Memphis Anti-Klan Protest, March 30, 2013

The Ku-Klux-Klan (KKK) plans a rally in Memphis, Tennessee on March 30, 2013, to protest the renaming of parks, one of which was named after Nathan Bedford Forrest, the Klan's first Grand Wizard. 

"It's not going to be 20 or 30," [the Tennessee area KKK leader] said. "It's going to be thousands of Klansmen from the whole United States coming to Memphis, Tennessee."

The Commercial Appeal reported, "Memphis Council Wants No Masks at KKK Rally." Anti-Klan protesters are encouraged to take pictures and make videos. Post them all over the Internet for people to see how their co-workers, bosses, neighbors and relatives spend their weekends in Memphis.

Please see the announcement and invitation below:

Mass Anti-Klan Protest

To Take Place March 30

in Memphis, Tennessee

UPDATE from Bro. Ervin March 29, 2013:  New Assembly Point for Memphis Anti-Klan March 
Due to the police security zone, we will assemble at 12 noon [on March 30] in Court Center Square (between Madison and Jefferson) in downtown Memphis. Spread the word. Email organize.the.hood@gmail.com if more information is needed.

(Memphis, Tenn.) – A multiracial coalition of activists around the United States will come here on March 30 for a mass protest against the Ku KluxKlan.

“This is 2013, not 1913. The KKK is a white terrorist organization whose fear-mongering tactics will no longer be tolerated,” said JoNina Ervin, the acting chair of the Memphis Black Autonomy Federation (MBAF), a local social justice group that created the anti-Klan coalition.

Hundreds of people throughout the United States are expected to participate in the protest led by the Ida B. Wells Coalition Against Racism and Police Brutality, Ervin said.

The Klan is coming to Memphis, a majority black city, to protest the recent decision by the Memphis City Council to change the name of a park in downtown Memphis named after Nathan Bedford Forrest. He was the first grand wizard of the Klan and a Confederate general in the Civil War whose troops massacred hundreds of slaves.

The Klan has filed a permit with the City of Memphis to hold a march and rally on March 30 at the Shelby County Courthouse.

“It is a disgrace that Memphis officials took so long to rename Forrest Park,” Ervin said. Most big cities in the southern United States changed the names of parks and monuments named after Confederate generals years ago," she said. "Forrest Park was renamed Health Sciences Park."

Anti-Klan Protest Information

We will meet in the morning at City Hall Plaza, 125 N Main Street, Memphis, TN 38103, approximately a block and a half from where the KKK will be gathering. We will then proceed to confront the Klan gathering. In the afternoon we will gather at Nathan Bedford Forrest Park (recently renamed "Health Sciences Park") 799 Madison Ave, Memphis, TN, 38103 (main crossroads at the park are Union and Walnut)

If you live in or near Memphis, contact:
The Ida B. Wells Coalition Against Racism and Police Brutality
c/o Black Autonomy Copwatch
P.O. Box 16382-0382
Memphis, TN. 38186-0362
organize.the.hood@gmail.com

If you do not live in Memphis and would like to coordinate ride-shares from other parts of the country, contact alice.notok@gmail.com

The FaceBook event page is named "Anti-Klan Demonstration in Memphis, Tennessee, USA!!"

Organizers have no funding. If you can send money to help with printing and travel costs, they request that you send it via PayPal to organize.the.hood@gmail.com

Additional articles in the Memphis Klan rally series (a growing list):

Memphis Hosts KKK Rally March 30
http://freespeakblog.blogspot.com/2013/02/memphis-hosts-kkk-rally-march-2013.html

Memphis Anti-Klan Protest March 30 (this article)
http://justicegagged.blogspot.com/2013/02/memphis-anti-klan-protest-march-30-2013.html

Retribution Against Memphis Black Autonomy Network's Co-Chair, Lorenzo Ervin
http://justicegagged.blogspot.com/2013/02/retribution-co-chair-of-memphis-black.html

Black Genocide - Maafa21
http://freespeakblog.blogspot.com/2013/02/black-genocide-maafa21.html