Tuesday, October 01, 2013 4:47:16 PM
KKK Rally In Gettysburg Canned Due To Government Shutdown
(credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
October 1, 2013 12:41 PM
GETTYSBURG, Pa. (AP) — A planned Ku Klux Klan rally at Gettysburg National Military Park is canceled because of the federal government’s shutdown.
Park officials said they rescinded all permits for special events because of the shutdown that began Tuesday.
The permit had been approved for a Maryland-based KKK group, the Confederate White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, for a Saturday gathering.
Park officials had defended granting the permit, saying they have a responsibility to make the land available for citizens to exercise their right to freedom of speech, even if the views expressed are contrary to those of most Americans.
The group held a membership rally last month at the Antietam National Battlefield near Sharpsburg, Md., where thousands died in a Civil War clash that set the stage for the Emancipation Proclamation.
© 2013 Associated Press
http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2013/10/01/kkk-rally-in-gettysburg-canned-due-to-government-shutdown/ [with comments]
--
Ku Klux Klan group set to rally in Gettysburg is trying to rebuild image of hate group
Richard Preston, Imperial Wizard of the Confederate White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, is pictured here in Klan uniform.
Preston granted PennLive permission to use the photo. (Submitted)
By Ivey DeJesus
on October 01, 2013 at 9:00 AM, updated October 01, 2013 at 2:19 PM
The Imperial Wizard of a Maryland-based Ku Klux Klan group that has permission to rally at Gettysburg National Military Park [ http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2013/09/kkk_group_gets_permit_for_rall.html ] says his group is trying to rebuild the image of the organization as one willing to cross racial lines for a common cause.
“Everyone says the Klan is white supremacist,” said Richard Preston, the head of the Confederate White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan [ http://confederatewhiteknights.com/ ]. “We are white separatists. We believe the races should not mix. A black man who works 40 hours a week to provide for his family and raises his family the right way, we don’t have a problem with him. We do have a problem with the man who wants to sell drugs in one corner and his wife on the other. We have a problem with that.”
Preston, whose group uses a post office box address listed in Rosedale, a Baltimore neighborhood, said his group will be in Gettysburg Saturday even if the federal government shutdown continues, and the park remains closed.
Preston said he has people looking into the possibility of holding their rally in the town square.
“If the borough laws say we can be there, we will be there with a bull horn,” Preston said Monday afternoon.
In a press release, the National Park Service said Preston's group had requested the permit citing First Amendment rights, which grant freedom of speech.
“As custodians of land owned by the American people, the National Park Service has a responsibility to make that land available for exercising those rights," the press release said.
Preston, who has been with the Klan for more than 10 years, said his group is distancing itself from Klan groups, he said, that have broken bylaws, and is trying to rebuild the organization’s image.
Preston said he is receiving lots of calls from other Klan groups in Kentucky, Georgia and Florida interested in following his lead.
“We will now do the best we can to stop the reconstruction of America,” Preston said.
Preston, 48, was voted Imperial Wizard of the Maryland group a year-and-a-half ago.
He said he will most likely attend the Saturday rally with no more than 5 to 10 members. To hold the rally with a large number of Klan members, he said, would be counter-productive to his goals.
He said the Klan was always well protected by the FBI and federal rangers anytime it was on federal property.
“There is no reason to have a large group,” Preston said. “I want people in the crowd to listen to my words not look on in fear. If you come with 40 or 50 guys, everyone gets worried. If you go with 10 people, they relax, so they can hear what we have to say. To me it makes no sense to show force. When you show force, people feel threatened. That’s what you don’t want.”
Hate groups on the rise
The Ku Klux Klan is among a list of radical anti-government groups [ http://blog.pennlive.com/capitol-notebook/2013/03/new_report_highlights_growth_o.html ] that have recently seen explosive growth on the fringes of society, the Southern Poverty Law Center reported earlier this year [ http://www.splcenter.org/home/splc-report-antigovernment-patriot-movement-continues-explosive-growth-poses-rising-threat-of-v ].
The number of antigovernment “Patriot” groups reached an all-time high of 1,360 in 2012, a roughly 7 percent increase from the 1,274 groups that were active in 2011, the study indicated. The number of hardcore hate groups nationwide remained essentially constant at 1,000.
Pennsylvania had 35 of those groups, including a Ku Klux Klan cell in York County, and a Harrisburg chapter of a group called the Keystone State Racist Skinheads.
The SPLC report also included a local branch of the Nation of Islam in its count, as well as the Pennsylvania chapter of the American Family Association, based in Franklin County.
Preston insists his group is not a hate group.
