The Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan’s Pelham, North Carolina, chapter have reserved the Statehouse Grounds in South Carolina for a rally next month.
James Spears, the Great Titan of the chapter, said the group would be rallying to protest “the Confederate flag being took down for all the wrong reasons.”
“It’s part of white people’s culture,” he added.
Brian Gaines, who runs the South Carolina Budget and Control Board, which oversees reservations, confirmed the scheduling in an email to POLITICO Monday. He added that the group submitted the request on June 23 and, because his office allows any group, regardless of ideology, to reserve the grounds on a first-come, first-serve basis, the KKK will be able to hold its rally.
The event is planned for July 18 from 3-5 p.m., just over one month after Dylann Roof allegedly entered a historic church in Charleston and shot to death nine African-Americans during a Bible study meeting. Reports indicate Roof was attempting to incite a race war and had read 34 various materials from white supremacist groups online before plotting his crime.
Roof’s use of the Confederate battle flag in photos posted online before the massacre set off a national debate over the flag and other Confederate iconography on public grounds throughout the South — leading South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, along with a bipartisan cast of state and federal lawmakers, to call last week for the flag’s removal. The South Carolina Legislature is expected to decide on the Confederate symbol’s fate early next month.
