Providence, RI – Police are investigating after antisemitic flyers were found strewn about a Providence neighborhood Friday morning.
The flyers appear to belong to Nationalist Social Club 131, a neo-Nazi group that focuses its recruitment efforts solely on New England, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
The flyers describe the club as “a pro-white, street-oriented fraternity dedicated to raising authentic resistance to the enemies of our people in the New England area.”
Another flyer stated the club is “focused on building a network of likeminded men and women dedicated to defending their lands and their people.”
Dozens of the flyers were found on the front lawns of homes along Woodbury Street. The flyers were placed inside plastic zip lock bags with small rocks.
Adam Greenman, president of the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island, tells 12 News the neighborhood where the flyers were discovered Friday morning is just a few streets over from the Jewish Community Center.
“This continues to happen over and over again,” Greenman said. “We saw it in North Kingstown and before the holidays in a number of different communities … for us, this is just becoming an alarming trend.”
“We need everybody to stand up and say ‘this is not who we are as Rhode Islanders,’” he continued. “If these are out-of-state folks, who are doing this fleet footing, we want our whole community to stand up and say ‘you are not welcome here.’”
Greenman said the neo-Nazi group doesn’t just distribute the flyers to recruit new members.
“It’s a message of intimidation as well,” Greenman said. “It’s a message saying ‘we’re here too.’”
“This is the closet that this has happened to the Jewish community,” he added. “About half of the Jewish community [in the state] lives in this neighborhood … that’s what makes this incident even more concerning.”
With the community on edge, Greenman said the alliance has been hosting discussions with local business leaders regarding the antisemitic flyers.
“We are seeing incidents like this happening more and more frequently,” Greenman said. “What can we all do about this? … I think at this point, that’s really the focus for us.”
Greenman said anyone who spots one of these flyers shouldn’t pick them up and to instead report it to their local police department.