He said the idea of a Klan motivated by racist principles died with the 1960s and 1970s. He described the new Klan as an American organization that wants what’s best for America.
“We want people to be proud to say I’m a klansman,” Preston said. “We are a Christian organization that doesn’t promote hate and violence.”
Still, the group will remain open to white members only.
“The Klan always has been pure white,” Preston said. “It’s no different than the Black Panthers has always been black and the NAACP mostly for blacks. The Klan will not accept other races but we do accept supporters from other races.”
Preston said that as long as groups believe in the principles laid down by the country’s founding fathers, the Klan would be willing to work with them.
“We need to put our differences aside in order to save this country,” Preston said. “If we can’t do that, I see our country massively changed. I will not stand for my stepchildren having to be raised in a communist country or a Muslim country.”
Plans for a rally
Preston said he would not tolerate any obscenities or racial slurs at the rally on Saturday.
He said his group would demand the impeachment of President Obama, who, he said, lied about his citizenship and is pushing the country into communism.
“He’s in a presidential seat and he’s not an American. He should be charged with treason. He lied to get there,” Preston said.
Preston said his group would also demand that the federal government enforce immigration laws and close the borders to illegal immigrants.
He said the United States was flooded with illegal immigrants who were not paying taxes but benefitting from education and social services.
“They don’t need to be here,” Preston said. “They get more rights than Americans - schools, food stamps, cell phones. But it’s not free. It comes of the taxpayer money of the American people who are breaking their backs to pay for this.”
Preston said his group’s stance on illegal immigration reached across racial lines.
“I’m not referring to white America,” he said. “I’m referring to all Americans. When you go to the unemployment office it’s flooded with Americans of all races. They should have the jobs that these illegals have. These people don’t have jobs because these people are here. They are not paying taxes. It’s not right. It’s destroying the finances of this country.”
Preston said he is expecting a decent crowd on Saturday and that he has been “flooded with phone calls from people who want to come see what we have to say.” Klan rallies have historically generated counter protests.
*
Related Stories
Ku Klux Klan fliers found in 2 western Pennsylvania mobile home parks
http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2012/06/ku_klux_klan_fliers_found_in_2.html
Gingrich's rantings are malicious, despicable
http://www.pennlive.com/letters/index.ssf/2010/08/gingrichs_rantings_are_malicio.html
*
© 2013 PA Media Group
http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2013/10/ku_klux_klan_gettysburg_pennsy.html
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(credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
October 1, 2013 12:41 PM
GETTYSBURG, Pa. (AP) — A planned Ku Klux Klan rally at Gettysburg National Military Park is canceled because of the federal government’s shutdown.
Park officials said they rescinded all permits for special events because of the shutdown that began Tuesday.
The permit had been approved for a Maryland-based KKK group, the Confederate White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, for a Saturday gathering.
Park officials had defended granting the permit, saying they have a responsibility to make the land available for citizens to exercise their right to freedom of speech, even if the views expressed are contrary to those of most Americans.
The group held a membership rally last month at the Antietam National Battlefield near Sharpsburg, Md., where thousands died in a Civil War clash that set the stage for the Emancipation Proclamation.
© 2013 Associated Press
http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2013/10/01/kkk-rally-in-gettysburg-canned-due-to-government-shutdown/ [with comments]
--
Ku Klux Klan group set to rally in Gettysburg is trying to rebuild image of hate group
Richard Preston, Imperial Wizard of the Confederate White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, is pictured here in Klan uniform.
Preston granted PennLive permission to use the photo. (Submitted)
By Ivey DeJesus
on October 01, 2013 at 9:00 AM, updated October 01, 2013 at 2:19 PM
The Imperial Wizard of a Maryland-based Ku Klux Klan group that has permission to rally at Gettysburg National Military Park [ http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2013/09/kkk_group_gets_permit_for_rall.html ] says his group is trying to rebuild the image of the organization as one willing to cross racial lines for a common cause.
“Everyone says the Klan is white supremacist,” said Richard Preston, the head of the Confederate White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan [ http://confederatewhiteknights.com/ ]. “We are white separatists. We believe the races should not mix. A black man who works 40 hours a week to provide for his family and raises his family the right way, we don’t have a problem with him. We do have a problem with the man who wants to sell drugs in one corner and his wife on the other. We have a problem with that.”
Preston, whose group uses a post office box address listed in Rosedale, a Baltimore neighborhood, said his group will be in Gettysburg Saturday even if the federal government shutdown continues, and the park remains closed.
Preston said he has people looking into the possibility of holding their rally in the town square.
“If the borough laws say we can be there, we will be there with a bull horn,” Preston said Monday afternoon.
