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Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Dec. 25, 1997
issue of Workers World newspaper
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Protesters spoil Klan rally

By Phil Wilayto
Beloit, Wis.

What had been hyped as the kick-off rally for a mass statewide recruiting drive ended in a defeat for the Ku Klux Klan Dec. 6 in Beloit, Wis.

After failing to attract more than a handful of supporters and faced with the angry opposition of hundreds of Black, Latino and white protesters, a dozen KKK members turned off their sound system, folded up their banner and ended their attempt to recruit new members earlier than scheduled.

Hundreds of police in riot gear kept more than 500 protesters at bay and escorted the racists as they snuck out the back door of the Beloit Courthouse. Still, flying projectiles broke a number of windows on Klan vehicles.

The police followed their usual strategy of creating two fenced-in areas near the Klan rally—one for supporters and one for opponents. About 100 protesters did mass inside the penned-in area, keeping up a running barrage of taunts and insults against the Klan. But most stayed outside the fences and concentrated on harassing Klan supporters.

This discouraged all but a few racists from attending the KKK rally. Protesters also repeatedly tore down the orange snow fences intended to keep them away from the Klan.

Cops arrested two people for assault and six for disorderly conduct. All but one of those arrested were Klan opponents. Police also used pepper spray on a number of protesters.

For weeks, the local media had hyped the Beloit event as a national gathering of the KKK expected to draw as many as 500 members. In response, anti-racist organizations throughout the region mobilized.

The group Freedom of Residence, based in nearby Freeport, Ill., obtained a permit for a counter-rally to take place outside the Beloit police station, to be followed by a march to the Beloit courthouse.

About 50 people traveled from Milwaukee to join the protest. Many attended a 9 a.m. "Unity Send-Off Rally" held at America’s Black Holocaust Museum. Jointly organized by the Museum and the A Job is a Right Campaign, the rally featured James Cameron, the museum’s founder.

In 1931, James Cameron narrowly escaped death at the hands of a KKK lynch mob in Marion, Ind. The Beloit Daily News coverage of the anti-Klan protest ran a picture of the 84-year old Cameron giving a single-finger salute to the Klan.

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