Chillicothe — The formal community response to the distribution of KKK fliers in March finally arrived Wednesday evening. Six officials gave short presentations in the “United Against Hate” forum held in the library annex.
Ross County NAACP president Adrienne D’Souza began the event, which included representatives from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the FBI, Chillicothe Police, Ross County Sheriff’s Office, U.S. Department of Justice, and U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
About 125 people attended the two-hour event in a meeting room of the annex of the Chillicothe & Ross Public Library.
The forum was a long time coming. The city was working on a community event soon after the KKK fliers were discussed in a Chillicothe Council session on March 25th, but they backed off in lieu of a more formal presentation later.
On June 10th, council heard there would be a delay to allow more public input into a “Denouncing Racism” resolution. In the meantime, the “Juneteenth” events on June 19th partially served as a push-back against the KKK fliers.
Flyers from the Ku Klux Klan had been found on windshields in Chillicothe’s West End on March 17th. Such flyers, allegedly from a Kentucky chapter, had been reported in other communities across Ohio, West Virginia, and Kentucky.
In Wednesday’s forum, U.S. Attorney Kenneth Parker, who heads the Southern District of Ohio of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, was the first and main presenter. He said the three main aspects of the forum were to bring the community together to be able to identify hate crimes, understand the necessity to report them, and to prevent them.
Parker pointed out the difference between “Hate Incidents” like insults yelled from a car, and “Hate Crimes” that usually involve violence. He and other presenters said that we have the right to hate, but not necessarily to act on it.
He said that this forum is in partly response to the KKK flyers, but is not a “flashpan” reaction – and that it was an opportunity to give his office’s “United Against Hate” presentation in this area.
Hear Parker in his own words in the below video interview. And, learn more in my second story on this event.
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