{"id":16491,"date":"2013-02-08T08:15:27","date_gmt":"2013-02-08T13:15:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theredphoenixapl.org\/?p=16491"},"modified":"2013-02-08T08:15:27","modified_gmt":"2013-02-08T13:15:27","slug":"kkk-promises-the-largest-rally-in-the-history-of-memphis-after-confederate-parks-are-renamed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redphoenix.news\/es\/2013\/02\/kkk-promises-the-largest-rally-in-the-history-of-memphis-after-confederate-parks-are-renamed\/","title":{"rendered":"KKK promises the largest rally in the history of Memphis after Confederate parks are renamed"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"AFP<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

A Ku Klux Klan leader has warned that Memphis, Tennessee will soon face a KKK rally with thousands of Klansmen from around the US, who will be protesting against a decision by the city council to remove Confederate names from three city parks.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The Memphis City Council on Tuesday voted 9-0, with three abstentions, to approve changing the names of three of its parks to rid them of their Confederate ties. One of the names also memorialized a leader who had ties to the KKK. Stripping the park of its name has angered the white power organization, which plans to hold a massive rally in the park.<\/span><\/p>\n

Forrest Park, which was named after Confederate cavalry leader and slave trader Nathan Bedford Forrest, will be renamed \u201cHealth Sciences Park\u201d. But Forrest was more than just a Confederate leader: he became the KKK\u2019s first \u201cGrand Wizard\u201d after the Civil War, which is the title given to the Klan\u2019s state leader. The only position more prominent is \u201cImperial Wizard\u201d \u2013 the national leader. Forrest\u2019s body is buried in the park that was named after him, but the council has assigned the park with a new, temporary name until it comes up with a permanent one.<\/span><\/p>\n

The name of the park, which memorializes a slave trader and KKK leader, has long caused controversy in a city that is 63 percent African-American.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe removed controversial names and named them something that is less controversial,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0Councilman Lee Harris told The Commercial Appeal about the decision.<\/span><\/p>\n

Confederate Park will be temporarily renamed the \u201cMemphis Park\u201d, while Jefferson Davis Park will be called the \u201cMississippi River Park\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

The changes have angered the KKK, which plans to protest the renaming. Klansman \u201cKKK Exalted Cyclops\u201d, who also goes by Edward, told WMC-TV that the KKK will hold the largest rally that Memphis has ever seen.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not going to be 20 or 30, it\u2019s going to be thousands of Klansmen from the whole United States coming to Memphis, Tennessee,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

The KKK Exalted Cyclops claims that this rally was planned before the council voted for the renaming, but the decision has also prompted the KKK to accuse Memphis of trying to \u201cerase history\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

And George Little, the city\u2019s top administrator, said that all critics \u2013 including the KKK \u2013 have the right to protest under the First Amendment.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShould they do so and gather lawfully, then we wouldn\u2019t get any more involved with that than we would with any other group,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

But the Klan is divided into independent chapters all throughout the US. The four chapters located in Tennessee are small and disorganized, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. Nationwide, there are an estimated 5,000 Klan members \u2013 and if most of them choose to travel to Memphis, the city could in fact be host to its largest rally.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fuente<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Ku Klux Klan leader has warned that Memphis, Tennessee will soon face a KKK rally with thousands of Klansmen from around the US, who..<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[84,97],"tags":[357,345],"class_list":["post-16491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-statements","category-us-news","tag-racism","tag-reactionary-watch"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/redphoenix.news\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/redphoenix.news\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/redphoenix.news\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redphoenix.news\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redphoenix.news\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16491"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/redphoenix.news\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16491\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/redphoenix.news\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redphoenix.news\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redphoenix.news\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}