Oak Bluffs police investigating white supremacist signs posted outside Black-owned businesses

Signs with the website of a white supremacist group were posted this weekend outside two Black-owned businesses on Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts.

Cape and Islands District Attorney Robert Galibois said his office was made aware that the signs were posted in the town of Oak Bluffs and included the website for the white supremacist group Patriot Front.

The signs were found early Sunday morning outside two businesses that are owned by Black families, Galibois said. The district attorney said he has notified all 22 police chiefs in the district and is working with Massachusetts State Police detectives.

"If you observe any of these signs on public property or private property without the owner's permission then please notify your local police department," Galibois said in a statement. "We are all working collectively on identifying the individual[s] involved."

Patriot Front was founded in the wake of the violent 2017 "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville that left one woman dead and dozens injured. The group promotes fascism and calls for the formation of a white ethnostate, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center's website.

In June last year, 31 Patriot Front members were arrested on misdemeanor conspiracy to riot charges after they were found inside a U-Haul truck near a Pride event in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. 

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, Patriot Front members are known to post flyers and stickers, put banners on buildings or overpasses and even perform acts of public service, all designed to maximize propaganda value.

In:
• White Supremacy
• Martha's Vineyard
• Racism

WBZ-News Staff

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