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Ku Klux Klan
Haley Barbour Won't OK Klan-Linked Mississippi License Plate
By Tom Diemer - Politics DailyMississippi Gov. Haley Barbour now says if a proposal to issue a license plate honoring a Confederate general -- who became an early leader of the Ku Klux Klan -- ever reaches his desk, he won't approve it. Earlier this month, Barbour sidestepped the issue when asked about the special tag that would commemorate Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Civil War general and later a Klan member. It's not going to happen, he said. In answer to a reporter's question about whether he would condemn those advocating for the new plate, the Republican governor also said he wasn't in the business of denouncing people ...
So It's the Media vs. Haley Barbour?
By Matt Lewis - Politics DailyBy now you may have heard of the outrage spawned by a proposed Mississippi license plate that honors Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest. (For those searching for a pop culture reference, he was Forrest Gump's namesake). As Tom Diemer noted earlier, Forrest "is regarded by admirers as a military genius who left the Klan because of its violent ways," but "critics point out he was a Klan grand wizard, and during the Civil War he led a massacre of African-American Union troops in the 1864 Battle of Fort Pillow in Tennessee." While the license plate controversy is certainly an ...
Haley Barbour Backtracks: The Citizens Council, Revisited
By Steven Hoffer - AOL NewsIs that your final answer? Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour released a statement today clarifying recent remarks made in an interview with The Weekly Standard that many perceived as downplaying the hardships blacks experienced during the civil rights era. Here is Barbour's statement. When asked why my hometown in Mississippi did not suffer the same racial violence when I was a young man that accompanied other towns' integration efforts, I accurately said the community leadership wouldn't tolerate it and helped prevent violence there. My point was my town rejected the Ku Klux Klan, but nobody ...
Secessionist Gala Opens Old Civil War Wounds
By Mara Gay - AOL NewsA "Secession Ball" marking the 150th anniversary of the moment South Carolina chose to secede from the United States drew protesters along with ballroom dancers in the latest episode of America's festering conflict over race and the history of the Civil War. About 300 South Carolinians, the vast majority of them white, gathered in hoop skirts and white gloves in Charleston where the ball took place Monday evening. The group, which included two state legislators, re-enacted the 1860 secession convention and sang "Dixie." They insisted that the event was meant to celebrate their ancestors, not ...
Idaho White Supremacist Builds KKK Snowman
By Deborah Hastings - AOL News
(Dec. 3) -- A self-described white supremacist built a 10-foot snowman in the front yard of his Hayden, Idaho, home. Then he gave it a peaked hood, big black eyes and a stick for arm, with a noose dangling from its bony appendage. Then the cops came. Mark Eliseuson said he saw nothing wrong with his creation. But his neighbors saw an appalling, racist Ku Klux Klansman and called authorities. Amber Caldwell, AP Kootenai County, Idaho, sheriff's deputies told Mark Eliseuson on Wednesday that he could be charged with a crime because the 10-foot-tall snowman in his front yard was holding what ...
Bill Clinton's Arkansas: A Red State He Would Not Recognize
By Suzi Parker - Politics DailyArkansas, you run deep in me. That's a line from the state song. But this week, red ran deep in this Blue Dog state that is just this side of wacky. No doubt, Bill Clinton has to be crying somewhere. His home state slipped completely down the rabbit hole. On Tuesday night, Democrats were hyperventilating as the party lost several state offices along with two congressional seats, seven state senate seats and 16 state house seats. Both houses of the state legislature remain Democratic, but some Democrats are worried that a few conservative colleagues might flip Republican in exchange for ...
Canadian Legion Apologizes for Halloween KKK Costume
By Deborah Hastings - AOL News
(Nov. 4) -- The national president of the Royal Canadian Legion has apologized for racist costumes sported at a weekend Halloween contest in an Ontario hall, which has been closed pending an investigation. Partygoers said they were outraged by two men -- one dressed as a white-robed Ku Klux Klan member, the other wearing blackface and being led around by a noose. Nonetheless, the pair won first prize in the party's costume competition. "I sincerely regret the incident,'' legion President Patricia Varga said Wednesday, the Montreal Gazette reported. "I also want the citizens of Canada and ...
Opinion: Racial Pride, or Racism?
By Michael Medved - AOL News(Aug. 4) -- The recent skirmish between the NAACP and the Tea Party, along with the complicated case of Shirley Sherrod, brought new attention to uncomfortable old questions about racism and double standards. Many conservatives -- including several callers to my radio show -- made the case that the unapologetic African-American advocacy represented by the NAACP amounted to race-based bias that pushed the interests of one group at the expense of all others. I disagreed, and countered that that the whole concept of "black pride" and solidarity deserved more respectful attention than the notion ...
University of Texas Board Rechristens Dorm Named After Klan Organizer
By Linda Jones - AOL NewsAUSTIN, Texas (July 15) -- A University of Texas residence hall named after a Ku Klux Klan organizer is getting a new identity. This undated photo shows William Stewart Simkins as a cadet at The Citadel. The school's Board of Regents unanimously decided today that Simkins Residence Hall -- named for William Stewart Simkins, who taught at the School of Law for 30 years -- will instead be called Creekside Residence Hall. "The history behind the name is not in line with today's University of Texas and its core values," said Board of Regents member Printice Gary, who made the motion to ...
Robert Byrd's Klan History, and the 150 Recruits He Brought With Him
By Mary C. Curtis - Politics DailyA Senate historian, a guardian of the Constitution, an early critic of the Iraq War, Sen. Robert Byrd's colleagues, friends and admirers are offering heartfelt accolades. He grew up dirt-poor in West Virginia, worked hard with his hands and his mind, and eventually gave back with federal funds. Byrd died Monday at the age of 92 and it is always tricky to criticize someone who has just left us. Even if the person is not famous, he or she is a beloved parent or spouse. When the individual is well-known, with a long list of accomplishments, why bring up the bad? But a saint is so much less ...
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