A Tennessee resident said her yard sign for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden was vandalized by the Ku Klux Klan (KKK).
The vandalism was discovered on Sunday after Shelbyville resident Breana Green found her neighbor’s pro-Biden yard sign had been disturbed, WPLN News reported.
Near the sign were littered business cards that read the KKK had paid “a social visit” and left a warning that the group’s next visit could be “a business call.”
“I was really startled by it and also kind of scared,” Green said.
Although the KKK has historically attacked Blacks and other minorities and Green’s family is white, she said the message still felt like an intimidating action.
“I can’t imagine the folks in Shelbyville who are people of color, how they are feeling. They must be feeling really scared,” Green said, adding, “And I want to make sure the community comes together to make them feel like they are welcome.”
Shelbyville police told WPLN the department has noticed an increase in KKK materials appearing since 2016, including an entire neighborhood with notes spread throughout.
Still, authorities said they had not seen a related rise in criminal activity regarding the KKK.
In 2017, a “White Lives Matter” protest was held in the town with a population of roughly 20,000 people.
Deputy Police Chief Brian Crews said while there is no apparent intimidation pattern, he does encourage residents to report any suspicious sitings.
“We don’t believe that it’s targeting specific races. We believe that it’s targeting certain neighborhoods that would even be predominantly white,” Crews said of the KKK. “I think most people just view it as trash.”