Is there a hoax being perpetrated in Southfield?

Is there a hoax being perpetrated in Southfield? 2015-08-25T07:26:59-06:00

Southfield Town Center (public domain via Wikimedia Commons)
Southfield Town Center (public domain via Wikimedia Commons)

Southfield is a middle-class suburb directly adjoining Detroit.  I lived there for the first seven years of my life, in a three-bedroom ranch with a crawl space.  Growing up, it was a fairly white place, with the only “ethnic diversity” being a significant Jewish population.  In the last generation, though, the area has changed substantially, and is now 70% black, as middle-class blacks have fled Detroit.  Periodically on a visit to my parents, we drive through the neighborhood and it looks much the same.  Like Ferguson, its officials are still mainly white — the mayor, 4 / 7ths of the councilmen, the city clerk, and the treasurer.  But unlike Ferguson, the city has retained its middle-classness, and has a major retail presence as well as a substantial business area, with corporate headquarters for multiple firms.  You might almost say it’s the “anti-Ferguson.”

All of which is context for a news report a facebook friend linked to:  “Controversial flier causes outrage in Southfield.”  The flier in question pictures the white elected officials and candidates for office* and says “let’s get the blacks out of Southfield in November.”  Another report shows a further flyer, with a man in a KKK rob shooting a black child.

(*Interestingly, the flyer shows pictures of two white police deputies, not the police chief himself — because the chief of police is black.)

Is this the work of genuine — and stupid — racists?  Or is this a hoax, meant to generate support by the majority black community for black candidates?  The race for mayor will, in fact, be between a black woman and a white man, but I don’t have any reason to belief that race is an issue.  Outside agitators are suspected — but which side are they on?  If they are racists hoping to get whites to rise up, they’re the dumbest racist agitators I’ve heard of.

UPDATE:  The more I think about it, the more I conclude that this second flyer makes it clear that this is a hoax meant to look like a racist threat.  After all, if you were a racist agitator wanting to rally closet racists to your cause, in Southfield, Michigan, would you really choose these images?  IT’s a KKK-robed man shooting a boy wearing a hoodie with Skittles in his hand, with a Confederate flag in the background.  These are images meant to speak to the fears of blacks, not whites — for whom you’d choose images that speak to fears that Detroit’s criminals have “hit 8 Mile Road” and are coming to Southfield.


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