Iron Range reacts to distribution of white nationalist flyers, hate speech

On Monday, Jan. 15, Range residents found the white nationalist informative flyers on their doorsteps in Virginia, Embarrass and Buhl. The flyers were part of a recruiting effort by a North Carolina-based group calling itself the Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.

Word of the flyers spread around town and social media, leading many to denounce the action.

"We don't want this kind of crap in our community," said Virginia Mayor Larry Cuffe Jr. "It's racism, is what it is. It's despicable. It's a cancer that will eat away the very fabric of your community if you allow this to continue."

Following reportedly derogatory remarks by President Donald Trump on Jan. 12, which focused on immigrants from Haiti and other "s***hole countries," a group of Range residents put their heads together to respond. The surfacing of the KKK flyers on Monday, they said, only amplified their message.

"I got a call right away the next morning from a friend," reported Marlise Riffel, a Virginia resident, advocate and activist. "She was very upset about the president's comments and we were trying to think of a way to respond."

Riffel and her friend, who asked to remain anonymous because of her employment, went back and forth with several ideas like hosting a rally or taking an ad out in the newspaper. They chose to take out an ad which on page A9 of the Wednesday, Jan. 17, Mesabi Daily News.

"His opinion is so contrary to my beliefs that I wanted the public to know that I did not agree with his statement," said Riffel's co-coordinator.

The two women wrote a statement, with editing help from others, gathered names and asked to use a photo of a friend for the advertisement.

Both coordinators have spent time in Africa — some of the countries where Trump's comment was aimed. Riffel spent six weeks, during the spring of 2007, near Moshi, Tanzania, where she worked at a secondary school.

Recalling her time there, Riffel said, "It was a life-changing experience. I learned so much about subsistence farming and herding. You can read about these lifestyles but you truly have to experience it to understand."

Riffel has since maintained close relationships with those she met while there.

With Trump's comments in the spotlight, Riffel felt an urgent need to reach out to some of these friends and she sent a message to a specifically close friend.

"I apologize for the statement made by our president. I hope you are doing OK," she said in a message. Then she told her friend about the advertisement and asked to use a photo of her, to which she agreed, and said, "It is good to receive an apology."

The photo is of a colorfully dressed African woman standing beside a green field on a red road.

On Jan. 13, Riffel posted to Facebook: "Several of us are putting an ad in the MDN to express our horror at the language and sentiments of our president. Not our values. Many of us have had life-changing experiences in these countries that our president demeans. Message me if you will help write and be a signatory to this ad."

Many people responded, shared and passed along the information, growing the signature list to 66.

"And there were people I missed," said Riffel. "It would have been different if we had time for recruitment.

Why did the organizers, and the many people who added their signatures, feel the need to make this public statement?

"We did this so that the rest of the world, or whoever reads this, know that there are Americans who disagree with Trump and have different beliefs than him." Riffel added to her friend's comment, "An ad in our local paper sends a message to our local community that what happens, happens to all of us."

Some of the co-signers also sent their reason for adding their name:

"I can tell you that I added my name because of the informative nature of the ad," said Virginia City Councilor Steven Johnson. "I liked the idea that a question was asked and I felt comfortable in answer the question with statements. I am a strong support of asking questions and finding answers. These answers were fair and I felt non-confrontational. People need to have information to make decisions. I felt this was a good way of doing that."

"As for myself, I believe in the inherent goodness of people, but keenly aware how everyone, because we are all human, can be swayed by anger and hateful rhetoric," said Kelly Dahl. "That is why the discourse of our leaders is so important and they all have the wisdom and courage to tamp down, rather than encourage citizens to drive wedges and sow the seeds of hate ... This is not leadership, it is not American, but cowardly and shameful. We need only look to the recent leafleting by the KKK in Virginia to know that something evil has been unleashed, and has been done so by the examples set from the top."

"As a third-generation Iron Miner I felt the president's language could not go unanswered," said Kurt Peterson, a miner for U.S. Steel. "This country was built by Iron Range steel and Iron Range steel wouldn't be possible without the immigrants that built our communities. The actions, and what is being said, by the person holding the highest seat in the land trickles down into our communities. I hear people say things now that they never said before and as the last writer commented, his ongoing dialogue of hate has empowered groups like the KKK, and even people like "crazy Uncle Charlie at Thanksgiving" to push hate in our neighborhoods and at our diner tables. I, for one, wanted to make it clear hate isn't acceptable. A simple look in our country's history will show you we were at our greatest when all cultures and backgrounds worked together, especially here on the Iron Range."

"Why in this local paper? Because this community owes its existence in large part because of new immigrants from Slovenia, Finland, Italy and others from eastern Europe who came to the Range, in the wave of immigration 1890-1920s, to work in the mines," said Jeanne Maki, focusing on local history. "Most of these people did not know English when they arrived. You could hear their languages spoken in every store and on every street corner - that was natural. It was their children who became fluent in English and often served as their parents' translators. Many of the immigrants' grandchildren and great-grands still live up here and remember their families' stories. Yes, some of these early immigrants were shunned by the 'established' community, often because of labor strife. The may have been called names, even amongst themselves. But they were never hunted down and forced to leave the U.S. We need to be reminded that new immigrants are fundamentally no different from our forebears, and they deserve an equal opportunity to make new lives for themselves."

"I just wanted to add my voice to express the outrage we feel that such a hideous comment could come out of the mouth of the President of our great country," said Barb Baldrica.

Along with running the advertisement, a vigil was held at Mesabi Unitarian Universalist Church on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Since its publication Wednesday, Riffel has been overwhelmed with community feedback, some spurred by the KKK material.

"People have called, emailed and messaged me," she said. "I have gotten no negative feedback, only that people wish they would have known and could've added their signature. If one person read the ad and felt better, it was worth it."