From Daily Kos: "The day the Klan messed with the wrong people."

[muntrv]

Now this is what I call a 2nd Amendment remedy!


You saw those cars coming, and you knew who those men were. They wanted you to see them. They wanted you to be afraid of them."
- Lillie McKoy, former mayor of Maxton talking about the KKK

By the mid-1950's the Civil Rights Movement was gaining momentum and the KKK decided they had to fight back. Their campaign of terrorism swept through many of the southern states, but largely fell flat in North Carolina.
James W. "Catfish" Cole, the Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan in South Carolina, decided he was going to change that. Cole was an ordained minister of the Wayside Baptist Church in Summerfield, North Carolina, who regularly preached the Word of God on the radio. His rallies often drew as many as 15,000 people. As Cole told the newspapers: "There's about 30,000 half-breeds up in Robeson County and we are going to have some cross burnings and scare them up."

Cole made a critical mistake that couldn't be avoided by a racist mind - he was completely ignorant of the people he was about to mess with.
.



Dr. Perry was a black doctor in Monroe, NC, and helped finance a local chapter of the NAACP. One night at a meeting, the word was received that the Klan threatened to blow up Dr. Perry's house. The meeting broke up and everyone went home to get their guns.


Sipping coffee in Perry's garage with shotguns across their laps, the men agreed that defending their families was too important to do in haphazard fashion. "We started to really getting organized and setting up, digging foxholes and started getting up ammunition and training guys," Williams recalled. "In fact, we had started building our own rifle range, and we got our own M-1's and got our own Mausers and German semi-automatic rifles, and steel helmets. We had everything."

SEE MORE AT LINK BELOW.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/01/17/826081/-The-day-the-Klan-messed-with-the-wrong-people?detail=email

[freshwest]

1. Just read the entire story at the link, never heard of this. It would've been so heartening to me.

Never in my life have I heard of anyone running off the KKK without a military presence or federal law enforcement officers. I am amazed.

In the post-WW2 era Americans officially hated Nazi philosophy and their brand of Racism. That was the norm for me, then as it said the reaction built. Enter the John Birch Society...

It's no surprise 'Superman,' a white comic icon, was against the KKK' as the piece said. And the reaction of the vets was just what needed to be on the news...

I believe if this story of resisting Racism had been widely covered, it would have changed history, in particular this photograph of the confrontation:



And the aftermath, of those WW2 vets with their trophy taken from the anti-American KKK:



Educating people on what the Civil War and WW2 was fought for, not allowing Racist 'whitewashing' to be resurrected by Rush, etc. would have prevented much idiocy.

Thanks for posting this!

[silverweb]

2. Wonderful stories!

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]Proves once again that the Klan and similar types are nothing but sadistic blowhards - bold in groups like any bullies, but cowards in reality.

The Klan leader who ran away in panic, leaving his wife behind in the melee, is a prime example. The routs must have been quite a sight to see.

[freshwest]

11. The Klan leader ditching his wife was following in Jefferson Davis' footprints:

http://jeffdavisdresss.blogspot.com/

Mrs. Davis 'stood by her man' after giving him her dress to wear and flee capture, and even offered to take a bullet for him. He'd urged his followers to fight to the death. His words in response to the Emancipation Proclamation:

"...Now, therefore, as a compensatory measure, I do hereby issue the following Address to the People of the Non-Slaveholding States:

On and after February 22, 1863, all free negroes within the limits of the Southern Confederacy shall be placed on the slave status, and be deemed to be chattels, they and their issue forever.

All negroes who shall be taken in any of the States in which slavery does not now exist, in the progress of our arms, shall be adjudged, immediately after such capture, to occupy the slave status, and in all States which shall be vanquished by our arms, all free negroes shall, ipsofacto, be reduced to the condition of helotism, so that the respective normal conditions of the white and black races may be ultimately placed on a permanent basis, so as to prevent the public peace from being thereafter endangered..."

http://davisspeech.blogspot.com/

Now, we see just how 'classy' all of these 'gentlemen' have always been.

[silverweb]

13. Wow. I didn't know about that.

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]"Classy" isn't a word I'd choose to describe these bigoted bullies. I read the Wikipedia page on Davis and Varina, and he was apparently quite domineering, as was his older brother, into whose "care" he delivered his wife when he was away.

More recent cowardly bigot/bullies include the clowns at the Cliven Bundy scene, where the men said they'd put the women out in front if the feds decided to shoot. My reaction at the time was

Nope. "Classy" is not a word I'd use for these guys.

Thanks for the history lesson!

[freshwest]

15. I left out the sarcasm icon, I thought it'd be understood. I always pull out the CSA response to the

Emancipation Proclamation, or even the letters written by their president and vice-president, which prove the war WAS about slavery. It explained their treason perfectly, as they rebelled against the statement that many people have held close to their hearts to give them the strength to go on from the opening of the United States Declaration of Independence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed;[7]

The CSA leaders opposed the words, calling them insane, unnatural, and an affront to God. All POC and all women were deemed lower beings who had no right to be involved in government.

The intention of Ron and Rand Paul, Paul Ryan, the Koch brothers, and their followers in the militias and Tenther movements is to implement that philosophy. I'll go back and edit...

[friendly_iconoclast]

3. More on the Battles of Hayes Pond:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hayes_Pond

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=118&topic_id=144160&mesg_id=144226

[KeepItReal]

4. "The parade ended with a bonfire of Klan material" - OUTSTANDING!

How uplifting.

[byronius]

5. Best story ever.

[Starry Messenger]

6. k&r

[tblue37]

7. K&R. Great stories. Thanks for the link. nt

[bullwinkle428]

8. This is an AWESOME example of U.S. history that needs to be spread

far & wide!

K&R.

