Photo by Donar Reiskoffer
Instead of chocolate bunnies and Peeps, last weekend several families across the country were treated to white supremacist messages stuffed inside Easter eggs scattered on their lawns.In separate incidents, residents of Henrico, Virginia, and Oakdale, California, cracked open the plastic eggs to discover strips of paper proclaiming unsettling slogans such as “Diversity = white genocide” and “Anti-racist is a codeword for anti-White.”“My husband noticed the last Easter egg and I knew it wasn't one that I put out,” Jackie Smith, a resident of Henrico, told local news outlet WRIC. “We opened it and it's got the white supremacist stuff in it.”Cheryl Wolford, a resident of Oakdale, California, told VICE News that about 30 houses in her neighborhood found similar messages inside colorful eggs.“We had an Easter egg hunt on Good Friday, and our kids found these messages,” she said. “This is a diverse and close-knit town. This is no place for that sort of stuff.”She recalled that one of the strips of paper said, “Diversity is our strength, Diversity is our future, Diversity is why Chicago is so peaceful.”Mark Potok, a senior fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center, told VICE News that “the main purpose of such actions is usually only to cause local outrage and get media attention.”Although it did not claim formal responsibility, a white supremacist organization called the White Genocide Project — which seeks to “bring awareness to the planet about the ongoing program of genocide against White people” — issued a statement exulting in the “hate bomb” Easter eggs, which contained stock catchphrases that appear on its website.The eggs “severely challenged anti-White beliefs, such as ‘diversity,’ and ‘anti-racism,’ ” the statement said. “The Easter eggs may have been delivered by some of our good friends over at the WhiteManMarch.com, great work!”The White Man March is a white supremacist movement that was led until recently by Kyle Hunt. Hunt attempted to coordinate a large demonstration to take place earlier this year, on March 15. Although the idea provoked a lot of public mockery, it failed to attract a mass following; no more than a few people gathered in places like Kentucky, Arizona, Alabama, and Washington State.“The turnout of the White Man March was frankly almost amusing,” Potok said, “especially after the claims from the organizers to expect a massive showing. There were no more than 10 people in any one place.”
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Images from the failed White Man March.The day of action ended up seeing small, isolated displays of white supremacists and Klan members holding banners with messages such as “Diversity = Racism” and “White people fight back!”In an apparent attempt to revive the stillborn White Man March after its failure last month, Hunt recently referred to the Easter egg ploy on his website, where he suggested, “You could buy some of those really cheap plastic Easter eggs, maybe put in something for a little bit of weight, and include a small strip of paper in there with some of our material printed on one side, with your favorite websites printed on the back.”When VICE News reached Hunt for comment, he refused to discuss the Easter egg hate bombs. Instead, he insisted that he was no longer involved with the White Man March and that he had shut down its website.Follow Olivia Becker on Twitter: @obecker928Photo via Wikimedia Commons