CARBONDALE — A man has been banned from the campus of John A. Logan College after surveillance video showed him placing white supremacist flyers on cars in the parking lot.
Less than 100 flyers from a white nationalist group known as The Creativity Alliance or the Church of Creativity showed up on windshields at the college last September.
Flyers from the same organization, bearing the same white supremacist messages, were again left on cars at JALC in early April.
Surveillance footage of that incident clearly showed the individual responsible and the license plate of his vehicle, college legal counsel Rhett Barke indicated at a JALC Board of Trustees meeting in late April.
The alleged culprit, who both the college and Williamson County Sheriff Bennie Vick declined to publicly identify, is believed responsible for both incidents at JALC, said college President Ron House.
Ron House
“As soon as we gained enough information to ascertain who this individual was, we drafted a ban notice that was executed by President House and delivered by the Sheriff of Williamson County,” Barke said. “The notice stated that the individual is not permitted on campus either here in Carterville or on any of the satellite campuses in Du Quoin or West Frankfort.”
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Officially, the man’s ban arose from a prohibition on flyering. According to Barke, college policy doesn’t allow for the distribution of materials on vehicles, and the violation was deemed to be a disturbance to the school’s educational environment.
Leaders of the college have also come forward to condemn the white supremacist messages the flyers contained.
“It reflects nothing about who we are,” House said. “It goes totally against the grain of what we believe.”
The same racist flyers were found on the Southeastern Illinois College campus in January.
“I can’t speak for anyone but myself, but from the description of the vehicle reported at Southeastern, I would say it’s the same guy,” House said. “When we complete our investigation, which is ongoing, I have already communicated orally with the president there that we’d be happy to share what we’ve got.”
A student walks through the John A. Logan College campus in 2016.
House could not provide details about the ongoing investigation, but said “there are a lot of people from different agencies that are extremely interested in what’s going on.”
The letter announcing the ban was served to a residence in Williamson County, Sheriff Vick confirmed.
The banned individual was neither an employee nor a student at John A. Logan College.
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(8) comments
I see nothing wrong with the content of the flyer. It is no different than all those pro-black, pro-Hispanic, pro-woman, pro-gay advertisements we see all the time.
Shame on The Southern Illinoisan for giving this hate group more free publicity than they could afford to buy. The Southern posted the flyer with the contact information clearly visible. It seems the group's strategy works well: be disgusting and outrageous enough and the media will do the rest for you. It worked for Trump.
If anyone finds similar flyers at JAL or SIU just shred them. Do not alert the media.
I really have mixed thoughts about whether exposing this individual by name would be the right thing to do. On one hand, he has not been arrested and charged with a crime. Had that been the case, I would have no objection to the lawbreaker being named. With that said, his behavior albeit not criminal is still abhorrent and does not reflect how most Whites feel. Keep in mind too this individual has openly exposed himself to the public by engaging in this behavior in plain view and on a public college campus parking lot; therefore, is he really entitled to any privacy. Banning this individual from the JAL campuses was the right thing to do and should he appear at any of the three facilities he can and should be arrested for trespassing.
I suspect the reason the JAL administration and the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office elected not to release the name of the subject was the anticipated backlash that could likely involve aggression, property damage and even the threat of bodily injury towards this person. Perhaps the best thing to do is to leave the matter in the hands of the college and law enforcement. This is not a matter for social and criminal justice warriors to “take care of things from here.” I would like for “Pat,” the commenter to share with us what he or she intends to do once provided the name of the individual. How does Pat intend to “hold the accountable [sic]?” With racial tensions in the U.S. at an all-time high we do not need to incite further violence by releasing the name of this person; at least ,not until he commits a crime.
Well said, Sheepdog2020
Thank you
Naming him without being charged with a crime might mean a whopper of a lawsuit. You'll notice the phrase "alleged culprit." That language, along with "accused of" protects his rights. He has not been arrested or charged with any crime and that's despite an invasion of privacy in posting propaganda from a nationalist group. No. This should play out.
The perpetrator should be named. Until we name names and hold the accountable nothing will change. This will happen again.
"...the man’s ban arose from a prohibition on flyering."
That's all JALC can do.
The man can say whatever he wants - it is his constitutional right.
He can also say it on the grounds of JALC campus, as it is a public institution, thus he can not be charged with trespassing.
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