KLAN, NAZIS OVERWHELMED AT SOUTH CAROLINA RALLY

50 boneheads to 2000 counter protestors, and they had the nerve to taunt the crowd. One guy at Stormfront called it “a pointless circus”. Yep, that’s exactly what you get when the Klan does their thing. 

One People’s Project

COLUMBIA, SC – A rally sponsored by a North Carolina Klan group and joined by the National Socialist Movement (NSM) was held in response to the increased opposition to the Confederate battle flag, notably the one that was removed from Statehouse grounds last week, and other tributes to the old Confederacy following the shooting deaths of nine Black parishoners in a church in Charleston, SC. This rally was met however by not only a pro-Black rally preceeding the event, but also hundreds of counter protestors from all over the country who clashed with the White Supremacists during and after the rally on what would have been Nelson Mandela’s 97th birthday.

There have been numerous rallies that have been held in support of the Confederacy and its flag in recent weeks, including one on July 12 attended and promoted by members of the Council of Conservative Citizens to protest the planned exhumation and relocation of early Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard Nathan Bedford Forrest from the public park where he is buried in Memphis, TN. It struck a particular chord however, when the Pelham, NC- based Loyal White Knights of the Klu Klux Klan (LWK) announced they would be holding a rally at the South Carolina Statehouse to defend not only the Confederacy but according to a Klan hotline show support for Dylann Roof, the 21-year old White supremacist accused of the murders in Charleston. “We in the Loyal White Knights of the KKK would like to say hail victory to … Dylan S. Roof who decided to do what the Bible told him,” the hotline recording said. “An eye for an eye. A tooth for a tooth. They [black people] have spilled our blood too long. It’s about time someone spilled theirs.” After the announcement, some groups planned to counter the rally, and after media attention was given to the planned event, the National Socialist Movement also joined in with it’s leader Jeff Schoep planning to speak.

In response, groups affiliated with the New Black Panther Party (NBPP) organized what a “Countering the Attack on Black Unity Rally” prior to the Klan rally in the same location, which was attended by over 400 persons. James Muhammad of the Florida-based group Black Educators for Justice told the crowd that there were complications however. A town hall meeting planned at the nearby Doubletree Hotel had to be moved to a location that was to be revealed later after the hotel was warned of “credible threats” by local law enforcement. Muhammad also said that it was similar concerns raised by federal agencies and the Governor of California who did not allow Former NBPP Chairman Malik Zulu Shabazz to fly to Columbia citing similar concerns, leaving Current Chairman Hakim Nzinga to speak in his stead. Others, such as Lucy X of the Huey P. Newton Gun Club and NBPP National Spokesperson Nadia Assatta Shakur, also spoke. Members of a number of motorcycle clubs as well as White allies also joined this rally. A few White supremacists holding Confederate flags and sieg heiling were seen but no incidents were reported.

A few hours after the NBPP rally the Klan held theirs, but in truth it was more of a National Socialist Movement rally as opposed to one representing the Klan group that reserved the day. In fact, the head of the Loyal White Knights, a convicted felon named Christopher Eugene Barker reportedly did not attend because it would violate the conditions of his parole, but his wife Amanda, under who’s name the rally permit was under, did attend. With a long rap sheet that includes a recent conviction for conspiring to build a nuclear weapon, Chris Barker is also considered a liability in White supremacist circles because he reportedly has been working with the Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) since 2012. Barker goes by a number of aliases, including the name “Robert Jones”, which was the name of a North Carolina Grand Dragon from the 1960s. Despite the LWK boasting that they would have over 200 Klansmen in attendence, only seven persons could be identified as Klan while the NSM made up most of the approximately 50 persons that stood on the Statehouse steps.

Top: William Bader of the Trinity Knights of the Ku Klux Klan (Front, right in black shirt holding Confederate rag), with a woman on right and a man behind her, both associates of the Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, the group that filed the permit. Bottom: Amanda Barker, left, wife of LWK leader Chris Barker, participates. And yes, we do believe that the skinny guy with the sunglasses holding the banner looks a little off-white!

At first the White supremacists tried to march to the steps but were blocked by the approximately 2000 counter protesters who surrounded the smaller group, but eventually they were able to make their way to the Statehouse. In addition to the LWK and the NSM, the Trinity White Knights of the KKK, a Aryan Nations-affiliated Klan group was represented most notably by “Imperial Officer” Bill Bader, a Klansman from Kentucky who has joined various Klan groups in the past and on Saturday shouted insults, threats and dares to those that came out to oppose their rally. “I’m here for the White rights,” he rambled in an interview where he referenced the current effort in Memphis to remove Nathan Bedford Forrest from public grounds. “White rights always the solution, White revolution. Racial purity’s America’s security. They want to dig up our gravestones for the Confederates, we’ll smash their gravestones! There is no peace! Peace is over with! Throw it out in the street!”

Indeed, there were a number of skirmishes and arrests as the rally progressed. According to CNN, the South Carolina Department of Public Safety reported five arrests and seven people were transported by ambulances f
or medical treatment. Mike Schloer, the public relations person for the NSM, is seen on one video being reprimanded for throwing back a water bottle to the people who threw it at him and NSM leader Jeff Schoep . Schloer, who’s ex-wife wrote an article for One People’s Project detailing his history of domestic abuse and violence, boasted in an interview for the British public broadcasting network Channel 4 that new recruits for the NSM has risen since the Charleston shooting.

As the assorted White supremacists did not bring a sound system and were relegated to taunting a increasingly volitale crowd, authorities shut down the rally a half-hour early due to safety concerns. Many of those who participated in the Nazi rally had to walk unprotected to their vehicles and ended up in even more fights with counter protestors. Several videos shows one participant being kicked and stomped by members of the Bloods street gang before he was able to run away, while others show truck windows being broken by objects being thrown at them. One person was making obscene gestures at the crowd while he was driving and ended up getting into an accident as the crowd laughed.

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, there has been 90 rallies supporting the Confederacy since the Charleston shooting with 20 more planned. One is on July 25 in Wetumpka, Alabama sponsored by the White supremacist League of the South, which has held several rallies in the past few weeks.