CLEVELAND
Hundreds defy climate of intimidation to confront Klan
By
Martha Grevatt
Cleveland
A well-orchestrated campaign by City Hall and the capitalist
media here was designed to keep people away from anti-fascist
demonstrations organized in response to an Aug. 21 rally by the
Ku Klux Klan.
But despite the campaign of intimidation and fear by
authorities, hundreds took part in marches organized by the
Cleveland Stop the Klan Committee and the local NAACP. And
hundreds more spontaneously came out to shout down the
bigots.
For the past several weeks, the Klan rally has dominated the
headlines in the local media. But the fact that a grassroots
coalition--which opposed not only the Klan rally but the Klan's
very existence--was building a march and rally was given only
scant mention.
Day in and day out, the public was bombarded with the same
message: "Ignore the Klan." Over a dozen "alternative" events
were organized before and on the day of the KKK rally, and were
very well publicized.
The official scare tactics were extreme. The entire downtown
business area was going to be a no-parking zone. A six-foot
fence surrounded the rally area. Four separate fenced-in areas
were built--one for the Klan, one for Klan sympathizers, one
for anti-Klan protesters and one for the media.
In what has become standard procedure for anti-Klan rallies
throughout the Midwest, activists were forced to go through
metal detectors. Anti-Klan protesters were allowed only one key
and one piece of identification.
Police barred pencils, notepads, cameras, water bottles, eye
drops, pocket change, asthma inhalers and scraps of paper with
attorneys' phone numbers. These were all labeled "potential
projectiles" by the cops.
Protesters were portrayed as outsiders, as extremists, and
as the ones most likely to cause trouble.
The day before the rally television news showed bus shelters
being disassembled. Mailboxes and newspaper boxes were removed.
The authorities claimed anti-Klan protesters might plant bombs
in the bus shelters or throw mailboxes at the hooded
bigots.
On Aug. 21 the Cleveland Plain Dealer ran a photo of police
in riot gear standing next to a tank, with a ram ready for
crowd control.
`Shut the Klan down,
run 'em out of town'
Without such massive intimidation by the state, the
anti-racist protest would probably have been much larger.
Nevertheless, over 100 anti-Klan activists marched through the
otherwise deserted downtown with a clear message: "Shut the
Klan down, run 'em out of town."
"They say that we should pay them no mind and they'll just
go away," African-American gay activist Robert Sheeley told the
anti-Klan rally. "I have yet to find a time, a place or a
situation where good people ignored evil and it disappeared as
a result."
"It is Klan ideology that is behind racist, sexist, and
anti-gay killings--from the shootings in Colorado and Los
Angeles to James Byrd in Jasper, Texas, and Mathew Shepard in
Laramie, Wyo.," said Sarah Sloan, representing the
International Action Center. Sloan explained that she came from
New York City to help build this protest.
Sloan said, "Fighting the Klan is an important part of
building a broad movement that fights racism and the system
that breeds it. We're here today to make a statement to the
Klan, the cops and city officials: The Klan has no right to be
here today. They have no right to exist!"
After the march most of the protesters went inside the
fenced-in area to join hundreds more in shouting down the
Klan.
Up to that point, the police had tried to make it appear
that they were against the Klan. But their treatment of the
demonstrators made it clear whose side they were on.
Protesters outside the gates were pushed off the corner
where they had gathered. These dangerous anti-Klan activists
included Teletubbies, Barney the dinosaur, Bugs Bunny and
Mickey Mouse--a group of youths who came to the demonstration
in costumes to bring satire to the event.
Outrageous police tactics included forcibly removing a woman
in a wheelchair from the line of protesters waiting to get in.
The speak box she used to communicate with was knocked to the
ground.
"Let Melissa in," the crowd chanted.
Those already gathered outside the gates expressed their
solidarity when a contingent led by the NAACP marched up. Just
days before, the NAACP had been denied a permit to hold a rock
concert near the Klan rally.
The police refused to let NAACP attorney and long-time
activist Stanley Tolliver, who was dressed in African clothing,
into the rally area.
Inside the gates hundreds of angry protesters crowded in as
close as they could get to the fascists, who were spouting
hatred and calls for violence.
Whenever the KKK tried to speak, the crowd would drown them
out. Activists also shouted at Mayor Mike White, who was seen
watching the event, and at the cops, who were obviously
protecting the Klan.
The price tag for protecting the dozen racists was at least
a quarter of a million dollars.
The Cleveland Stop the Klan Committee considers the protest
to have been a great success. But anti-Klan activists know the
fight is not over. On Sept. 11, a different Klan faction plans
to not only rally but march in Columbus--the state
capital--with guns.
They will not march unchallenged.
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