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Antisemitic 'GDL' Flyers Littered Throughout Oregon Community

Police are investigating after a series of flyers containing hate speech were left in driveways and yards in three Oregon area neighborhoods over the weekend, coinciding with a so-called "National Day of Hate" prompted by neo-Nazi groups online.

One targeted neighborhood is tucked off Molalla Avenue, near a middle school.

"It's not funny, and whoever's doing this should be ashamed of themselves," said one neighbor who found one of the flyers in his front yard. "I pick it up and saw all the three K's and the white power."

The Oregon City Police department has canvassed the neighborhoods where the flyers were reported and forwarded its police report to the Oregon Department of Justice as a bias incident, according to a news release from the city.

"I think it's ridiculous that we have that in our country these days," said Captain David Edwins at the Oregon City Police Department. He said police picked up more than 20 of the flyers over the weekend.

A bias incident isn't the same thing as a bias crime, Edwins added, but said that "while it's not a crime at this point, you never know what it will turn into."

NGO StopAntisemitism has identified the flyers were produced and littered by a white supremacist group, the Goyim Defense League (GDL). The GDL is led by neo-nazi, Jon Minadeo II. This is not the first time Minadeo and his members have harassed Oregon residents with these flyers. In February, similar leaflets found in Eugene blamed Jews for the ongoing COVID crisis.

"It makes me sick that we have a National Day of Hate. Why would we — there's enough going on in the world as it is right now anyway," said another neighbor back in Oregon City.

Mayor Denyse McGriff, Oregon City's first Black mayor, said she was "appalled that this is happening in our city."

"Oregon City values are founded on understanding, inclusivity, and tolerance," she said in a statement. "The fact that someone feels the need to spread such hate-filled, hurtful messaging, shows that despite how far we have come, we still have a lot of work to do. I urge anyone who sees these flyers to remove them, or contact the police department’s non-emergency number."