PROSPER, Texas — Clear zip-lock bags, weighted by black seeds and corn kernels, and a flyer with racist and antisemitic messaging, were found scattered across parts of DFW over the weekend.
The Prosper Police Department told WFAA that several residents reported finding the bags and flyers outside their homes in the Lakes of La Cima Estates neighborhood on Saturday and Sunday. Due to the volume of concern, Prosper PD says patrols were sent to canvas the area.
One resident who lives in the area, who asked not to be identified, said she did not know about the flyers until reading a message about it on Facebook.
"I thought, there is no way I got one," she said. "There was just absolutely no way."
She said she opened her front door and didn't immediately see the bag with the flyer, but then she walked down the steep steps that led to her door.
"Walking out my steps and seeing that... My whole world came crashing down on me," she said.
The resident, a first-generation African, said she had always wanted to live in a place like Prosper -- calling her home and area "beautiful."
"I would call it the American Dream," she said. "People see you in a house like that and they're gonna [sic] know you worked hard."
Now she, and a friend who lives nearby who is also first-generation African, are not so sure about the places they reside in.
Her friend also asked WFAA to protect her identity.
"The fear is really, really something," she said.
Both women agreed they felt a scared doing their normal routines Monday morning.
Links and a QR code on the flyer leads to more antisemitic messages and images. It also shows a video about war and genocide.
Prosper isn't the only area littered with these bags in DFW. Over the weekend, flyers were also left on cars outside a Premier Gun Show in Allen, just before the start of the holy Jewish holiday, Yom Kippur.
In a statement, the Premier Gun Show said:
"Premier Gun Shows was not aware of this taking place over the weekend. The anonymous individual or group that was distributing these on vehicles has done so at a few other shows in the past. They do not make their presence known. Premier Gun Shows absolutely and without a doubt rejects and condemns this messaging and the hate behind it. We have been advised that since many of our shows are hosted at public venues and this takes place in public parking lots adjacent to the show, we cannot interfere or remove these flyers - they are protected under the First Amendment, no matter how terrible. Again to be very clear, these flyers do not reflect Premier Gun Shows values or beliefs."
The Allen Police Department also told WFAA:
"Yes, they were placed on cars. Officers collected all of the flyers they could find, and we have notified FBI and ADL for their information only. At this point there is no offense other than an ordinance violation of solicitation, however it is unknown who placed them on vehicles."
Prosper Police added:
"The Town of Prosper on Saturday became the latest community in North Texas to be targeted for the distribution of hateful and divisive materials. Prosper police were alerted by residents in the La Cima neighborhood on Saturday evening that the materials had been placed around the subdivision. Due to residents’ concerns, Prosper PD canvassed the area and removed as many of the items as they could find. The Town of Prosper detests the abhorrent content of these materials, and the Prosper Police Department will continue to monitor the situation closely."
According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), Texas has seen a "significant increase in antisemitic incidents over the last two years. The ADL also recorded the country’s fifth-highest number of antisemitic incidents in 2022, at a time when ADL has tracked the highest-ever number of antisemitic incidents nationwide.
The women in Prosper said they want something positive to come of this experience. While no plans are set in stone, they said they want to show whoever left the flyers that they are thriving, doing well, and they their happiness and success will not be determined by their hate.
"It put a new perspective on everything," the resident said. "My kids, my life."