Protest at the KKK exhibit in Tomball

[Lisa0825]

Lyn (WestHoustonDem) and I went to the rally. You can read about the flyer I got from the Klan on the blog at Houston Democrats:
http://www.houstondemocrats.com/archives/2005/06/in_case_you_tho.html.

The turnout was GREAT! About 4-500 people showed up, and only about 150 Klan. The cops had on riot gear, but acted pretty decently, except when some anarchists got rowdy. There were 2-3 arrests that I saw, including a jaywalker... gee, jaywalking is *such* a serious crime!


Lyn had the great idea to make signs to put on our backs, which said, "Proud Undesirable" (reference to the flyer which stated "we reserve the right to refuse admittance to anyone to this function deemed undesirable).



LOTS of media were there!!! A CNN cameraman took a shot of me in my DU Flag shirt, and I said, "Hold on, look at my back," and turned around. He got a big laugh out of the sign and took a shot of it too. I hope to see it on CNN!

All the local news affiliates were there, and there was a helicopter circling for a couple hours as well.

The fire department had a truck there, with a water cannon pointed right at us, and at one point, when one of the speakers seemed to be attempting to incite us, they got the cannon ready to go, and it was aimed directly at Lyn and I! We decided to move down the line a bit right around then!LOL!



A leader of Nation of Islam spoke (surrounded by about 15 bodyguards), as well as various citizens from Tomball and surrounding areas. There were elderly TRUE Christian ladies, with signs that said, "God Loves Everyone!" and "There is no RACISM in Heaven!" along with anarchists, hippies, and middle class yuppies. There were WAY more white people than minorities, which pleased me, because I think it is our responsibility to stand up against racism, more so than people who are the targets of it.

A couple of people spoke very critically of the police and sheriff's department. I wasn't real happy about that, because they had been treating us pretty respectfully, and were just there to do their jobs, which included protecting US, not just the Klan. But the woman leading the event and some of her group started shouting, "The Cops and the Klan go Hand in Hand!" Some of us started countering with, "We're Not Against the Cops; We're Against the Klan!"

Another speaker who was a former officer, spoke mostly in support of the police, though he did have issues with the sheriff's department, due to abuse he witnessed back then. But I was glad to have a voice countering, because in all the protests I have been to in the past 2 years, I have witnessed more respectful treatment than bad treatment, so I don't think we should generalize and paint them all as evil. Many of us in the crowd then turned to face the police and applauded them to show our support.

Then, Quanell X spoke, and I agreed with much of what he said, but he started up on the police again. Now, I am NOT one to blindly trust the police, and I believe there is a LOT of corruption in our legal system. However, these guys were doing their job in a tense situation, and I didn't think it was useful to turn this into an anti-law enforcement rally when we were there to show that bigotry and racism were wrong. Still, he does have quite a presence, and it was interesting to hear him speak.

Finally, he said he figured out a way to get us into the Klan meeting. He said there are more of us than them (law enforcement), so if we dispersed, and they tried to round us up, some of us would be able to get in. At that point, they prepared the water cannon, the police in riot gear took a few steps forward, and more officers came in our direction. Then the pro-police chants started again, and the event leader gave a vaguely worded message about being orderly and not causing trouble and staying put, *unless* you felt you needed to go.



That was when Lyn and I moved on a bit, in case they turned on the cannon. We hung out another 15 minutes or so to see if anything else would happen, and then we left.

All in all, it was a wonderful day! The energy of the crowd was really beautiful. The diversity and enthusiasm were great. The city of Tomball supported us. The event was very well-organized and made me feel good about the general population. It was mostly a non-political event. I would guess that a third of the attendees were either not politically active and even possibly Republicans who happen to not be racists and didn't like this being in their community.

Lyn will be posting about this on her blog as well.

[WestHoustonDem]

1. Cross-posted at houstondemocrats.com

http://www.houstondemocrats.com/archives/2005/06/counter_kkk_pro.html

[babylonsister]

2. Thanks, Lisa and Lyn, for your activism

and this great description of what happened. I had no idea this was even happening! Who woulda thunk it, KKK in Tomball! :wow:

[Lisa0825]

3. I believe it! The Grand Dragon lived (or lives) in Santa Fe,

just about 10 miles from my town. And two kids were recently arrested in Santa Fe for hate crimes. I think they burned a cross. Then there's Pearland, which I'd heard had a lot of Klan members when I was in high school. Then there's Vidor.... lots of Klan activity around southeast Texas.

[Gothmog]

4. Good Job

It sounds like you have fun and it was a good protest.

[katinmn]

5. Thanks, Lisa, for the great report from the protest

I'm glad more anti-Klan showed up than Klan members!

I agree with not harrassing the police unless they have broken the law or are taking sides with the racists.

It sounds like they were prepared for something much worse than what occured.

I'm glad both of you went and I will try to catch you on CNN.:thumbsup:

Recommended

[Catherine Vincent]

6. Thank you so much for this report Lisa.

I thought about that today as I drove to visit my niece near Tomball, I should have dragged them all to the counter protest.:-) I do have a sister that lives in Tomball and told her to show up, don't know if she did or not. I can't wait to see the news to see that more counter protestors outnumbered the Klan.

And it makes me proud that a lot of people of the caucasian persuasian was there.

Love ya all!

:toast: :bounce: :toast: :bounce: :toast: :bounce: :toast: :bounce: :toast: :bounce: :toast: :bounce: :yourock: :yourock: :yourock: :yourock: :yourock: :yourock: :yourock: :yourock:

[WestHoustonDem]

7. The 6:00 news on 11 and 2 (12) covered the protest

At the very end of the channel 12 coverage, you can see Lisa's back with the "Proud Undesirable" sign.

[crispini]

8. Great! Congratulations and thank you!

and nominated! :)

[candy331]

9. The shame is that the KKK is still allowed in public in this nation.

They should have been expunged long ago and truly they should have been targeted when the Black Panthers were targeted and dismembered. What does this say about America that they are still free to publicly parade, all under the guise of "Free Speech". They are a hate group who has done/overseen untold murderous events in this country and yet still exist publicly. Is not the White race the majority population in this country? Why does the majority race tolerate the KKK? Surely they have the power and the numbers to shut the KKK down. Hoover spent his time targeting the civil rights leaders and workers to shut them down so why don't the majority population work to shut these folks down? "Things that go bump in the night" eh!

[Conker]

10. Great activism Lisa and Lyn.

That's good that so many people protested against the KKK, especially in Texas.If I lived there, I would have gone.Isn't Texas still a very racist state?Was Hoover a racist?

[WestHoustonDem]

11. More photos at

http://houston.indymedia.org/