The Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, a group that according to its Web site is based in Pelham, N.C., requested permission to rally on the statehouse grounds on July 18 from 3 to 5 p.m., according to Brian Gaines, a spokesman for the state’s Budget and Control Board.
The request was made on June 23, Gaines said, just one day after South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) announced that she would call on state lawmakers to take up the issue of removing the flag after a racially motivated attack on a black church that left nine people dead. The Klan group said they expect about 200 people to attend.
The group’s Web site prominently displays several versions of the Confederate flag and calls on followers to oppose an attempt at “cultural genocide.”
“If you can’t tell they are trying to wipe us out of the history book,” it says. The group has not responded to a request for comment.
According to the Web site, the Loyal White Knights seek to unite “white Christian Americans” against Jewish people and mixing with “darker races.”
The South Carolina legislature is set to reconvene on July 6, when they are expected to take up legislation that will remove the Confederate flag from its place directly in front of the statehouse building, near a monument to the Confederacy.
Over the weekend, however, an activist, Bree Newsome, climbed the 30-foot flag pole and cut the flag down. She was arrested, and the flag was replaced shortly thereafter. Hours later, dozens also held a pro-flag rally outside of the statehouse.
A rally hosted by an anti-Semitic, white supremacist group is probably not the kind of support flag proponents are looking for. If anything, it will only make it more difficult for lawmakers to support keeping it flying.
According to ABC News 4, Haley greeted news of the rally coldly: “This is our state, and they are not welcome,” she said.
