White Supremacy Advocates: Ku Klux Klan and Knights of the White Camellia
The infamous white supremacist organization, the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) Knights of the White Kamelia (KWK), held a rally at Bee Creek Park in College Station on the afternoon of Saturday, May 9. Seventeen Klan members participated, including two women and one female child around ten years of age. Members traveled from as far away as Florida to take part in the meeting. The KKK held the rally in hopes of recruiting members from the Bryan-College Station area. They claimed to have received numerous letters from B-CS residents who were anxious to establish a local chapter. This assertion seemed dubious, though, based upon the exceedingly small number of supporters who attended the rally. Out of the 50 or so spectators, only about 10 showed interest or support in the Klan; the majority was adamantly opposed. Furthermore, at least three of the KKK sympathizers were not from the Brazos Valley, but Palestine, Texas.
The Scene The park was surrounded by representatives of the College Station Police Department and the State Department of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. Agents from the latter perched themselves on the top of a jungle gym and stood in the shade of neighboring trees with their weapons ready. Police officers surrounded the entire area and physically separated the Klan members and the crowd with police tape. The KKK drove into the park caravan-style with a large Confederate flag flying in the back of one of their pickup trucks. After they donned their white robes and head-coverings, they proceeded to set up for the rally. The American, Texas, and Confederate flags were prominently displayed along with KWK and KKK banners that proclaimed Anglo-Saxon superiority.
The Rally The meeting opened with the song "Koonstown," in which the Klan stereotyped Euro-Americans as hard-working providers and African-Americans as lazy parasites with lyrics such as, "Every Nigger earns his living off the welfare." Rev. Darell Flinn, imperial wizard of the Knights of the White
The Scene The park was surrounded by representatives of the College Station Police Department and the State Department of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. Agents from the latter perched themselves on the top of a jungle gym and stood in the shade of neighboring trees with their weapons ready. Police officers surrounded the entire area and physically separated the Klan members and the crowd with police tape. The KKK drove into the park caravan-style with a large Confederate flag flying in the back of one of their pickup trucks. After they donned their white robes and head-coverings, they proceeded to set up for the rally. The American, Texas, and Confederate flags were prominently displayed along with KWK and KKK banners that proclaimed Anglo-Saxon superiority.
The Rally The meeting opened with the song "Koonstown," in which the Klan stereotyped Euro-Americans as hard-working providers and African-Americans as lazy parasites with lyrics such as, "Every Nigger earns his living off the welfare." Rev. Darell Flinn, imperial wizard of the Knights of the White