Dayton has managed to attract the attention of “The Honorable Sacred Knights” (a KKK chapter) from Madison, Indiana (about two hours away). They’ve decided to come hold a rally at our Courthouse Square on 25 May. Officials are saying they’re legally obligated to issue the permit (which is claiming 10-20+ people will appear).
[Edit 14 March: The city is now suing to stop the rally. The article linked here is worth reading if for no other reason than to see the ugliness of these fools.]
There’s already groups planning counter-protests and actions, but they’re running into problems. For example, a group (and apparently others) were turned away by Levitt Pavilion (a venue a half mile away from the courthouse). Other community leaders – like (in semi-private Facebook messages and elsewhere) are hand-wringing about “safety concerns”.
Why is this group coming to Dayton? Well, that would be because their hometown booed them away for the last two years, with over three hundred counter-protesters showing up whenever these (10-20) racist scum showed their faces.
Originally, I was going to write about my idea of doing what we did after Charlottesville: Identify the racists and Nazis [1] and not let them hide in anonymity.
And I think there’s still a place for that. But when researching this group, I saw that they’ve taken to covering their faces during their “just a cookout”.
I could bitch and moan about the predictable hypocrisy about them covering their faces, but it’s obviously because they don’t want to be identified as open racists – and the tactic of taking away that anonymity works.
But it’s also clear what else works – showing how pathetic and minimal they are by showing the fuck up. That’s why they’re driving for two hours to have their protest. Will they need two or three vans to get them all here? Who knows.
What I do know is that the police and leaders here are playing right into these bigot’s hands. They’re allowing themselves to be terrorized by the KKK.
Wrong. Fucking. Century.
Make signs. Write politicians and the news. Talk about this, loudly, to anyone who will listen.
And mark it on your calendar today. Show up[2] and let’s remind these Klansmen which goddamned century we’re in. We know that works with these idiots in particular.
And protest how you want to. They’ll never be okay with it anyway.
Featured Photo by Yeo Khee on Unsplash
[1] When you give the Nazi salute like the “Honorable” Kooks did last year, you get to be called a Nazi.
[2] I’ll be there – not sure with which group. Plenty of them on Facebook and elsewhere.
This Article was mentioned on stevesaus.com