Today in history: Spread of white supremacist propaganda in Cadillac has many concernedChris Lamphere | Cadillac News (https://www.cadillacnews.com/) (Michigan USA) | 25 February 2021
https://www.cadillacnews.com/news/today-in-history-spread-of-white-supremacist-propaganda-in-cadillac-has-many-concerned/article_1f3a656c-b84a-5809-b770-d1d5e34afa0a.html
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25 February 1996There's proof at the post office. A mailbox at the U.S. Post Office in Cadillac rented by the Cadillac Church of the Creator shows the white supremacy group is serious about promoting its views in the community, said Cadillac Police Youth Officer Jeff Hawke. "We certainly don't want to create a panic, but we do want to let people know what's going on," Hawke said. "We need to raise the level of awareness."
The post office box is just another piece of evidence members of Team Up say shows the area is on the verge of a youth gang problem.
"We don't have a problem now, but the potential is there," said Dave Monson, president of the concerned citizens group. Anyone writing the post office box receives literature from the Church of the Creator.
Hawke knows because it's circulating among some area youth. "Propaganda is circulating and we have some youth claiming an allegiance," Hawke said. The white supremacist group is different than traditional gangs, which also have shown evidence of existence in Cadillac.
"It's a racial hate-type thing," Hawke said. "Their views are fostered in hate." Particularly hatred toward Jews, some the literature shows.
One of the church's Sixteen Commandments listed is: "Remember that the inferior colored races are our deadly enemies, and the most dangerous of all is the Jewish race. It is our immediate objective to relentlessly expand the White Race, and keep shrinking our enemies."
Graffiti on several Cadillac businesses boasts of "White Power" spray-painted next to swastikas and other messages of hate. Other literature circulating depicts racial cartoons "provided as a public service" by the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan chapter in Waters.
Hawke, Monson and Team Up coordinator George Corliss are heading a group of parents, business, law enforcement and school officials, ministers and other concerned citizens in dealing with the issue.