Tyrone N. Butts
APE Reporter
Will KKK fade into history?
The Klan in Mississippi boasted up to 10,000 members at its peak in the 1960s.
There aren't that many Klansmen nationally these days, and the Klan is weaker in Mississippi than most states in the South.
"Over the last 10 to 15 years, the strength of the Klan has very often been in the Midwest, not the South," said Mark Potok, director of the Intelligence Project for the Montgomery, Ala.-based Southern Poverty Law Center. "Nationwide, the Klan is estimated to have between 5,000 and 7,000 members."
Mississippi has six Klan chapters, according to the figures kept by the center. Tennessee has the most with 13, followed by Ohio with 11. Of the Southern states, South Carolina has the l
east with three.
One of Mississippi's chapters, the Mississippi Whit
e Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in Petal, is planning a Nov. 12 rally in Philadelphia to protest the recent conviction of Edgar Ray Killen for the 1964 killings of James Chaney, Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman. Killen is now serving 60 years in prison after a Neshoba County jury convicted him of three counts of manslaughter.
Imperial Wizard Richard Greene, who had urged Klansmen to stay away from Killen's trial, is hoping for a big turnout for the rally: "The Klan is far from dead. All this show trial did was wake a sleeping tiger."
Deborah Posey, a member of the Philadelphia Coalition, which pushed for justice in the trio's killings, said the Klan is coming to save face since many Klansmen stayed away from the trial.
"The last time there was a Klan rally in Philadelphia, maybe five showed up," she said. "They may show up bigger no
w because of the trial."
She hates the Klan still exists but is proud her hometown has changed for the better.
"We're not hiding
our past anymore, and we're dealing with it," she said. "I am very proud of my city, very proud of the people on the jury who were willing to state the truth, admit there was a wrong done here and bring justice. I was glad there wasn't a change of venue because Neshoba Countians needed to bring justice. For 40 years, we had our heads in the sand."
J.J. Harper, imperial wizard of the American White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in Cordele, Ga., shook hands with Killen before his trial began.
Asked why there are so fewer Klansmen these days, Harper replied, "I think mostly it's because people look at the Klan as sorry, low-class, white people, when in fact it's not necessarily true. Some fit that profile."
Instead, he said,
the Klan should stand up for "the difference between right and wrong, according to Scripture."
The Klan today is "totally different than it used to be," he said. "If the Klan will change its ways, it'
s possible it can come back."
The Mississippi White Knights is the strongest of the state's Klan chapters. Others listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center are: Bayou Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in Fulton and Richton (its post office box is in Kiln), Southern White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in Lucedale and Robinsonville, and Orion Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in Star.
One Mississippi Klan group that didn't make the list because of inactivity is Royal Confederate Knights of the Ku Klux Klan headed by Jordan Gollub of Jackson.
"We haven't had a march since 2001," he said. "We had a march in Biloxi and a march in Carthage. It made you feel g
ood that day, but I don't think it changes the political atmosphere. It doesn't put Bennie Thompson (the state's lone African-American congressman) out of office."
He recalled the last telephone conversation he had with one-time Imperial Wizard Sam Bowers, who headed the largest and most violent Klan organiza
tion in the 1960s, the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi.
"Bowers said, 'I don't think the KKK is the way to go in the present day,' " Gollub said, explaining that organizations such as the Council of Conservative Citizens may be more successful now.
The FBI blamed the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi in the 1960s for at least 10 killings. Bowers is now serving time for ordering one of those killings, the Klan's 1966 killing of NAACP leader Vernon Dahmer.
The Council of Conservative Citizens, formed in the mid-1980s, has roots in the pro-segregationist w
hite Citizens Council. The Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Report describes the St. Louis-based group as a white supremacist organization.
Gollub blamed Mississippi's fewer Klan chapters on the fact the state has a larger black population: "It's a different day and a different time."
Dahmer's son, Vernon Jr., said it's a different day, all
right.
In 1966, the Klan targeted his father because of his work on democracy and voter registration, he said. With terrorist attacks around the globe, our nation now realizes "how wrong, how hurtful and how damaging" terrorism by the Klan has been, he said.
"Today we are living in a different Mississippi," he said. "The Klan no longer has the support and power it once enjoyed. The African-American vote, coupled with the support of decent, law-abiding Mississippians definitely influenced this change."
*************
<!--Q
uoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>Instead, he said, the Klan should stand up for "the difference between right and wrong, according to Scripture."[/b][/quote]
Absolutely!
