WILL News; 1985-08-16--excerpt, Klan Rally in Mansfield; Klan Rally in Mansfield

<v Klan Member>The Klan of today is a Christian organization <v Klan Member>that favors white people. <v Klan Member>We want our people to rise to the best position in government <v Klan Member>and in society as they possibly can without stamping on the toes of blacks <v Klan Member>or Jews or anything else. <v Klan Member>Actually, we're just a club of white people who probably a little outrageous in our <v Klan Member>mannerisms. And it's a fraternal. <v Klan Member>It's a club. It's a group. Just white people. <v Reporter Neil Tickner>The first glimpse of a Klansman comes at the turn off the main highway. <v Reporter Neil Tickner>He's standing there pointing like a traffic cop, but he's wearing a white robe with metal <v Reporter Neil Tickner>snaps. He's wearing the pointy white hood, too. <v Reporter Neil Tickner>No mask, though. On the front of the robe is a patch with the Klan symbol, a <v Reporter Neil Tickner>cross with a drop of blood, an arm patch, says California. <v Reporter Neil Tickner>On down the road is the farm, the rally site. <v Reporter Neil Tickner>There's another Klansman in uniform here at the gate.

<v Reporter Neil Tickner>His arm patch says Maryland. <v Reporter Neil Tickner>He smiles, offers a greeting and a pamphlet. <v Reporter Neil Tickner>White people, if you want to regain your rights, then you need the invisible empire of <v Reporter Neil Tickner>the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. <v Reporter Neil Tickner>That's what it says. There's an application form on the back. <v Reporter Neil Tickner>Just mail it to 5Pointz, Alabama. <v Store Worker>Now we have Coney dogs here at a dollar a piece. <v Store Worker>Hamburgers, hot dogs and barbecued sandwiches for dollar. <v Store Worker>We have pop and ice tea and coffee and for 75 cents and <v Store Worker>we have water-filled mugs for a dollar and a half. <v Store Worker>And there is one refill on the coffee and the iced tea. <v Customer>"May I get an iced tea?". <v Store Worker>"Iced tea okay". <v Customer>"You <v Customer>got you got enough money now?" <v Store Worker>"Yeah. Let me get some change." <v Customer>"Oh, OK. Thank you." <v Reporter Neil Tickner>A couple of these tents, trailer people milling about, but not much more <v Reporter Neil Tickner>than that in this open field. <v Reporter Neil Tickner>There is a makeshift outhouse over there and an old wagon is the speaker's platform.

<v Reporter Neil Tickner>And a large wooden cross wrapped in burlap is stretched down all in the grass. <v Reporter Neil Tickner>And a couple dozen Klansmen in their official robes are mingling. <v James Mitchell, Klan official>And that is not what the Constitution is about. <v James Mitchell, Klan official>I mean, if the Klan is so terrible and we are supposed to be so evil and our ideas is so <v James Mitchell, Klan official>un-American, why don't leave us the hell alone and let us fall or rise on our own merits? <v James Mitchell, Klan official>They know that the opinions of... [muted speaking]. <v Reporter Neil Tickner>James Mitchell is a Klan official in New York. <v Reporter Neil Tickner>Right now, he's talking to a couple of potential recruits. <v James Mitchell, Klan official>Listen to this. Because they they're afraid most people listen to us and they're going to <v James Mitchell, Klan official>start because taking our message to heart and becoming members, they are afraid of this <v James Mitchell, Klan official>organ. They weren't afraid. They wouldn't be trying to suppress us all the time. <v Different Speaker>White people just can't decide what's right and what's wrong. <v Different Speaker>[chuckle] <v Different Speaker>?Inaudible? People may have to find what they want instead of having it in the paper that <v Different Speaker>the Klan is uh murderers and rapists and everything. <v Different Speaker>Just like the ?inaudible? Paper here, a while back. <v Different Speaker>The right wing in this country has really been maligned by the media ?totally.? <v Different Speaker>And I'm pretty ?good friend, Rob's? OK, we read the paper, the ?Tarryho?

<v Different Speaker>Papers say, and this colored preacher goes to the state police. <v Different Speaker>Now he wants protection. He wants to know what the state police is going to do to get <v Different Speaker>this guy to protect people. <v Reporter Neil Tickner>A large wooden cross is lying on the field. <v Reporter Neil Tickner>It's been there all afternoon. <v Reporter Neil Tickner>Now it must be raised. [raising noise] At <v Reporter Neil Tickner>sundown, this cross will be blazing. <v Reporter Neil Tickner>Prepare for that, it needs a final dousing with kerosene. <v Reporter Neil Tickner>[liquid noise] <v Reporter Neil Tickner>The cross is slippery and about 30 feet long. <v Reporter Neil Tickner>It will not be easy to raise it. [construction noise] A <v Reporter Neil Tickner>forklift is brought in to do the job, but the cross won't go in straight.

<v Worker>Whoa, slow. ?inaudible? <v Worker>OK. Come forward, a little. <v Worker>?inaudiblke? <v Reporter Neil Tickner>And there's concern the arms might break off. <v Different Worker>It needs to be brought to the center of ?inaudible? <v Reporter Neil Tickner>It takes more than a half an hour to get the job done. <v Reporter Neil Tickner>[background conversations] One Clansman <v Reporter Neil Tickner>remarks, "I told them they didn't dig the hole deep enough." <v Reporter Neil Tickner>All speakers uh come on down here, people. <v Reporter Neil Tickner>You can come down here by the fence if you want to. <v Reporter Neil Tickner>We're going to get this started now. <v Reporter Neil Tickner>Down at the platform, sitting on the podium, is a copy of the Holy Bible. <v Reporter Neil Tickner>It will be lifted for all to see this evening by speaker after speaker

<v Reporter Neil Tickner>and quoted several times. <v Reporter Neil Tickner>Now it is being used for the invocation. <v Speaker>And only God almighty by Jesus <v Speaker>Christ can lift us out of the soil that we're in today. <v Speaker>Lord, without smile upon this presidency of the United States. <v Speaker>Well, I'll smile upon America. <v Different Speaker>United States of America and the republic for which it stands. <v Multiple Speakers>One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice <v Multiple Speakers>for all. <v Different Speaker>Thank you. <v Reporter Neil Tickner>Now the speeches, the clan reaching out for new members with old words. <v Speaker>The first speaker tonight. We're gonna have <v Speaker>is Jimmy Mitchell from the great state. <v Speaker>[microphone noise] From the great state of New York, Jimmy. <v Jimmy Mitchell>Thank you. Thank you.

