Shelbyville Residents Report More KKK Activity

Shelbyville residents are seeing more Ku Klux Klan propaganda appearing around town. 

On Sunday, Breana Green found a neighbor’s yard sign for Joe Biden’s presidential campaign had been disturbed. She then noticed the yard was littered with business cards saying the KKK had paid “a social visit,” with a warning that the next visit could be “a business call.”  

“I was really startled by it and also kind of scared,” Green says. 

The family is white, but Green says they still feel like it’s an act of intimidation.

“I can’t imagine the folks in Shelbyville who are people of color, how they are feeling. They must be feeling really scared. And I want to make sure the community comes together to make them feel like they are welcome.”

Green is helping organize a “Y’all Means All” community party on the Shelbyville square Oct. 17.

Courtesy Breana Green

These business cards were littered on the yard of Breana Green’s neighbor, whose sign supporting presidential candidate Joe Biden was also vandalized. The family has not wanted to talk to the media.

A spokesperson with the Shelbyville police says the department has been tracking an increase in KKK materials appearing since 2016, including an entire neighborhood that was peppered with leaflets. But law enforcement has not seen a related rise in criminal activity.  

Shelbyville was the site of a large “White Lives Matter” protest in 2017.

Deputy police chief Brian Crews says there’s no clear pattern of intimidation. But he does encourage residents to report any sightings.

“We don’t believe that it’s targeting specific races. We believe that it’s targeting certain neighborhoods that would even be predominantly white,” he says. “I think most people just view it as trash.”