MIDLAND, Texas — The FBI is looking into a racist flyer that was found all across Midland this weekend.
Dozens of houses along North N St. and Boyd Ave. had this piece of paper in a Ziploc bag in their driveway.
The flyers have a title on top that states, "White Revolution" recruiting people to join the effort.
There is little information right now about how the flyers ended up in a Midland neighborhood. What we do know is other flyers like this one have shown up in other parts of Texas including Austin and Lubbock.
The FBI believes a group out of Washington State is behind the distribution.
The big question: What exactly can you do if you get one of these at your home?
The Midland Police Department tell us:
“On the police side there isn’t anything we can do, it is free speech. The only recourse from a policing standpoint would be if a homeowner caught someone approaching their property to leave the flier and ordered them away, but the subject continued to enter onto the property anyway. Then we would have criminal trespass.”
Midland Mayor Patrick Payton also had this to say:
“As a community I firmly believe we all reject the extremes on all sides. Whether a flyer that stokes anger, hate and dissension or social media and messaging that constantly drives wedges between people. Here in Midland we fight for one another and not against one another.”
Domestic terrorist cases like this are routine for the FBI. Right now they are learning as much as they can about the Washington state-based group they believe is behind the flyer.
“We are tracking all the different domestic terrorist groups," Daniel Ramos, FBI, assistant special agent in charge, said. "Obviously, our Seattle office is tracking them and what we do is a coordinated effort. They tell us what they have and we tell them what we have.”
Here is what the FBI tells us you can do if you get a flyer like this:
“Make sure the community knows if they do see a flyer, don’t touch it with your bare hands," Ramos said. "With like kitchen gloves or something put it in a Ziploc bag so it can be protected for the evidence and we can get fingerprints”
That evidence will then be presented to the United States Attorney’s office.
“The attorneys then will determine if there are enough elements to charge the individuals responsible for these acts," Ramos said. "Again looking for the call to action, call to violence, those are the things they’re looking at it."
He notes as soon as there is a call to action with violence involved, the U.S. Attorney’s office will prosecute.
Anyone who received the flyer is asked to report it to the Midland FBI Bureau at 432-570-0255 or contact Midland Police.