Copyright Mechanicsburg Patriot News
For the past five years, the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission (PHRC) has partnered with PennLive and The Patriot-News to host the Peace & Justice in PA forum to keep our communities informed about the most pressing civil rights issues of the day. Gov. Josh Shapiro and PHRC Executive Director, as well as the whole PHRC staff, are to be congratulated for standing strong for justice and freedom. They must continue to do so. From the outrage that surrounded the death of George Floyd to today’s deportation crisis that has terrorized citizens and immigrants alike, the PHRC has not wavered from ensuring Pennsylvanians of all races, genders, ethnicities, abilities, and economic strata know their rights in our commonwealth. But even more important, PHRC has helped to defend those rights and protect those who are most vulnerable to extremists. Their work is more crucial now than ever. It’s sad to say that Pennsylvania has more than its share of extremist groups that believe life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are reserved for one group of people – for white Christians only. And their definition of Christian sounds nothing like Christ. And if you think the most extreme forms of racism are confined to the South, think again. There were reports last week that “Women of the Ku Klux Klan” placed their business cards in the candy bags of children at the Mechanicsburg borough’s Oct. 14 Halloween parade. PennLive reported the business cards included the words: “Invisible Empire,” “Family-Country-Liberty,” and “A revival of the American spirit.” Needless to say, decent residents of Mechanicsburg know what the KKK stands for and found their messages revolting. They made sure borough leaders knew it, too. Borough officials didn’t deny the cards were passed out but said they weren’t placed in children’s bags. In a message to CBS 21, they said, “It is not illegal to belong to the Women of the K.K.K.” The statement is likely to fuel the outrage many rightly feel. No matter where or when the Women of the KKK passed out their white supremacy materials, residents have a right to be alarmed. And borough leaders would do well to join the good people of Mechanicsburg in condemning it. The Women of the K.K.K. are another clear sign that the PHRC’s work is more important now than ever. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, last year, there were 110 active white nationalist groups across the United States, with five white nationalist groups active in Pennsylvania: Active Club, Antelope Hill Publishing, Gab, New Columbia Movement and Patriot Front. In 2023, for the second consecutive year, ADL recorded its highest-ever number of white supremacist propaganda incidents, with a total of 7,567 cases, representing a 12 percent increase from the 6,746 incidents in 2022. None of this is good news. And as Sarah Towle, author of “Crossing the Line: Finding America in the Borderlands,” so vividly described in her 2025 Peace & Justice in PA keynote, these extremists are targeting refugees and immigrants whom the Statue of Liberty was supposed to welcome with her lamp beside the golden door. It was a message every American needed to hear. We applaud not only Gov. Shapiro, Lassiter and the PHRC, but the residents of Mechanicsburg and other parts of our commonwealth who will not remain silent in the face of blatant racism and cruelty. Today, the venom is being targeted at immigrants and people of color. History tells us, tomorrow, it will be you. Joyce M. Davis is PennLive’s Outreach & Opinion Editor. Follow her on Facebook, Bluesky @joycemdavis.bsky.social, and on Twitter @byjoycedavis.
