The sun had yet to rise as Simon Buehrer biked through his quiet Clintonville neighborhood, en route to what should've been a normal day at work.
Pedaling down East Dominion Boulevard near World Language Middle School, he came upon a strange scattering of white papers littering the road. As dozens more sheets appeared along his path, Buehrer slowed his bike and stopped to flip a few over.
Graphics of men dressed in robes and conical hoods stared back at him. Business cards read "Save our land join the Klan." Buehrer's stomach dropped. Horrified, he scrambled to collect what he could.
"I'm really uncomfortable saying this, but I wasn't surprised," he said. "Given the tone and tenure of our social discourse these days, it feels like this kind of action
has been more emboldened. I just immediately wanted to clean it up and address it and get rid of it."
Buehrer is one of many who woke up to discover flyers and business cards from a group identifying itself as part of the Ku Klux Klan strewn across the streets on Sept. 29. Most of the materials included graphics of Klansmen with messages aimed at intimidation or recruitment. Some expressed anti-Flock sentiment, referring to themselves as a "neighborhood watch."
Columbus City Schools confirmed the presence of the "hate-filled" flyers near both World Language Middle School and Indian Springs Elementary School, saying "hate has no place in Columbus City Schools or in the communities [it] serve[s]."
"There is nothing acceptable about negatively targeting people because of who they are," the district said in a statement. "Our schools should be places where students come to learn, grow, and feel safe. We will continue to stand against hate and work to ensure everyone in our school communities is treated with dignity and respect."
"To our students, staff, and families: You belong here. You are valued here. And you are always welcome at Columbus City Schools."
Clintonville wasn't alone. The Worthington Schools community, including families, principals and teachers, found "ugly flyers" full of "hateful speech" on their doorsteps or near school buildings the same morning, according to a Facebook post from Superintendent Trent Bowers and the Worthington School Board.
The Dispatch is working to confirm whether the flyers left in Clintonville and Worthington were the same.
"We’re disgusted. We’re outraged. And we’re sad," Worthington Schools' post states. "For our friends, neighbors, students and staff in our schools who would say they’re not surprised by this because, on some level, they’ve lived with it their entire lives: We believe them. Even though we’ve never walked in their shoes, we stand with them. We work hard every day to make Worthington Schools a community where everyone is welcome and this is a stark reminder of why our work is so important."
In a statement, Columbus' branch of the NAACP said it condemns the Klan's flyers and encouraged anyone who finds them to photograph and report them to info@naacp614.org.
"Without faces or names, the only people living in fear are the ones who left these flyers," the civil rights organization said in its statement. "We have nothing to fear. Their words are as empty as their threats. As they move in the darkness of hate, we will stand together in the light. We call on all of Central Ohio to protect one another."
Clintonville Area Commission Chair Brittany Boulton told The Dispatch the situation is "extraordinarily disappointing," and anyone who is part of that group or any Klan-affiliated activity is not welcome in Clintonville.
"The commission does not condone any racist behavior like that, and everyone should feel safe in Clintonville," Boulton said. "It's particularly heinous this happened near a school."
Though Boulton and Buehrer said they've not seen hate group efforts like this in Clintonville, resident and former area commissioner Will Klatt said acts of white supremacism have been "a long, ongoing problem" in the neighborhood. He estimated five similar instances of KKK-related flyer distribution over the past couple years.
Similar flyers have previously shown up in other Columbus neighborhoods. In 2023, Franklinton residents woke up to flyers strewn throughout the neighborhood. In 2022, they arrived in Sharon Township near Worthington.
In their Facebook post, Bowers and the Worthington School Board said they reported the incdident to Worthington Police and the Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights organization that tracks hate groups and violent extremism.
"We have no reason to believe the cowards who left these flyers plan to do any more than litter, but their attempt to intimidate will not be minimized or overlooked by this District," the post states, later going on to say, "These people can stick their flyers where the sun doesn't shine."
Dispatch K-12 education reporter Cole Behrens contributed to this report.
Reporter Emma Wozniak can be reached at ewozniak@dispatch.com or @emma_wozniak_ on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: 'Heinous' KKK flyers, hate speech left near Clintonville, Worthington schools
