Oxymorons

Isaac Peterson
isaac3rd@mediaone.net
 
 

The Ku Klux Klan came to Minnesota on August 25 for a day of fun in the sun on the steps of the State Capitol Building in St. Paul. Joining them were the National Socialist Movement and the Aryan Nation. Their stated goal was to begin membership recruitment in the state.

They had identified Minnesota as one of the 'five whitest states' and had made it known that they consider the state one of their main priorities this year. The Mercer Wisconsin chapter of the Klan was the prime mover for their effort and the permit for the rally had been issued some months ago with restrictions. They were only allowed to be on the steps of the Capitol and were not allowed to be masked. There was a wall of state troopers manning a barricade between the Klan and the protesters. The permit only allowed them to rally for an hour, and the time limit was strictly enforced. At 1 P.M. they were escorted out of the building, and at 2 P.M. they were led back in and taken out through tunnels underneath the building.

There were only 5 or 6 arrests, one of them being a shirtless tattooed man early in the day who taunted the protesters before threatening the police, who arrested him for making terroristic threats.

The multi-racial crowd was officially estimated at 3,500, while the media was claiming 1,200 to 1,500. The counter protest was organized by Can the Klan, with the cooperation and participation of VoterMarch and several other organizations.
 


 

St. Paul mayor Norm Coleman (who is running against Paul Wellstone for his Senate seat) urged Minnesotans not to attend the demonstration and the city of St. Paul sponsored an ice cream social for people to go to instead. People who attended estimated about 100 people attending, while a local TV station claimed 300.

The local and state Democratic parties held a rally at a separate location before the Klan started, and later marched to the Capitol grounds in a show of solidarity against the Klan. Minnesota Senators Paul Wellstone and Mark Dayton participated as well as Minneapolis mayor Sharon Sayles Belton, and several other Democratic office holders on the local, county, and state levels.

Senator Wellstone addressing the crowd

The demonstration was mostly peaceful and nonviolent, although there were a few eruptions during the day, but all in all it came off fairly smoothly. The crowd started to gather about two hours before the Klan was scheduled to appear, and the noise level gradually rose as the time came nearer. When the Klan emerged, the noise from the crowd became deafening, and the 3,000 + demonstrators easily drowned out the 40 or so Klan members. It was not possible to hear a single word that was coming from the Capitol steps. Some Klan sympathizers were quoted in the local newspapers and TV stations as being disappointed that they were not able to hear the speeches. The TV stations fixed that though. They had also been allowed on the Capitol steps and local broadcasts that night did feature sound clips of some of the speeches.
 

Some of the television coverage also featured 3 children the Klan had brought on stage with them. Two of them are pictured here appearing very uncomfortable.
 


 

The Klan appeared to be a bit fazed at first by the numbers who had turned out in opposition, but one of them said during his speech (broadcast later that night): "As you can see [and then he looked out across the sea of shouting protesters who opposed his message of hate] we have our work cut out for us."

The comment was heard from a protester: "The Klan, neo-Nazis and superiority. Now there's an oxymoron".