[dilby]

9. Wonder how many bully sympathizers will complain.

The violence is never the answer crowd who cries when someone stands up for themselves. I am sure they are just dying to give their superior opinion on how this situation should have been handled. I am dying to hear their input.

[happyslug]

10. Force, not Violence is some times called for.

First, before someone resort to force, it must be clear they are being FORCED. i.e. the other side has resorted to force FIRST.

I mention this for in the Wikipedia cite of the attack on the previous attack at the home of Doctor Perry's is not reported (It was the previous year, but still a factor). The burning of a Cross on the house of a Lumbee the day BEFORE the Battle is also NOT reported in Wikipedia, but that attack showed the KKK were planning something violent and that attack justified the Lumbees resorting to what they did, without it, the Lumbees were attacking a group and denying them they right to free speech. The attack on Dr Perry is important for it show what the KKK was capable of doing and planning to do, the Cross Burning showed that the KKK was up to something, both incidents are the ignored in the Wikipedia account, and there should be mentioned for they show the Lumbees were trying to defend themselves NOT on the attack.

Notice in this case the KKK had proposed and done violence and the Lumbees were responding to those attacks. They target was clearly Klansmen. When actual push came to shove, the Lumbee did NOT kill anyone, they even helped several of the women and children of the Klansmen get out of the area. When the police arrived, the Lumbees retreated. They did everything right (Through I suspect they stayed a little to long, the police did arrived and tear gas them, a sign that they should have left earlier and NOT stand around to celebrate they victory AT THAT SPOT, i.e. go home and celebrate it, which they did by burning the KKK items).

I bring this up for when you resort to violence, you have to be careful. You have to not only be on the defensive but APPEAR to be on the defensive. In such cases force can make a deference. On the other hand if the use of force APPEARS to be offensive. that appearance will undo what ever good the use of force achieved. Thus I would NEVER resort to the use of weapons or force in the first instance, I want the other side to resort to it first, so I can say I am defending myself. You also have to remember that any use of force NOT only has to be defensive in Nature, but defensive in appearance. i.e. even if the other side is about to attack, you leave them attack first, so it is clear you are on the defensive, even if this means higher losses on your side then the other side. i.e. be prepared to take any hits aimed at you BEFORE you resort to violence. Most people who resort to force, forget this rule and end up appearing to be attacking the other side. Such appearance of attacking (even if it was defensive in nature) will undo any advantage gained by the use of force to defend your side.

Thus force can be used to do some good, but as a whole only used when it is clear it will do some good. Those situations are rare and NEVER at the start of any "Troubles".

Just a word of warning NOT to resort to the use of Force UNLESS it is after the other side has resorted to the use of Force and even then make sure the use of force appears as defensive as possible.

[Bandit]

16. Surely you know about the Bush* Doctrine

Which says you can attack anyone anywhere if you even think they may someday do you harm..I am not sure but I don't think Obama has rescinded that Doctrine.

[happyslug]

17. When you hold the power of the King you can do no wrong, even when you do.

My thread had to do with people who are in opposition to Bush and other people in power, and more on the domestic end then any foreign policy end. Today, given the control Corporate America has over the media, you can not even appear to be an evil person if you oppose the powers that be. Thus you have to look as harmless as possible to avoid the media portraying you are evil incarnate. Look at Saddam, he was no angel, but he had no connection with Al Queda (and would have Shot bin Laden if bin Laden fell into the hand of Saddam, and then Saddam would have sent the deal body to Bush), yet Saddam was portrayed as being a member of bin Laden and there are Americans today he thinks he was the man behind Al Queda. Another example is where the protesters interlocked their arms thus could NOT do anything to the police, so the police pepper sprayed them and the media showed it as correct police use of force.

Thus there is a difference between law enforcement use of force and people outside of law enforcement use of force. Any use of force by Law Enforcement is considered correct unless it is clearly shown to be illegal. Any use of force by NON- law enforcement is considered bad UNLESS shown to be good. Thus Bush use of force was considered correct, but the protest against that use of Force was not only wrong, but helping the enemies of the US. Bush use of force will never be portrayed as something evil, but the protests against the war will always be shown to be as violent as possible, to justify the use of force to suppress such protests. Thus if you want to protest you have to make clear you will not even appear to be violent for if your protest can be portrayed as violent it will be. On the hand protests that Corporate America Supports will always be treated as if it was peaceful, even when it is not. That is what Bush counted on when he went to war, and he was treated by the media as someone who wanted to avoid a war not start one.

[IronLionZion]

25. A lot of people of color are "dying" to hear from white hippies

who obviously know whats best for us!

I'm going to bookmark this thread and look forward to reading their very enlightened opinions.

[Cha]

12. This wonderfully compelling to know about.. thank you, muntrv

[calimary]

14. Like it! A LOT!

Typical bullies they prove themselves to be, those lovely Klansmen. They can sure dish it out but they cannot take it!

[Martin Eden]

18. Effin GREAT!!! K&R n/t

[Nuclear Unicorn]

19. K&R

[Shamash]

20. Excellent. n/t

[Lurks Often]

21. Oops, selecting veterans as a victim rarely works out well.

I despise the Klan, both for their views and their cowardice.

[petronius]

22. "The only thing they left behind was their stuff and their families."

That's just scathing...

[red dog 1]

23. K&R...Thanks for posting, muntry

What great stories!


"The Klan ceased to exist Robeson County until 1984"?

I wonder what actions they've taken since re-forming in Robeson County?

[samsingh]

24. good story

[Beartracks]

26. "I think their intention was to intimidate us." LOL

It's too bad the Klan eventually re-formed in Robeson County in 1984.

===========================

[Blue_Tires]

27. kick

[Marrah_G]

28. Worth reading the whole article!!!!!!!!!