A North Carolina-based chapter of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), known as the Loyal White Knights, is expected to hold a rally at the statehouse in South Carolina to protest the removal of the Confederate flag.
According to the Washington Post , the KKK group has requested to hold the rally on July 18 from 3-5 p.m. This request came shortly after Governor Nikky Haley called for legislators to remove the flag following the racially-motivated shooting by 21-year-old Dylann Roof at the Emanuel AME Church earlier this month in which nine people were killed. Roof now faces nine counts of murder.
James Spears, who is known as the KKK group’s “Great Titan,” told Politico that the reason they want to hold a rally is because they feel the flag is being mistreated.
“The Confederate flag [is] being took [sic] down for all the wrong reasons. It’s part of white people’s culture.”
Spears noted that Roof should not have gone after the people at the church, but rather a different group.
“I feel sorry for the boy because of his age and I think he picked the wrong target. A better target for him would have been these gang-bangers, running around rapping, raping, and stealing.”
BREAKING: KKK Plans Large Rally At South Carolina State House July 18th http://t.co/koWZHOUdC6 #TakeDownTheFlag pic.twitter.com/Aq5wYKo7GK
— The Baxter Bean (@TheBaxterBean) June 29, 2015
State lawmakers are currently on break, but will return to work on July 6 to discuss whether or not the Confederate flag will be removed from the statehouse. Governor Haley has already voiced her disapproval of the KKK chapter’s possible rally, according to a tweet from ABC News 4 ‘s Stacy Jacobson.
#SC Gov. @nikkihaley on KKK planning Confederate flag rally: “This is our state, and they are not welcome.”
— Stacy Jacobson (@StacyJacobsonTV) June 29, 2015
The rally is expected to draw around 200 people, a spokesperson for the KKK group told the Washington Post . According to its official website, the North Carolina-based KKK chapter is “the largest klan in America,” with its mission being against “cultural genocide.”
“If you cant [sic] tell, they are trying to wipe us out of the history books.”
While the KKK chapter plans to hold its rally soon, there was another held over the weekend. As the Inquisitr previously reported, a pro-Confederate flag rally was held outside of the statehouse to protest the suggestion that the flag be removed. Ryan Hughes, who showed up to the rally in support, said those who oppose it “need a history lesson.”
“They need to go back and look at what this flag really stands for, and that is states rights. That’s freedom from tyranny. That’s freedom from subjugation from the federal government.”
[Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images]