White supremacist group targets Ferndale after #NoHate sculpture is installed
Ferndale Police are again looking into the activities of a white supremacist group after the downtown area was peppered with messages of hate directed at people for their race, national origin or political views.
City spokesman Riley Sweeney confirmed social media posts that said people found literature believed to be from the Patriot Front attached to utility poles and other places downtown.
“This is an active investigation,” Sweeney told The Bellingham Herald. “If members of the public see the flyers, we urge them to take a picture and send it to Detective Justin Pike (jpike@ferndalepd.org). We do not have a full count yet, although I’ve found two this morning. No damage reported beyond the defacing of public utility poles.”
Sweeney said he couldn’t say for certain if the flyers were in reaction to the #NoHate sculpture that was recently installed at Ferndale High School with the express purpose of opposing the Patriot Front’s activities.
“I agree that it seems more than circumstantial, but I don’t want to speculate about an ongoing investigation,” Sweeney said.
Members of the Ferndale City Council have condemned the Patriot Front twice since posters were first found last summer.
The Patriot Front broke off from another racist group after the deadly 2017 Unite the Right demonstration in Charlottesville, Virginia, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
In its messages, the Patriot Front claims that the United States owes no debt to native tribes or indigenous peoples because North America was “conquered not stolen.”
Every poster found in Ferndale over the weekend expressed that idea, Sweeney said.
According to its Twitter account, the Patriot Front has attempted to spread its influence across the Northwest and nationwide.
Flyers with racist messages have been found in Lynden, Ferndale, Bellingham, Western Washington University and elsewhere in the Puget Sound region over the past six months.
This story was originally published December 9, 2019 at 12:30 PM.
