Strange Alliance at Stone Mountain Park Opposes KKK
(APN) STONE MOUNTAIN — A strange, diverse alliance gathered in opposition to the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), which had promised that some two thousand members and supporters would rally at Stone Mountain, on Saturday, April 23, 2016.
Fewer than thirty KKK members showed up, and they were met by hundreds of protesters, including some White protesters waving Confederate flags who insisted the KKK did not speak for them.
Klan members gathered in the Yellow Daisy parking lot with a huge metal fence around the area and about one hundred police and SWAT officers between the Klan and over four hundred people, of all colors, who oppose the Klan’s racist ideology.
Earlier that day, police blocked Robert E. Lee Boulevard, to prevent the counter demonstrators from reaching the Yellow Daisy lot where the Klan was rallying.
People started to go around the police barricade by walking through the woods, only to find more police blocking Old Hugh Howell Road.
Atlanta Progressive News could hear some fireworks going off, and found a road barricade on fire in the middle of Old Hugh Howell Road, but the groups were dispersing back into the woods.
Finally, the activists there opposing the Klan, got within viewing distance of them, still caged in the Yellow Daisy parking lot. Many people were surprised to see so few Klan members, with so many police to guard them.
“We are out here because we don’t want the Klan in our neighborhood or around our people.
We are tired of this system of White supremacy that’s oppressing us,” Dawn O’Neal with Black Lives Matter and Rise Up told Atlanta Progressive NEws.
“We see the police the same as the Klan. They are doing the same job as the Klan in our community… It goes all the way back to Emmett Till and it has to stop. Black people are starting to stand up and let the Klan know they don’t terrorize us or incite any fear in us. We have no fear and we are fed up,” O’Neal said.
O’Neal was referring to an epidemic of police killings of unarmed Black people across the U.S. that persists today.
The history of the Klan is filled with hate, violence, racism, and murder of Black people. Klan members teach hatred and violence to their children
https://www.splcenter.org/sites/default/files/Ku-Klux-Klan-A-History-of-Racism.pdf
“We are trying to break the stereotype that all bikers are racist. We are a mixed race, anti-racist, anti-homophobic, anti-sexist motorcycle club. We have openly gay, Black, Spanish, Asian members and all ethnicities are welcome,” Chavez Parker, President of Bastard Motorcycle Club, told APN.
“We are here in solidarity with all the other groups even though we may not agree on everything, but everyone is here against the Klan,” Parker said.
The many groups represented include: Black Lives Matter, Rise Up Georgia, Huey B. Newton Gun Club, Growth and Development, Knights of Atlanta, All Out Atlanta, Stop Terrorizing Our People (STOP), Anarchist International, Street Groomers, Bastard Motorcycle Club, Revolution Club, Southerners on New Ground, and Georgia Anonymous.
In a different location, even about sixty White folks waving Confederate flags were there protesting the Klan!
These protesters represented the Confederate States of America, Kuntry Crackers, BACB III % Florida, Three Percent Security Force, and Sons of the Confederacy Michigan. Activists claiming to be with Anonymous were there in support of these protesters.
Three Percent Security Force was armed to the teeth, with one guy was carrying seven weapons.
The pro-Confederate flag groups said they oppose the Klan because they say the Klan has hijacked the flag and made it a racist symbol. They are proud of the flag and feel it is part of their Southern heritage.
The Confederate battle flag is part of U.S. Southern history, but other Southerners do not view the flag as part of their heritage and believe the flag needs to go.
Nine people were arrested for wearing masks. It is illegal to wear a mask during a protest in Georgia.
By early afternoon, several public amenities at Stone Mountain Park were closed due to safety concerns, including the laser show, cable car, and amusement center.
(END/2016)
This story is good in spots but very contradicting. It reports that the group supporting the flag doesn’t like or want to be part of the KKK, but yet the person writing the story continues to call them the Klan. Just use the name of their organization instead. That would be good reporting.