Racist flier urges Detroit suburb to vote for white candidates

Fliers urging voters to elect white candidates have outraged residents of Southfield, a predominantly black Detroit suburb. The fliers also praise George Zimmerman for his slaying of unarmed black teen Trayvon Martin, calling the youth a “thug."

It remains unknown who distributed the leaflets, which appeared over the weekend, but police are looking for who distributed the offending papers. Southfield is a predominantly black community.

The single sheet endorses white candidates for local government on one side and condemns Martin on the other. Martin was 17-years-old when he was shot and killed by Zimmerman, neighborhood watch volunteer, in Florida in 2012. A year later, Zimmerman was acquitted of charges related to Martin's death during a confrontation that sparked national debate about self-defense laws in Florida and other states.

“Let’s get the blacks out of Southfield in November,” the flier reads. “Let’s take back our city.” It features pictures of candidates — all of them white men — for mayor, city council and law enforcement posts. 

One of the politicians featured on the flier condemned the message.

“I'm appalled at it but more so because, clearly this is race-baiting,” said Ken Siver, who is running for mayor of Southfield. “I believe this is someone who is trying incite racial tension in our city, which we lack.”

Siver helped founded the Martin Luther King Jr. Day Task Force, a group that works to raise awareness of the holiday.

Pat Haynie, president of the task force, said the flier had no place in her town.

“No matter what the motivation is, this is absolutely despicable and we will not tolerate it in our community,” Haynie told Al Jazeera.

“It may very well be that this was not done by a white racist individual or organization,” Haynie said. She wondered if someone had distributed the brochures to bring “people of color to come out to the polls and vote directly opposite of what the flyer purports.”

Whatever the motivation, the flyers have left some residents shaken.

“It sucks that in this day and time that something like this still exists,” said Southfield resident Harold Hogan. “I was born in the 50's, came up through all the civil rights stuff and when I see stuff like that it's very sickening.”