CYPRESS : Racist Flyers Found in Library Books

Schvounder Robinson went to the Cypress College Library on Friday to uncover her family’s link to the civil rights movement. She was searching for the names of the children who died in the 1963 bombing of the 16th Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala. But instead of finding answers to her past, she found hate flyers.

Tucked into the book “Free At Last, A History of the Civil Rights Movement” was a business card-size flyer with a picture of a swastika and a racist slogan.

“The reason I was checking out the book is because of the four kids who were killed in the church bombing, a couple of them were my cousins,” said Robinson, 27, whose family still lives in Birmingham.

A further search by librarians uncovered seven additional flyers--all in books about the civil rights movement. College officials said the incident was reported to local police on Friday.

Robinson this week criticized the college for not doing more, calling it a crime not just against Cypress College, but also against African-Americans like her.

“I felt like they wanted to put it under the carpet,” said Robinson, who is earning a certificate in medical records at the school. “They didn’t consider it a hate crime against a student, which I have a problem with.”

College spokeswoman Terri O’Connor said that the college has never had such an incident and is doing everything possible to find who is responsible. Officers were on campus Monday searching books in the library as part of their investigation, she said.

“At this time we are taking all the necessary steps to try and get to the bottom of this,” O’Connor said. “We are responding as quickly as we can.”