Ebensburg, Pa.
KKK not welcome here
By N. Brand
Ebensburg, Pa.
When the Ku Klux Klan and their Nazi pals held
a rally at the Cambria County Courthouse in Ebensburg, Pa., on
March 14, they undoubtedly hoped they would turn people's
frustrations in a racist direction.
Ebensburg, the seat of Cambria County, has an unemployment
rate of 8.7 percent. Mine Workers District 2's headquarters is
in Ebensburg.
The Klan would love to exploit the suffering of unemployed
workers by pitting white against Black. But the KKK was in for
a surprise.
Two hundred anti-racist local residents stood up to the
terrorists. The demonstrators, organized by the Coal County
Anti-Klan Coalition, chanted: "2-4-6-8, we don't want your
racist hate!" and "KKK works for the bosses!"
Others carried signs with messages such as "Living-wage
jobs, not KKK hate," "Economic justice, not Nazi scum" and
"KKK: puppets of the rich."
The anti-Klan forces were made up of working and unemployed
people, high school and college students, a lesbian and gay
contingent, religious people, Cambria Socialists United, a
group of anti-racist punk rockers and others. The presence of
unemployed white workers showed that the KKK's attempt to use
racist demagogy to appeal to them had failed.
As the KKK and Nazis were leaving, they concluded, "This is
not a friendly town."
Not friendly to racist hatemongers, that is.
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
Subscribe wwnews-subscribe@workersworld.net
Support independent news http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php)
HOME
:: U.S. NEWS ::
WORLD NEWS ::
EDITORIALS ::
SUBSCRIBE ::
DONATE
Email
this article
Printable
page