The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Mayor: Propaganda spread a ‘wake-up call’
MIDDLETOWN — There were three instances of white supremacist propaganda being distributed in the city in 2020, according to data compiled by the Anti-Defamation League, a “leading anti-hate” organization founded in 1913.
The report looked at an “escalating climate of antisemitism and bigotry,” according to ADL’s Hate, Extremism, Antisemitism, Terrorism Map.
Inflammatory literature was distributed on three occasions last year in Middletown, the ADL said. In February 2020, the American Identity Movement posted flyers with the group’s logo, reading: “Diversity destroys nations.”
That June, the alt-right group Patriot Front handed out American flag-themed stickers with its QR code and posters stating: “To ourselves and our posterity” and “For the nation against the state,” ADL said.
Last October, the same organization disseminated
handbills that read, “To ourselves and our posterity,” “Reject poison,” “Strong families make strong nations,” and “Patriot Front,” the report said. Signage featured the circle-backslash symbol with drawings of a cannabis leaf, a lit cigarette, hypodermic needle and prescription pill.
The interactive and customizable ADL map is the first of its kind to detail such occurrences
by state — and nationwide. The organization’s Center on Extremism experts developed a “unique visualization” by culling data from sources including news, media and victim reports, government documents (including police), extremistrelated sources and more, its website said.
Mayor Ben Florsheim recently saw an America First/Trump sticker on a lamppost at the corner of Main and Washington streets. He removed it. “It looked pretty fresh. I feel like somebody else would have taken it off. It probably wouldn’t have lasted more than a few days, one way or the other.”
Still, he’s not worried about the situation, the mayor said.
“It’s hard to know what kind of organization there is,” said Florsheim, who suspects the sticker could have been placed there by an individual who bought them online “to stir people up.”
He found the ADL review interesting for two reasons: “because I think it’s valuable being tracked, and that people know these types of things can happen in any community. It’s troubling that it needs to be tracked for the same reason.”
He’s pleased the ADL data is based in part on people reporting such incidents. “I don’t think it will cause any kind of panic that this type of thing was being distributed in a couple of instances in Middletown,” he said.
“We tend to assume, benevolently, that things like hate crimes and violence against people because of their identity wouldn’t happen in a place like Middletown, or a place like ‘X,’” Florsheim said. “That’s always true until it’s not.”
Such instances should serve as a “wake-up call” that the country is experiencing a “very challenging, political moment right now. It’s easy to forget that,” he said. “These things are becoming mainstream, unfortunately.”
Those who see such propaganda, which may be exacerbated by conservative media or rhetoric from the former president, can “start going down a dangerous path,” Florsheim said.
The city enjoys “remarkable” bipartisan cooperation on the Common Council and among other government entities, he said. If there are divisive opinions, they never rise to the level of greater conflict across the country, Florsheim said.
The First Amendment gives people the right to free expression, he acknowledges, but city property should not be defaced. “We have to be cognizant, also, about what that type of rhetoric, and calling it what it is — white supremacist, neo-Nazi rhetoric — and what that means,” Florsheim said.
“If it goes from three instances to six the next year, and then a dozen, then we do have a problem on our hands,” the mayor said.
To view the full ADL report, visit bit.ly/2QnnkMb.