliers without permission.