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No evidence Black Lives Matter made ‘kill a white on sight’ flyers
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Black Lives Matters denies it produced flyers that are depicted on Facebook and reportedly were found in Scotland.
A post shared June 22 on Facebook shows what appears to be a flyer with images of three fists and this message: "Kill a white on sight. Their silence is violence. #BlackLivesMatter #Antifa #BLMScotland #AvengeSlavery."
The post says: "This is what is being handed out at Black life Matters, and Antifa rally's???? How much longer are we gonna take this?????"
The post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)
The hashtags and logos suggest the message on the flyer is associated with certain groups or movements, but we found no evidence of that, or that the groups are handing out such flyers.
The Black Lives Matter movement formed after a Florida jury in 2013 acquitted George Zimmerman of murder in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed African American teen. The organization that grew out of the movement has been prominent in national protests over the Minneapolis death of George Floyd in police custody on May 25.
Antifa is an umbrella term for a movement of far-left anti-fascists, and is not a unified organization.
EdinburghLive.com reported that the flyers were found in Baxter Park in Dundee, Scotland. The website said that Black Lives Matter leaders in Scotland denied the flyers were produced by the group and denied that the group is affiliated with Antifa.
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The Scottish Sun reported that local Black Lives Matter and Antifa leaders denied they produced the flyers that were found in the park.
There have also been claims about the flyers being in the United States.
A June 22 Facebook post with the same image claimed the flyers were "placed on cars at the Asheville (North Carolina) Mall yesterday." A June 24 Facebook post includes what appears to be a screenshot of a portion of another Facebook post that claims the flyers were found in Medford and Ashland, referring presumably to two cities in Oregon.
Asheville Police Chief David Zack told PolitiFact: "There was a local report; however, no flyer was discovered."
The Ashland Police Department said: "The claim was unfounded. But we are monitoring."
We didn’t get replies from the mall or the Medford Police Department.
A statement attributed to Kailee Scales, managing director of Black Lives Matter Global Network, said it "did not release any flyer with the ‘kill a white on sight, their silence is violence,’ nor was it posted or shared on any of our social accounts."
Without evidence that the flyers were produced by Black Lives Matter or Antifa, we rate the statement False.
Our Sources
Facebook, post (archived here), June 22, 2020
Facebook, post, June 22, 2020
Facebook, post, June 24, 2020
Email, Black Lives Matter spokesperson Jordan Jackson, June 25, 2020
FullFact.org, "Black Lives Matter Scotland say they did not produce ‘Kill a White On Sight’ stickers," June 23, 2020
EdinburghLive.com, "Fake 'Kill A White' flyers in Edinburgh have nothing to do with Black Lives Matter, say activists," June 15, 2020
Scottish Sun, "FAKE FLYERS Fury as fake BLM posters saying ‘kill a white on sight’ appear in Dundee park," June 13, 2020
Email, Ashland (Ore.) Police Department spokesman Hector Meletich, June 24, 2020
Email Asheville (N.C.) Police Chief David Zack, June 25, 2020
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No evidence Black Lives Matter made ‘kill a white on sight’ flyers
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