‘It’s okay to be white’ signs disturb Wallingford residents

Wallingford Police Department Wallingford Police Department Photo: Hearst Connecticut Media Photo: Hearst Connecticut Media Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close ‘It’s okay to be white’ signs disturb Wallingford residents 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

WALLINGFORD — Town political leaders are condemning the posting of hand-made signs on utility poles that make use of a catch phrase of white supremacists.

Mayor William Dickinson Jr. said Wednesday that whoever posted the signs reading “It’s okay to be white” don’t speak for the people of Wallingford. The signs have appeared on utility poles along Center and North Main streets over each of the last two weekends.

“This town has never been in favor of any discriminatory activity, ever,” Dickinson said. “We don’t condone racism of any kind.”

Dickinson had been criticized on social media for the past several days for not speaking out against the signs being posted.

“I don’t follow social media and as far as I’m concerned, it means nothing,” the mayor said. “Anybody can get on there and say anything they want. But nobody speaks for me or tells me what to say.”

Town Council Chairman Vincent Cervoni said that, after consulting with Councilwoman Gina Morgenstein prior to Tuesday night’s regular meeting, the phrase “is easily construed to intimidate those who are not considered white.”

“As the child of immigrants, I’m sensitive to issues regarding race,” Cervoni said at the start of the meeting. “While Italian immigrants have not in recent history been the subject of discrimination, there have been times throughout history not so distant, when any race ethnicity or creed was the subject of division. We who are Wallingford don’t support any discrimination based upon race, color, creed or national origin; I believe all who are sitting on the Town Council with me agree with this.”

Andy Friedland, associate director of the Connecticut chapter of the Anti-Defamation League, said the phrase first surfaced in late 2017 as part of a trolling campaign on the internet image board 4chan. The online space has become controversial because some of its posters have threatened violence or used racist language.

“The whole premise of this phrase is to bait people and start a fight,” Friedland said. “It’s such an innocuous phrase that if people are uneducated they don’t see the problem with it. But its definitely dangerous.”

The use of the term in signage has spread to college campuses, he said, because students are still formulating their own views on the world around them.

Lt. Cheryl Bradley, a spokeswoman for the Wallingford Police Department, said investigators don’t have any leads at this point as to who posted the signs.

“We don’t believe that there is any reason for residents to fear for their safety because of this,” Bradley said.

If those who posted the signs were to be caught, Bradley said they would not be charged with a hate crime because the phrase on the sign does not constitute a threat per se.

“The most we could charge them with is littering or trespassing because people are not allowed to post anything on utility poles,” she said.

Over the years, Wallingford has developed a reputation as being an intolerant community.

In 2001, Matthew Hale, head of the racist and anti-Semitic group World Church of the Creator, held a rally in town. Two years earlier, white supremacist literature promoting a group founded by David Duke was found posted on a bulletin board in Town Hall.

Friedland said it would be unfair to condemn the entire Wallingford community for the action of a few people who may not even be in town.

“Sometimes people come from far away to where they think they their view can get more traction,” he said.

luther.turmelle@hearstmediact.com