NAACP-KKK meeting in Wyo. believed to be a first

[alp227]

Last edited Tue Sep 3, 2013, 09:51 PM - Edit history (1)

Source: AP

A meeting between the Wyoming chapter of the NAACP and an organizer for the Ku Klux Klan over the weekend is believed to be the first of its kind.

The meeting between Jimmy Simmons, president of the Casper NAACP, and John Abarr, a KKK organizer from Great Falls, Mont., took place at a hotel in Casper, Wyo., under tight security, the Casper Star-Tribune reported.

The Southern Poverty Law Center and the United Klans of America said Tuesday that the meeting is a first.

Abarr told The Associated Press that he met with Simmons Saturday and ended up filling out an NAACP membership form so he can get the group's newsletters and some insight into its views. He said he paid the $30 fee to join, plus a $20 donation.

Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/naacp-kkk-meeting-wyo-believed-be-first

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John Abarr, left, a kleagle of the United Klans of America out of Great Falls, Mont., and Jimmy Simmons, center, president of the NAACP Casper branch, arrive for a meeting Saturday night, Aug. 31, 2013 at the Parkway Plaza hotel in Casper, Wyo. Simmons spent several months attempting to organize the meeting due to concerns about reports of violence against black men and Ku Klux Klan pamphleting in Gillette, Wyo. The gathering, which took place in private under heavy security, was the first formal meeting between Klan and NAACP representatives that either side was aware of. (AP Photo/Casper Star-Tribune, Alan Rogers)

Original Casper report: "In a possible first and under heavy security, KKK and NAACP meet in Casper"

HOWEVER, the Casper newspaper reports "Casper meeting with KKK didn't have approval of NAACP higher-ups"

[LongTomH]

1. OK, Guess what just froze over?

Ice-skating, anyone?

[Scootaloo]

2. My take?

The Klan - or at least this chunk of it - has concluded that hating blacks is passé, much as the Klan's old anti-Actholic stance. THese days the real recruiting tools are Mexicans and Muslims, who remain very popular targets of hate in the US.

[Ruby the Liberal]

3. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. (nt)

[Blue_Tires]

4. No middle ground here; this stunt will either be the greatest thing or the dumbest...

[onehandle]

5. Could be worse. The NAACP could be meeting with the NRA. nt

[Ian David]

6. When I was in my High School United Nations club, the KKK met with a Black Separatist group...

... in the same hotel where we were having our Model United Nations meeting in Washington, D.C.

That was in the late 1980s.

Although the NAACP is a far cry from a Black separatist group.

[Blue_Tires]

9. Years ago, my dad said the klan had some secret meetings with the Nation of Islam back in the 70s

to discuss common ground...But I always thought that was an urban legend or something...

[Ian David]

10. Sometime between 1986 to 1989, at The Grand Hyatt in D.C., the Klan met with SOME black separatists.

It may not have been Nation of Islam, though.

But the urban legend looks like it may be at least based on fact.

[rug]

7. "We have a lot to talk about."

[jmowreader]

8. We ran this. The best part was at the end

The kleagle didn't ask anyone if they wanted to join the Klan.

I know the NAACP uses churches very effectively...if, as was stated upthread, the KKK is changing from hating blacks to hating Muslims and Mexicans, this could come in handy. But they'll have to come up with a new name.