KKK flyers left in Springfield neighborhood; ‘We don’t want your hate mail,’ resident says

SPRINGFIELD — Bruce Wagle, president of the Roseland Neighborhood Association, has a message for whoever left KKK flyers in his Springfield neighborhood: “Save it, because we don’t want your junk, your hate mail, out here.”

Roseland is one of several city neighborhoods where someone left the flyers, which apparently are an attempt to recruit members.

Wagle has lived in the neighborhood 35 years. He said a neighbor called him Aug. 15 to report finding the flyers had been strewn on sidewalks or near driveways. Wagle said they went out and picked up the papers (he said he picked up at least eight and kept one to show people what had been left in the neighborhood of more than 70 homes.

“We don’t want to spread any hatred in the neighborhood.... We don’t want that,” he told News Center 7′s Brandon Lewis on Wednesday night.

Wagle said contacted Springfield police, who told him whoever deposited the flyers had the right to do so under free speech rights provided through the First Amendment. As long as the distributor(s) didn’t break any laws, there’s nothing that can be done about what happened, he said police told him.

News Center 7′s Lewis reached out to the city’s police chief and the president of the Springfield chapter NAACP. Neither was available for comment.

No flyers were left on Wagle’s property and not every house received one, he said, which leads him to believe someone tossed the flyers randomly.

“I don’t know if they decided they wanted to see what they could stir up,” Wagle said.

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