Klu Klux Klan just won’t go away

The Klu Klux Klan, one the most notorious white supremacist groups in the US, held a rally in Columbia, South Carolina on Saturday afternoon.

The Loyal White Knights, proclaimed to be the largest segment of what remains of the Klu Klux Klan, stood in protest of the removal of the Confederate flag from the capitol grounds in South Carolina. The group claimed that in taking down the flag, their heritage was being taken away from them.

Chants for white power were shouted over the presence of the New Black Panther Party, who had come to the state house earlier in the day and encouraged their followers to keep the protest peaceful.

However, the two groups immediately clashed upon arrival. Several brawls broke out and police were quickly forced to intervene.  

The protest calmed around 4.00PM as a thunderstorm rolled into Columbia. However, the groups did not part ways before a Confederate flag was taken from the white supremacist group and burned.

Thankfully the Klu Klux Klan is only a shadow of its terribly ghastly past. Furthermore, the organisation is severely looked down upon as  illiterate and obstructive to the greater causes of social justice and racial equality.

However, the fact that the present day group still boasts a following of 4000 members illustrates that the fight for racial equality even at the brutal end of the spectrum must still be confronted.

 Jeremy Borden of The Washington Post, summed up the present situation well when he stated:  “The swift, seemingly overnight, backlash has exposed the South’s raw struggles with race as the debate couples the symbolic dawn of a new era with the ugly vestiges of a past that sometimes seems not so far behind.”

Katie Bergamini