Stickers with racist messages were found this week on new light signals installed on Willamette Street in Eugene. And this isn’t the first time hate speech has been spotted in Lane County.
Michael Carrigan is with the Stop Hate Campaign. He says some of the stickers read “Diversity means no white people."
Carrigan: “What that means is that Springfield and Eugene should only be for white people. It’s not a direct message, but we know the person who probably did this, he’s a Nazi, and he’s really pushing for a white-only country.”
Carrigan says this isn’t the first time it’s happened in Eugene.
Carrigan: “The Klu Klux Klan was very strong in this area, so those roots are there. So there’s a white supremacist movement that is active in Lane County and around the state.”
White supremacist groups use phrases claiming “diversity” is an attack on mostly-white communities and countries. Some groups call diversity “white genocide.”
This week Nazi graffiti was also found at the former Crest Drive Elementary school.
Carrigan says the Stop Hate Campaign is distributing leaflets and speaking with community members about the incidences.