Residents of several neighborhoods in Cheltenham, Springfield and Upper Dublin woke up last Sunday to find their driveways littered with white nationalist propaganda.
The flyers, one stating in part “Stand Up White Man” with a link to a white nationalist website and one promoting a white supremacist film, were found in plastic bags weighted with stones, according to police. Residents of the three townships who called police to complain about the offensive material reported seeing a white minivan tossing the items into the driveways, police said.
The propaganda, distributed under the cover of darkness overnight Dec. 9, was found in the 100 block of Springhouse Lane, the 300 block of Oak Road and the 100 block of Lismore Avenue in Cheltenham, Lt. Andrew Snyder said.
“We never had it in Cheltenham before; it was the first time we were informed,” Snyder said. “We’re aware of it and keeping an eye out, but we have to balance the nature of the materials, which are offensive, but not illegal, just very distasteful, with free speech rights.”
Because the materials did not pose any threats, littering would be the only offense that could be cited, he said.
Springfield police got a call at 8:19 a.m. Sunday from a resident of the Oreland section of the township who reported finding the propaganda in the driveway, police Chief Michael Pitkow said.
The flyers, an estimated 20 in all, were found on Rech Avenue, Ronald Circle and Lynn Avenue, he said.
“After we got the first call, we scooped them up,” Pitkow said.
In 2019, similar flyers were left in the Flourtown section of the township and within the last two years in Wyndmoor, he said.
“Even though it’s offensive, they know they have First Amendment protection,” Pitkow said. “We could summon them for littering; we have a township ordinance that prohibits that,” but the township didn’t find out who distributed the materials, he said.
“As before, in 2019, we don’t condone the behavior, but unfortunately we have to deal with it,” Pitkow said.
The flyers were also left in the driveways of multiple Fort Washington homes in the Washington Manor subdivision of Upper Dublin, 6abc.com reported.
Residents there had video of a white van from which it appears an object is being tossed, the report says.
While Abington homes previously have been targeted, there were no reports of residents receiving any flyers over the weekend, Lt. Steve Fink said.
“We’ve seen that in the past, but we haven’t seen these particular flyers,” he said. “It’s offensive and annoying to some people, but they usually do not cross the line of the First Amendment.”
The propaganda is affiliated with White Lives Matter, a network of white supremacists who engage in “pro-white activism” on a designated day each month, Morgan Moon of the Anti-Defamation League Center on Extremism said in an email.
The “Our Children Pay the Price for Our Inaction, Stand Up White Man” flyer distributed locally “is one of the more popular pieces of propaganda commonly distributed by WLM,” she said.
The QR code on the flyer links to the group’s national Telegram channel and “serves as a springboard for further involvement in the organization,” she said.
The other flyer promotes a white supremacist film with a link to a channel run by a white supremacist author and live streamer, Moon said.
“Propaganda campaigns, like this one, allow white supremacists to maximize media and online attention for their groups while limiting the risk of individual exposure … and public backlash,” she
said.
