CHICAGO — Over 80 zip lock bags with antisemitic flyers and an unknown substance were found in Lincoln Park on Monday morning, officials said, the latest incident of hate speech on the North Side in recent months.
The bags were found Monday morning on cars and doorways in the 500 block of West Grant Place and the 500 block of West Belden Avenue, police and Ald. Timmy Knudsen (43rd) said. They included light brown pellets that “I believe has the intent to appear like rat poison, whether it is or not,” Knudsen said, citing photos reviewed by Block Club.
The bags were reported to police, and its elements are still being investigated, Knudsen said. Police would only say the bags contained an “unknown substance.” No one has been arrested, police said.
The flyers include antisemitic language and make derogatory comments about the Anti-Defamation League, an advocacy group that has been a vocal supporter of Israel and often works to highlight hate crimes. A website listed on the flyers encourages people to print them out and spread them in residential areas with upscale homes, so it is “more likely it will be reported and make it on the evening News [sic].”
The incident follows similar incidents that have been reported on the North Side since at least November.
In January and February, antisemitic signs were found on parked cars in multiple incidents on North Side streets with large Jewish populations. And in November, Jefferson Park residents reported finding antisemitic signs on cars in at least three separate incidents.
Police did not directly answer a question if the incidents were related.
David Goldenberg, regional director for ADL Midwest, said the zip lock bags are an “apparent escalation” in the recent cases of antisemitic hate speech.
“Unfortunately, Lincoln Park residents have been targeted with antisemitic and white supremacist propaganda over the last few months. Enough is enough,” Goldenberg said in a statement. “Propaganda campaigns are popular among white supremacist groups because they provoke media and online attention while limiting their risk of individual exposure, arrests and public backlash.”
Most Jews and Muslims in the United States said they’ve felt rising discrimination since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October, according to a new study from the Pew Research Center.
Hate crimes in Chicago have been on the rise since 2020, with 301 reported in 2023, a 47 percent increase over the previous year, according to police data. Anti-Jewish hate crimes are the third-most reported in the city after anti-gay and anti-Black hate crimes, according to police data.
“Hate has no place in Chicago,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said in a statement. “The antisemitic fliers left on cars and at residences in Lincoln Park is a wicked act, and my administration will be working with the Chicago Police Department to investigate this matter and to hold any and all perpetrators accountable.”
Knudsen credited police for “doing a great job” investigating the flyers, while also increasing patrols around Jewish gatherings since they started to appear.
“It’s very frustrating, I’m angry that it’s scaring a population that’s prevalent in the ward,” Knudsen said. “It’s very targeted, near the Chabad center, by our elementary schools, near the park … it’s something people take home with them you can’t shake. It’s hate speech, and this is not welcome in the 43rd Ward.”
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