Letter Promoting KKK Rally Circulating in Oklahoma City

By Rusty Surette, NEWS 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- A one-page letter laced with racism and hate has shown up at a number of Oklahoma businesses.

The letter's opening line is, "Hello Fellow White Oklahomans and Christians," followed by "Oklahoma is Redneck KKK Country." The top of the page reads "White Christians' Fraternal Order."

The letter, dated April 7, is a promotion for the Ku Klux Klan and an upcoming rally at the Oklahoma State Capitol. It was sent to a number of businesses including an Edmond bank and the Black Chronicle newspaper in Oklahoma City.

Read the full letter.

The letter goes on to read, "We want to reassert white supremacy through terrorism and intimidation. We want to bring back lynching" and "we want a law passed so that Oklahoma Darkies are only allowed to come out from 9 p.m. to 12 p.m."

"It almost makes me want to vomit," said Ladonna Holmes, an Oklahoma City resident who read the letter.

The name listed on the envelope's return address is the John Birch Institute. Wisconsin-based John Birch Society said they are not responsible for the letter.

See the addressed envelope.

"We do not know who sent it. We do not approve of the letter's message and strongly denounce both the message and the individual or group involved in this disgusting and illegal activity. We have reported this to the Oklahoma City Police Department," said Bill Hahn, Public Relations Manager for The John Birch Society.

What's more puzzling, the return address on the envelope is 701 Colcord Drive, which is the address for Oklahoma City Police headquarters. Since the letter did not originate from there, according to police, investigators are now trying to track down where they came from.

"The content of these letters is very disturbing," said Oklahoma City Police Sgt. Jennifer Wardlow. "We have not been able to find any type of originating fax number to trace it to, which obviously is a problem in any kind of investigation."

Police are asking anyone who knows who is responsible for the letters to contact authorities.

The letter goes on to promote a KKK rally called "Mighty Whitie's Day" at the state Capitol. It's scheduled for later this month, but at last check, the necessary reservations for a rally at the State Capitol have not been made by any group associated with the letters.

To prove the KKK is still active in our state, the Oklahoma City-based Web site HateTrackers.com sent nine recent photos of Klansmen near Shawnee and Broken Arrow. In the photos, members of the KKK can be seen carrying the Oklahoma flag.

HateTrackers.com's Klu Klux Klan Photos in Oklahoma

The editors of HateTrackers.com, which carefully follows hate groups across America, questioned the legitimacy and source of the letters.

"It's a hoax. The United White Knights do not openly declare illegal or terrorist acts and they're now more into white separatism than white supremacy, and more likely to be raging against illegal immigrants," stated the editor of HateTrackers.com in an e-mail. "The phone number they're using [on the letter] is to the John Birch Society, which has been referred to as the White Collar KKK, but they wouldn't dare be so openly blatant about things or directly associate with the UWK. In any event, even if a bad joke, the climate out there is too tender to be getting tweaked like this."