DEKALB COUNTY, Ind. (WFFT) -- In a county of more than 40,000, it's dozens of flyers left in yards and near mailboxes for the American Christian Dixie Knights that hits close to home for one DeKalb County woman.
"I actually already cried about it this morning," she says.
The woman's husband is a person of color and her children all have his dark skin.
She asked not to be shown on camera for fear of retaliation.
In a county where 97 percent of families are white, these flyers make her feel like a target.
"I actually just think I felt numb," as she recalls her son bringing the flyer into her home. "I'm probably still numb."
The Southern Poverty Law Center says the Klan affiliated group saw the biggest increase in the Klan in 2019.
The SPLC shows the Tennessee based group is active in 10 states, including Indiana.
The woman believes those flyers weren't put near her mailbox by accident.
"We're one of the only families that had political signs up before the election, and the other woman who had a flyer on her property had political signs as well," she says.
Since December of 2019, Auburn police have four incident reports of flyers showing up but those reports come from areas across the city.
The department is not actively investigating any crime with those flyers, but Dekalb County Sheriff David Cserep says the flyers have been more widely reported, and he's looking into it as a hate crime.
"They've gotten our attention, and if they wanted our attention now they have it," says Cserep.
Sheriff Cserep was in the DeKalb County Courthouse guarding the front doors when Klan rallies were held on its front courthouse steps in the late '90s.
It wasn't the only county to see those Klan rallies held during that time.
Cserep says anyone who was around the area during that time remembers those rallies.
He says the flyers found around the community won't be tolerated.
"I'm a little disappointed that this has shown up in our community, and we'll eradicate it as best as we can," Cserep adds.