In a press release, the National Park Service said Preston's group had requested the permit citing First Amendment rights, which grant freedom of speech.
“As custodians of land owned by the American people, the National Park Service has a responsibility to make that land available for exercising those rights," the press release said.
Preston, who has been with the Klan for more than 10 years, said his group is distancing itself from Klan groups, he said, that have broken bylaws, and is trying to rebuild the organization’s image.
Preston said he is receiving lots of calls from other Klan groups in Kentucky, Georgia and Florida interested in following his lead.
“We will now do the best we can to stop the reconstruction of America,” Preston said.
Preston, 48, was voted Imperial Wizard of the Maryland group a year-and-a-half ago.
He said he will most likely attend the Saturday rally with no more than 5 to 10 members. To hold the rally with a large number of Klan members, he said, would be counter-productive to his goals.
He said the Klan was always well protected by the FBI and federal rangers anytime it was on federal property.
“There is no reason to have a large group,” Preston said. “I want people in the crowd to listen to my words not look on in fear. If you come with 40 or 50 guys, everyone gets worried. If you go with 10 people, they relax, so they can hear what we have to say. To me it makes no sense to show force. When you show force, people feel threatened. That’s what you don’t want.”
Hate groups on the rise
The Ku Klux Klan is among a list of radical anti-government groups [ http://blog.pennlive.com/capitol-notebook/2013/03/new_report_highlights_growth_o.html ] that have recently seen explosive growth on the fringes of society, the Southern Poverty Law Center reported earlier this year [ http://www.splcenter.org/home/splc-report-antigovernment-patriot-movement-continues-explosive-growth-poses-rising-threat-of-v ].
The number of antigovernment “Patriot” groups reached an all-time high of 1,360 in 2012, a roughly 7 percent increase from the 1,274 groups that were active in 2011, the study indicated. The number of hardcore hate groups nationwide remained essentially constant at 1,000.
Pennsylvania had 35 of those groups, including a Ku Klux Klan cell in York County, and a Harrisburg chapter of a group called the Keystone State Racist Skinheads.
The SPLC report also included a local branch of the Nation of Islam in its count, as well as the Pennsylvania chapter of the American Family Association, based in Franklin County.
Preston insists his group is not a hate group.
He said the idea of a Klan motivated by racist principles died with the 1960s and 1970s. He described the new Klan as an American organization that wants what’s best for America.
“We want people to be proud to say I’m a klansman,” Preston said. “We are a Christian organization that doesn’t promote hate and violence.”
Still, the group will remain open to white members only.
“The Klan always has been pure white,” Preston said. “It’s no different than the Black Panthers has always been black and the NAACP mostly for blacks. The Klan will not accept other races but we do accept supporters from other races.”
Preston said that as long as groups believe in the principles laid down by the country’s founding fathers, the Klan would be willing to work with them.
“We need to put our differences aside in order to save this country,” Preston said. “If we can’t do that, I see our country massively changed. I will not stand for my stepchildren having to be raised in a communist country or a Muslim country.”
Plans for a rally
Preston said he would not tolerate any obscenities or racial slurs at the rally on Saturday.
He said his group would demand the impeachment of President Obama, who, he said, lied about his citizenship and is pushing the country into communism.
“He’s in a presidential seat and he’s not an American. He should be charged with treason. He lied to get there,” Preston said.
Preston said his group would also demand that the federal government enforce immigration laws and close the borders to illegal immigrants.
He said the United States was flooded with illegal immigrants who were not paying taxes but benefitting from education and social services.
“They don’t need to be here,” Preston said. “They get more rights than Americans - schools, food stamps, cell phones. But it’s not free. It comes of the taxpayer money of the American people who are breaking their backs to pay for this.”
Preston said his group’s stance on illegal immigration reached across racial lines.
“I’m not referring to white America,” he said. “I’m referring to all Americans. When you go to the unemployment office it’s flooded with Americans of all races. They should have the jobs that these illegals have. These people don’t have jobs because these people are here. They are not paying taxes. It’s not right. It’s destroying the finances of this country.”
Preston said he is expecting a decent crowd on Saturday and that he has been “flooded with phone calls from people who want to come see what we have to say.” Klan rallies have historically generated counter protests.
*
Related Stories
Ku Klux Klan fliers found in 2 western Pennsylvania mobile home parks
http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2012/06/ku_klux_klan_fliers_found_in_2.html
Gingrich's rantings are malicious, despicable
http://www.pennlive.com/letters/index.ssf/2010/08/gingrichs_rantings_are_malicio.html
*
© 2013 PA Media Group
http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2013/10/ku_klux_klan_gettysburg_pennsy.html
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