Probe of racist flyers sought

State Rep. W. Curtis Thomas (D., Phila.) yesterday requested an immediate investigation by state Attorney General Tom Corbett into the recent distribution of racist flyers in neighborhoods in Philadelphia and Scranton.

Last week, the flyers, posted by a group calling itself Keystone State Skinheads, were deemed "repugnant" but still legal by the city Commission on Human Relations.

"They might have the right to freedom of speech," Thomas said of the skinhead group yesterday, "but when that speech is designed to incite and encourage violence, it goes beyond the protection of the First Amendment."

The flyers featured photos of Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski and three other white police officers killed in the line of duty, along with photos and racially charged statements about the black men charged in the deaths.

The flyers appeared in Port Richmond - where Liczbinski was shot to death this month while trying to apprehend bank robbers - and nearby neighborhoods.

Thomas said what prompted his action was when the mother of a young African American girl came to him with a flyer that the child had just picked up in her school.

"She literally cried in my office," Thomas said. "It outraged me that they were passing out these flyers in schools."

Thomas also asked Corbett to place Keystone State Skinheads on the state's list of hate groups, if it is not already there. "We want them to stay on the attorney general's radar screen," he said.