Racist material hits the ridge

Residents find flyers in unsuspecting publications

PARADISE >> Two local organizations got wrapped up, literally, in the dissemination of hate speech when white supremacists used their publications to distribute racist material over the weekend.

The Paradise Ridge Chamber of Commerce and the Chico News & Review both received calls from Paradise ridge residents saying they’d discovered flyers wrapped in or over their publications. The one from the chamber, ironically, is its magazine for newcomers, “Paradise Rising: A Resource Guide for the Ridge.” Both notified law enforcement; the Paradise Police Department and the Butte County Sheriff’s Office are investigating.

These distributions follow another last week in Chico, during which residents of the Avenues neighborhood found anti-Semitic flyers in weighted baggies at their homes. As on the ridge, officers — in this case from the Chico Police Department — are investigating the incident.

Monica Nolan, executive director of the chamber, condemned the acts.

“This is not who we are,” she said of the community. “It goes against everything that we stand for. Our publication is supposed to be a welcoming publication, not a publication to distribute hate speech.”

CN&R Editor Jason Cassidy shares that sentiment, noting that the CN&R does not deliver papers anywhere except its racks and boxes. (Paradise Rising is similarly distributed.)

“It is very upsetting that this hate group is operating locally and especially so that they are using our paper to distribute their nonsense,” he said. “We condemn these actions. We condemn this hateful group. And we condemn every twisted idea it disseminates.”