Rick Dean
Registered
5
http://www.courier-journal.com/localnews/2...k0310-5971.html
Group seeks city permit to have march on Derby Day
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By MARK PITSCH
mpitsch@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal
The Ku Klux Klan asked Louisville officials yesterday for a permit to allow members and supporters to march from Churchill Downs to the University of Louisville on May 1 --Kentucky Derby Day.
A spokesman for Metro Mayor Jerry Abramson's office said the KKK request would be reviewed like any other,
nd one consideration will be that more than 1,000 of the city's 1,200 police already are committed to working that day.
Dave King, a Klan spokesman from Crestwood, said his group would withdraw i
ts
request if UofL ends its diversity-education
efforts or pays $11,000 to the imperial wizard of the Klan to speak on campus. That's the amount the school paid rapper-activist Sister Souljah for a diversity talk last October.
University officials have said they will not halt diversity efforts or invite Barry E. Black to speak. Black, of Johnstown, Pa., is imperial wizard of the Invisible Empire Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.
King said the Klan wants to march from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on May 1, a day when about 150,000 people are expected to attend the Derby.
"We want the attention, and I'm not ashamed to admit it," King said. The permit request the Klan filed with the city estimates that as many as 5,000 members and supporters would march.
Mark Potok, a
spokesman for the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Ala., which tracks the Klan and other groups, said most KKK rallies attract no more than a dozen marchers.
"The last time th
e Kl
an could g
et 5,000 people at a rally was in the 1920s," Potok said.
Despite s
tudent demands to ban the Klan from campus, UofL officials have said the school won't prohibit the group from handing out literature as long as the activity doesn't obstruct sidewalks or disturb classes.
The permit application was signed by Black and filed by King and Jim Kennedy of Valley Station, another Klan spokesman. Kennedy said the Klan, which advocates separation of the races, expects the city to reject the permit. He said the group then would go to court.
David Friedman, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky, wouldn't say whether the Klan has asked the ACLU for assistance if the permit is denied. He declined to comment further.
JAY BLANTON, a spoke
sman for Abramson, said the Klan is one of four applicants seeking to have an event on Derby Day.
Two of those groups have been granted event permits in past years: the Screaming Eagl
es, a mo
torcycle club that
has a parade; and a group of western Louisville entrepreneurs led by Archie Dale that has sp
onsored a Broadway corridor street festival.
Another group is seeking to sponsor a car show this year, Blanton said.
He said all of the applications would be reviewed by police, fire, risk management and public works officials.
"One of the questions that will have to be asked is how do you ensure the safety of those at the demonstration or the assembly and the safety of those enjoying the Derby and the festivals and the activities around it? Certainly one of the key questions is can you accommodate all that," Blanton said.
SINCE EARLY February, several Klan fliers have been found on UofL's campus, and Kennedy and King have claimed responsibility fo
r some of them.
But in one case, two students acknowledged playing a prank by placing a homemade flier containing extremist language and a swastika --but no KKK references --o
n the windsh
ield of a friend's car
, said university spokeswoman Rae Goldsmith.
Janice Carter, president of the Louisville chapter of the Na
tional Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said the Klan has a constitutional right to march, but said she's unsure how African Americans would respond.
"That ignorance does not merit a response, but there will be some discussion on it," she said.
http://www.courier-journal.com/localnews/2...k0310-5971.html
Group seeks city permit to have march on Derby Day
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By MARK PITSCH
mpitsch@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal
The Ku Klux Klan asked Louisville officials yesterday for a permit to allow members and supporters to march from Churchill Downs to the University of Louisville on May 1 --Kentucky Derby Day.
A spokesman for Metro Mayor Jerry Abramson's office said the KKK request would be reviewed like any other,
nd one consideration will be that more than 1,000 of the city's 1,200 police already are committed to working that day.
Dave King, a Klan spokesman from Crestwood, said his group would withdraw i
ts
request if UofL ends its diversity-education
efforts or pays $11,000 to the imperial wizard of the Klan to speak on campus. That's the amount the school paid rapper-activist Sister Souljah for a diversity talk last October.
University officials have said they will not halt diversity efforts or invite Barry E. Black to speak. Black, of Johnstown, Pa., is imperial wizard of the Invisible Empire Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.
King said the Klan wants to march from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on May 1, a day when about 150,000 people are expected to attend the Derby.
"We want the attention, and I'm not ashamed to admit it," King said. The permit request the Klan filed with the city estimates that as many as 5,000 members and supporters would march.
Mark Potok, a
spokesman for the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Ala., which tracks the Klan and other groups, said most KKK rallies attract no more than a dozen marchers.
"The last time th
e Kl
an could g
et 5,000 people at a rally was in the 1920s," Potok said.
Despite s
tudent demands to ban the Klan from campus, UofL officials have said the school won't prohibit the group from handing out literature as long as the activity doesn't obstruct sidewalks or disturb classes.
The permit application was signed by Black and filed by King and Jim Kennedy of Valley Station, another Klan spokesman. Kennedy said the Klan, which advocates separation of the races, expects the city to reject the permit. He said the group then would go to court.
David Friedman, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky, wouldn't say whether the Klan has asked the ACLU for assistance if the permit is denied. He declined to comment further.
JAY BLANTON, a spoke
sman for Abramson, said the Klan is one of four applicants seeking to have an event on Derby Day.
Two of those groups have been granted event permits in past years: the Screaming Eagl
es, a mo
torcycle club that
has a parade; and a group of western Louisville entrepreneurs led by Archie Dale that has sp
onsored a Broadway corridor street festival.
Another group is seeking to sponsor a car show this year, Blanton said.
He said all of the applications would be reviewed by police, fire, risk management and public works officials.
"One of the questions that will have to be asked is how do you ensure the safety of those at the demonstration or the assembly and the safety of those enjoying the Derby and the festivals and the activities around it? Certainly one of the key questions is can you accommodate all that," Blanton said.
SINCE EARLY February, several Klan fliers have been found on UofL's campus, and Kennedy and King have claimed responsibility fo
r some of them.
But in one case, two students acknowledged playing a prank by placing a homemade flier containing extremist language and a swastika --but no KKK references --o
n the windsh
ield of a friend's car
, said university spokeswoman Rae Goldsmith.
Janice Carter, president of the Louisville chapter of the Na
tional Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said the Klan has a constitutional right to march, but said she's unsure how African Americans would respond.
"That ignorance does not merit a response, but there will be some discussion on it," she said.