[B]URLINGTON — Three organizations in Burlington were targeted by a white supremacist group which hung stickers and posters outside of those organizations on Monday night or Tuesday morning.
Ohavi Zedek Synagogue, the Pride Center of Vermont and a third organization which asked the Burlington Police Department not to be named publicly reported finding the stickers and posters at their sites. The stickers included statements reading “Better Dead Than Red” and “America First” and listed the name of “Patriot Front.”
The Southern Poverty Law Center describes Patriot Front as a white supremacist group founded by one of the leaders of the deadly white nationalist protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017.
The Burlington Police Department believes these incidents are tied to Patriot Front’s efforts to put banners on bridges, buildings and overpasses across the country.
“The language found on these posters and the views spread by this group are antithetical to Burlington’s commitment to be a welcoming, inclusive community,” Mayor Miro Weinberger said in the police department’s press release.
White supremacist signs have been posted at the University of Vermont a handful of times in the last two years, most recently in October, when signs reading “It’s Okay to be White” were posted at both UVM and Champlain College.
Anyone with information about the incidents are asked to call Burlington police at 802-658-2704.
