Group Holds Discussion After White Nationalist Signs Reportedly Found

The Bristol Friends Meeting House played host for the Bucks County Peace Center to host a public dialogue on how to reported combat white nationalism in the town.

The meeting came as a response to a number of flyers found in the area of Wood Street and in a few other locations throughout borough.

The dialogue was hosted by Barbara Simmons, the executive director of the Bucks County Peace Center, and Gayle Evans.

“This problem is not unique to Bristol, but it has landed in Bristol,” said Simmons at the beginning of the meeting.

In addition to Bristol, similar flyers have been found in Northampton, Chalfont, Bensalem and Doylestown, the speakers explained.

Throughout the meeting, the packed meeting house was lead in a dialogue exploring questions such as how residents of the borough felt when the flyers were discovered, how to confront stereotypes and how to keep hate from rooting in the diverse riverfront town.

At one point, discussion over the meaning of the flyers got heated.

“That’s exactly what the flyers are designed to do, they are designed to divide the community,” Evans said.

In addition to regular Bristol residents, business owners and town officials were also present. Council Vice President Betty Rodriguez was present. Before leaving to attend another meeting, Rodriguez explained that the melting pot aspect of Bristol was one of the reasons she is still a resident of the town.

“We are a melting pot, and I am thankful for this meeting to get ahead of the hate before it starts,” another resident said.

Throughout the two hour meeting, every resident in attendance had the opportunity to talk. Although specific comments varied, most centered around keeping hate and intolerance out of the borough.

“You never know who you’re going to be talking to or how it will be perceived, that’s why I try to come from a place of love as much as I can,” one resident explained.

“The best way to combat hate and these groups is to shine a light on it,” said Karen Downer, the president of the Bucks County NAACP.

Kevin McCloskey, a member of the Bucks County Socialists, was the person who first noticed the signs in the borough. After he found the first few signs on Wood Street on his way to work, he posted to a Bristol Facebook group mentioning what he had found and suggested whoever finds more remove them.

“I don’t understand why it is so hard to think that someone might have seriously put these up,” McCloskey said, referencing some online allegations that the signs were planted. “If I was going to spend my time putting up flyers, I would spend that time putting up flyers for causes I believe in.”