Some residents of Wheel got an unwelcome missive this week delivered at night by unidentified individuals representing the American Christian Dixie Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.
Poor quality photocopies of an apparent recruitment document came sealed inside a plastic sandwich bag weighted with light gray half-inch gravel. The document with several graphics — including a hooded figure and a hangman’s noose — had only one worded message: The “American Christian Dixie Knights wants you.” The document listed a phone number with an area code from Roanoke, Texas, 24 miles north of Fort Worth. The number is associated with an address bounded by North Oak and Pie streets in Roanoke.
Other phone numbers associated with the group are from an Alabama area code that includes the cities of Birmingham and Tuscaloosa.
*** No phone response
The Times-Gazette called the number provided several times and left messages asking for a return call but had not heard back 48 hours later.
A call to one of the Alabama phone numbers associated with the group yielded the following recorded message: “Racial greetings. Thank you for calling the American Christian Dixie Knights of the Ku Klux Klan Imperial hotline. If you are inquiring about membership please understand we are not an open membership organization and we do not apologize for that. We do not accept homosexuals, Jews or anyone else who is not of pure white Aryan bloodlines. We are looking for proud, white, straight Christian Americans who are not afraid to take a stand ….”
In a subsequent message left on the voicemail associated with group’s Texas number, the Times-Gazette asked again for someone to call. “We’d like to get your side of the story,” a T-G reporter said. “You say you are ‘looking for proud, white, straight, Christian Americans who are not afraid to take a stand …’ and we are hoping to give you the opportunity to take a stand and talk about your organization.”