Phillip Pants is reporting for the Times Union that at least a dozen residents in Chatham earlier this week, discovered white supremacist literature in their yards apparently left there by a group calling itself White Lives Matter New York. The flyers called for activists in a struggle against white racism and one promoting a documentary called “Europa: The Last Battle.” The items, in sandwich bags and weighted down with dry beans, were thrown from cars, according to residents. At the same time, residents in Rosendale and New Paltz also reported on social media they had been flyered by White Lives Matter New York. “White New Yorkers take notice!” read one flyer found in a mailbox in Rosendale. “The WLM NY Colonial Guard is here to stand for you! Are you ready to join them in Activism and earn YOUR patch?” White Lives Matter describes itself as “dedicated to the promotion of the white race and taking positive action as a united voice against issues facing our race.” The Southern Poverty Law Center defines the group as an extremist neo-Nazi movement. It is decentralized with local cells across the United States, and arose in response to Black Lives Matter. In December of 2021 and January of this year, WLM stickers and flyers were reported in several locations around Columbia and Greene counties, according to Hate-Watch Report, an online clearinghouse for racist propaganda in the region. The group also held a rally in Woodstock in February, where about a dozen white supremacists turned up on the village green. And on the same day in May when a mass shooting at a Buffalo supermarket put a renewed focus on “replacement theory,” White Lives Matter hung a banner above Interstate 90 in Chatham. Village Mayor John Howe said the police department first received two or three reports about the flyers, but eventually found “close to 20” in the village. Howe said, “We’d like to identify who these people are. It’s not considered criminal at this time, but it’s troubling, to say the least. We don’t want this to turn into something more than what it is.” Those with information are asked to contact the village police department at 518-392-3451 or the village clerk at 518-392-5821, extension 2. Read the full story in the Times Union.