T.N.B.
The Klan in Mississippi boasted up to 10,000 members at its peak in the 1960s.
There aren't that many Klansmen nationally these days, and the Klan is weaker in Mississippi than most states in the South.
"Over the last 10 to 15 years, the strength of the Klan has very often been in the Midwest, not the South," said Mark Potok, director of the Intelligence Project for the Montgomery, Ala.-based Southern Poverty Law Center. "Nationwide, the Klan is estimated to have between 5,000 and 7,000 members."
Mississippi has six Klan chapters, according to the figures kept by the center. Tennessee has the most with 13, followed by Ohio with 11. Of the Southern states, South Carolina has the l
east with three.
One of Mississippi's chapters, the Mississippi Whit
e Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in Petal, is planning a Nov. 12 rally in Philadelphia to protest the recent conviction of Edgar Ray Killen for the 1964 killings of James Chaney, Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman. Killen is now serving 60 years in prison after a Neshoba County jury convicted him of three counts of manslaughter.
Imperial Wizard Richard Greene, who had urged Klansmen to stay away from Killen's trial, is hoping for a big turnout for the rally: "The Klan is far from dead. All this show trial did was wake a sleeping tiger."
Deborah Posey, a member of the Philadelphia Coalition, which pushed for justice in the trio's killings, said the Klan is coming to save face since many Klansmen stayed away from the trial.
"The last time there was a Klan rally in Philadelphia, maybe five showed up," she said. "They may show up bigger no
w because of the trial."
She hates the Klan still exists but is proud her hometown has changed for the better.
"We're not hiding
our past anymore, and we're dealing with it," she said. "I am very proud of my city, very proud of the people on the jury who were willing to state the truth, admit there was a wrong done here and bring justice. I was glad there wasn't a change of venue because Neshoba Countians needed to bring justice. For 40 years, we had our heads in the sand."
J.J. Harper, imperial wizard of the American White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in Cordele, Ga., shook hands with Killen before his trial began.
Asked why there are so fewer Klansmen these days, Harper replied, "I think mostly it's because people look at the Klan as sorry, low-class, white people, when in fact it's not necessarily true. Some fit that profile."
Instead, he said,
the Klan should stand up for "the difference between right and wrong, according to Scripture."
The Klan today is "totally different than it used to be," he said. "If the Klan will change its ways, it'
s possible it can come back."
The Mississippi White Knights is the strongest of the state's Klan chapters. Others listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center are: Bayou Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in Fulton and Richton (its post office box is in Kiln), Southern White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in Lucedale and Robinsonville, and Orion Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in Star.
One Mississippi Klan group that didn't make the list because of inactivity is Royal Confederate Knights of the Ku Klux Klan headed by Jordan Gollub of Jackson.
"We haven't had a march since 2001," he said. "We had a march in Biloxi and a march in Carthage. It made you feel g
ood that day, but I don't think it changes the political atmosphere. It doesn't put Bennie Thompson (the state's lone African-American congressman) out of office."
He recalled the last telephone conversation he had with one-time Imperial Wizard Sam Bowers, who headed the largest and most violent Klan organiza
tion in the 1960s, the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi.
"Bowers said, 'I don't think the KKK is the way to go in the present day,' " Gollub said, explaining that organizations such as the Council of Conservative Citizens may be more successful now.
The FBI blamed the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi in the 1960s for at least 10 killings. Bowers is now serving time for ordering one of those killings, the Klan's 1966 killing of NAACP leader Vernon Dahmer.
The Council of Conservative Citizens, formed in the mid-1980s, has roots in the pro-segregationist w
hite Citizens Council. The Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Report describes the St. Louis-based group as a white supremacist organization.
Gollub blamed Mississippi's fewer Klan chapters on the fact the state has a larger black population: "It's a different day and a different time."
Dahmer's son, Vernon Jr., said it's a different day, all
right.
In 1966, the Klan targeted his father because of his work on democracy and voter registration, he said. With terrorist attacks around the globe, our nation now realizes "how wrong, how hurtful and how damaging" terrorism by the Klan has been, he said.
"Today we are living in a different Mississippi," he said. "The Klan no longer has the support and power it once enjoyed. The African-American vote, coupled with the support of decent, law-abiding Mississippians definitely influenced this change."
*************
<!--Q
uoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>Instead, he said, the Klan should stand up for "the difference between right and wrong, according to Scripture."[/b][/quote]
Absolutely!
T.N.B.