<v Jimmy Mitchell>Just want to say that uh coming from New York, I very rarely get the opportunity to look <v Jimmy Mitchell>out in any direction and see nothing but white faces. <v Jimmy Mitchell>I mean, it's a welcome relief. <v Jimmy Mitchell>Before this rally started, a reporter asked me uh <v Jimmy Mitchell>"How come The Klan has never said anything good about the uh blacks and the Jews?" So I <v Jimmy Mitchell>said "it's because you never heard anything good about them. <v Jimmy Mitchell>If we did, we wouldn't believe it." [laughter in background] Now the thing is I hate no one, <v Jimmy Mitchell>black, yellow, white. <v Jimmy Mitchell>I love every white face out there. And see, this organization is not <v Jimmy Mitchell>a hate organization. It's an organization of <v Jimmy Mitchell>Love, Love for God or Country and our <v Jimmy Mitchell>rights. <v Reporter Neil Tickner>Leader, a Klan leader from Kentucky replies to an unfavorable local newspaper <v Reporter Neil Tickner>editorial. <v Klan Leader from Kentucky>The editor in this newspaper evidently is a Jew [crowd laughter], a damn nigger lover <v Klan Leader from Kentucky>too. [crowd applauses] <v Klan Leader from Kentucky>?inaudible? The publisher,

<v Klan Leader from Kentucky>?Josephine Zulmech,? <v Klan Leader from Kentucky>Richard J. Roth editor would be ?Rothchild?. <v Klan Leader from Kentucky>[crowd agreeing] Well our challenge, Zulmech and <v Klan Leader from Kentucky>Rothchild, come on over to Kentucky and I'm gonna treat him some good ol hillbilly <v Klan Leader from Kentucky>hospitality. <v Person in Crowd> Yeah! [crowd applauses] <v Klan Leader from Kentucky>My friend checked up on that. <v Klan Leader from Kentucky>[crowd laughes] <v Reporter Neil Tickner>And finally, the new head of the clan, imperial wizard James Blair. <v James Blair, head of clan>They should be concerned about the Ku Klux Klan. <v James Blair, head of clan>Matter of fact, they'd better be concerned about the Ku Klux Klan because <v James Blair, head of clan>we're the enemy. <v James Blair, head of clan>And if they don't watch it, they're gonna feel the sting of the Klan. <v James Blair, head of clan>And Mr. News media out here, it won't be violent either. <v James Blair, head of clan>It'll be by the law. It will be the way that they'll feel that they have that in their <v James Blair, head of clan>pocket books and they have things that I have a fat ?inaudible? <v James Blair, head of clan>Hold it. <v James Blair, head of clan>[crowd applauses] They will say "why do you oppose the Jews?" I oppose them because they

<v James Blair, head of clan>kill, Jesus Christ the Lord and Savior ?inaudible?. <v Reporter Neil Tickner>As dusk arrives, the speeches come to an end. It's <v Reporter Neil Tickner>time to light the cross. <v Klan Leader>The cross that we have out here. <v Klan Leader>When the Klan has a cross illumination, the cross is a symbol of our God <v Klan Leader>not to be buried in darkness, but is illuminated to shine forth <v Klan Leader>and penetrate darkness and announce God's presence among us. <v Different Klan Leader>Your command will be on the ?inaudible? system tonight. <v Different Klan Leader>Watch the person in the center. We do have some people who are not familiar with our <v Different Klan Leader>ceremony. <v Reporter Neil Tickner>There are 30 to 40 Klansmen in robes standing by the cross, <v Klan Leader>Forming a circle at arm's length. <v Klan Leader>Spectators, please give us plenty of room. <v Reporter Neil Tickner>They are facing the cross. <v Speaker> ?Inaudible? <v Klan Leader>Lets march.

<v Reporter Neil Tickner>Through the grass. <v Reporter Neil Tickner>Around the cross, first clockwise, then counterclockwise. <v Reporter Neil Tickner>A torch is handed to each Klansman. <v Reporter Neil Tickner>A stream of flame stretches from each torch. <v Speaker>?Inaudible? <v Child>I told you I'm not scared. <v Klan Leader>Put your torches back at the base and come back and form your circles. <v Reporter Neil Tickner>Like spokes of a wheel, torches are put at the foot of the cross. <v Different Speaker>Please step back out of your circle sir. <v Klan Leader>Oh the fire grows stale, freedom, all the

<v Klan Leader>troubled history. <v Klan Leader>?inaudible? for the brightest morning for all decades <v Klan Leader>to shed light from sea to sea. <v Klan Leader>God, give us, man. <v Klan Leader>Give us power. <v Klan Leader>Some Klanman. <v Klan Leader>Man who will not ?inaudible? <v Klan Leader>Give us man. Amen. Clap <v Klan Leader>on it. <v Klan Leader>Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes your Ku Klux Klan rally at our <v Klan Leader>cross lighting ceremony. Thank you. <v Klan Leader>Klansman dismissed.