Racist and anti-Semitic flyers posted in the city over the past weekend have caused a stir on social media, prompting a police department investigation.
One of the flyers is headlined “Hate Facts with Hitler, Brought to you by Vanguard America.” The flyer then lists a litany of anti-Semitic and racist views.
Deputy Mayor Amy Quinn told the Press on Tuesday the police department was investigating the appearance of the flyers, which surfaced at several locations along Cookman Avenue as well as near the intersection of Lake Avenue and Main Street.
Joshua Cohen, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, New Jersey, said the flyers come as racial tensions have heightened in the nation in the wake of violent clashes between neo-Nazis, white nationalists and counterprotesters in Charlottesville, Va., on Aug. 12. The video above illustrates some of the fears raised across the nation in the wake of the deadly Charlottesville rally.
“Seeing those flyers displayed in Asbury Park over the weekend shows that New Jersey is not immune to anti-Jewish animus,” Cohen said.
“We saw this the other weekend in Charlottesville at the ‘Unite the Right’ rally. Alongside the racism and the nativism and the xenophobia, the event showed the animating power of anti-Semitism. Marchers proudly wore swastika pens,” he said.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, a non-profit group that monitors hate organizations in the U.S., says on its website Vanguard America is an offshoot of American Vanguard, which it lists as an active hate group.
Cohen said Vanguard America has been aggressive in recent years in recruiting new members, predominantly at college campuses.
He said such groups have flourished since 2016 election, with many white supremacy organizations believing they have a friend in the White House in President Donald Trump.
Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke was present at the protest in Charlottesville. At that rally, Duke explicitly tied the white supremacist movement to Trump.
“We are determined to take our country back,” Duke said during the march, according to news reports. “We are going to fulfill the promise of Donald Trump. That’s what we believe in. That’s why we voted for Donald Trump, because he said he’s going to take our country back.”
Trump was criticized by Democrats and Republicans for his comments after the rally, in which he placed the blame on “many sides.”
He later condemned neo-Nazis and white supremacists, but then doubled down on his original statement and said there were “some fine people” among both the left-wing counter-protesters and the white nationalists. You can see a video of Trump’s remarks below.
Quinn said Asbury Park residents she spoke with are concerned that more hate speech may lie ahead.
“I think the national political climate is certainly making people in Asbury Park very anxious,” Quinn said. “It appears to be empowering groups of people who don’t value diversity.”
As she rode her bike along Main Street near Springwood Avenue Monday Maureen Shaffer saw one of the flyers that had been posted inside a red telephone booth. Shaffer snapped a photo then took the flyer down to bring to a forum held later that evening planning a “Stand against Hate Rally” in Asbury scheduled for Labor Day weekend.
“I think that they are disgusting and reprehensible,” said Shaffer, 52, who lives in Ocean Grove.