Hate group stickers, posters put up in downtown Henderson

HENDERSON, Ky. - White supremacist stickers and posters have been spotted in downtown Henderson in recent weeks.

The items have been found on power poles, sign posts, traffic signs and other places along sidewalks in the Central Business District. They include the logo and name of a group called "Identity Evropa."

The postings don't make any kind of specific call to action, but the poster shows a statue of a man on horseback and says underneath, "European Roots American Greatness." The smaller stickers just have the logo and name of the group on them.

Henderson resident Mike Nash said he and a friend, Sam Monsen, often walk downtown near the riverfront and along city streets. "Together we have pulled down over a dozen of these things in the downtown area since Jan. 4th," he said Wednesday. "I think we've seen three distinct waves of them ... I pulled four down last night."

"We pull them down as we see them. I don't want that sort of thing in Henderson."

Nash said he hopes "getting the word out will help squash it a little bit."

He said he takes photos of them each time, and provided some of those images to The Gleaner.

Identity Evropa is a Virginia-based group founded in 2016 by Iraq War veteran Nathan Damigo, who attended and helped organize the deadly 2017 Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups.

The group’s main objective is to “create a better world for people of European heritage,” according to its website. The Southern Poverty Law Center said the group claimed it had 700 members in 2017.

The group's propaganda items have been distributed in other cities in Kentucky recently, including Louisville, Bowling Green and Paducah.

According to news reports, Identity Evropa items have also been posted in public areas at the University of Southern Indiana and in the Haynie's Corner area of downtown Evansville.

Donna Stinnett, public information officer for the city of Henderson, said that officials were made aware of the items Wednesday and immediately requested that city's public works staff as well as police and firefighters keep an eye out for them so they can be removed.

She said city workers have already done "a kind of sweep downtown and removed several of them. I know some private citizens have reported doing the same thing."

Stinnett noted that there also have been "some observed on the Riverwalk."

If anyone spots more and would like to report them, she said the public can call her office at 270-831-4934.

Even aside from the content, she said that "these kind of things are not supposed to be on city-owned property."

Nash, an Evansville native who has lived in Henderson for 25 years, agreed.

"It's borderline littering and vandalism and I don't like seeing that kind of an attitude in our community."

Information for this story was also furnished by The Louisville Courier Journal.