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Mississippi Gov. Barbour Refuses to Denounce KKK Leader License Plate

Republican Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour has refused to denounce a Southern heritage group's proposal for a state-issued license plate to honor Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, who was a founder and early leader of the Ku Klux Klan.

Barbour is the current chairman of the Republican Governors Association, former chairman of the Republican National Committee and considered a potential 2012 Republican presidential candidate.

Raw Story reports:

The idea, put forth by the white heritage group Sons of Confederate Veterans, would create a state-issued license plate by 2014 in honor of Confederate General and KKK leader Nathan Bedford Forrest. It would include a car tag and a series of other Civil War license plates.

Mississippi lawmakers are considering the proposal, and Barbour said it's unlikely to be approved but refused to stake out a position against it. The NAACP's Mississippi chapter president Derrick Johnson called on the governor to denounce it. The Southern Poverty Law Center has identified the Sons of Confederate Veterans as a "hate group" known for its racist and white supremacist activities.

More on Forrest from The Associated Press:

Forrest, a Tennessee native, is revered by some as a military genius and reviled by others for leading an 1864 massacre of black Union troops at Fort Pillow, Tenn. Forrest was a Klan grand wizard in Tennessee after the war. ..

[Mississippi NAACP president Derrick Johnson] said he's not bothered by Civil War commemorative license plates generally. But he said Mississippi shouldn't honor Forrest, who was an early leader of what he calls "a terrorist group." "He should be viewed in the same light that we view Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden," Johnson said of Forrest. "The state of Mississippi should deny any vanity tags which would highlight racial hatred in this state."

Johnson and the Mississippi NAACP president Derrick has called on Barbour to denounce the license plate idea. "I don't go around denouncing people," Barbour told The Associated Press.

During a December interview, Barbour praised the Council of Conservative Citizens—successor to the hateful segregationist White Citizens Councils of the 1950s and 1960s. Barbour later walked back the comments.

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Sen. Robert Byrd Dies at 92

After a long illness, Sen. Robert Byrd died this morning at 3am. The conservative West Virginia Democrat became the longest-serving member of Congress in history and died at age 92, reports The Washington Post.

"Starting in 1958, Mr. Byrd was elected to the Senate an unprecedented nine times. He wrote a four-volume history of the body, was majority leader twice and chaired the powerful Appropriations Committee, controlling the nation's purse strings. On the Appropriations Committee, he pumped billions of dollars worth of jobs, programs and projects into a state that ranked near the bottom of nearly every economic indicator when he began his political career as a state legislator in the late 1940s. Countless congressional earmarks later, West Virginia is home to prisons, technology centers, laboratories and Navy and Coast Guard offices, despite being a landlocked state."

The New York Times:

"Mr. Byrd’s perspective on the world changed over the years. He filibustered against the 1964 Civil Rights Act and supported the Vietnam War only to come to back civil rights measures and criticize the Iraq war. Rating his voting record in 1964, Americans for Democratic Action, the liberal lobbying group, found that his views and the organization’s were aligned only 16 percent of the time. In 2005, he got an A.D.A. rating of 95.

Mr. Byrd’s political life could be traced to his early involvement with the Ku Klux Klan, an association that almost thwarted his career and clouded it intermittently for years afterward. In the early 1940s, he organized a 150-member klavern, or chapter, of the Klan in Sophia, W.Va., and was chosen its leader at a meeting. After the meeting, Joel L. Baskin, the Klan’s grand dragon for the region, suggested that Mr. Byrd use his 'talents for leadership' by going into politics. 'Suddenly, lights flashed in my mind!' Mr. Byrd later wrote. 'Someone important had recognized my abilities.'

Mr. Byrd insisted that his klavern had never conducted white-supremacist marches or engaged in racial violence. He said in his autobiography that he had joined the Klan because he shared its anti-Communist creed and wanted to be associated with the leading people in his part of West Virginia. He conceded, however, that he also 'reflected the fears and prejudices' of the time."

Byrd served 51 years in the Senate, longer than anyone in our history. And with his six years in the House, Byrd also had the record for the longest-serving member of Congress. "He also was the only West Virginian to be elected to both houses of the state legislature and both houses of Congress,' adds the Washington Post.

Byrd was very lackluster on LGBT rights and boasted a dismal 22% rating from the Human Rights Campaign. Byrd did support 2009's Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Act, though.

In May 2010, the ailing conservative Democrat surprised observers and announced he would support a compromise toward repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" ... but only after insisting upon a 60-day congressional review period.

West Virginia Democratic Gov. Joe Manchin says he has not yet made a decision on Byrd's successor, but will not appoint himself to the seat, the AP reports.

Louisiana Ku Klux Klan Initiation Ends with Recruit's Murder

One of the most disturbing cases to hit this week's crime blotter. Eight Ku Klux Klan members, including a father and son, are behind bars after killing a woman during an initiation ritual in remote Louisiana.

Police say the Tulsa, Oklahoma was recruited over the Internet by the Sons of Dixie Brotherhood chapter of the KKK. The would-be-Klanswoman was shot to death at a remote campsite near St. Tammany after a fight broke out. Oh, and the killers win this week's Stupidest Criminal Award:

"What was odd about this was the extent they went to cover it up," Strain said. "To the degree they scrubbed the area was pretty impressive for a group with such a small IQ."

Strain said the crime was discovered after two people went into the Circle K store on Louisiana Highway 21 near Bogalusa about 4 a.m. Monday and asked how to get blood out of clothing. The clerk called the Washington Parish Sheriff's Office, and that department initiated an investigation.

Guess this incident will probably hurt next year's recruitment quotas.

Recent months have seen a resurgence of Klan activity. A black gay Kansas couple was sent death threats, Missouri parents dressed children in hooded robes for Halloween, and, not surprisingly, a Michigan Republican strategist wore his KKK robes to protest the election of President-Elect Barack Obama.

Thanks CARLOS and TODD HEYWOOD

KKK Initiations End With Recruit's Murder [STN]
GOP Delegate Dresses in Klan Robes [MI Messenger]

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Sends Death Threats to Black Gay Kansas Couple [R20]

Ku Klux Klan Sends Death Threats to Black Gay Kansas Couple

Only two weeks after moving into their apartment, a black gay Kansas couple receive a hateful and terrifying welcome. Death threats courtesy of the local Ku Klux Klan.

The couple, who say they are in a long-term relationship, moved into the Overland Park apartment complex in June "never had any problems." But after moving into a larger apartment in the same complex in late September, the couple received a flier with the image of a hooded Klansman and the message "Nigger Fags, Leave Or Die."

Two of the hateful threats were left for the couple, one on their door and another on their car. The police, predictably, have few leads.

KCTV-5 interviews (video) Yvette Peterson, their downstairs neighbor, who is outraged. "This was disgusting. I have only known them for three weeks but love them. Whatever someone wants to do ... that is their own business, their own life."

Overland Park is a fairly large and well-to-do suburb of Kansas City, KS. Unfortunately race relations seem to be an issue, such as in 2007 when a local school district had problems with a student displaying a noose. Despite the Klan activity, the town is consistently ranked as one of the top places to live in the country by Money and Forbes. The Overland Park black gay couple say they "may have to move again." Overland Park might be one of the best places to live in the country, but not if you're black and openly gay.

OP Residents Receive Hateful Flier [KCTV]

Teens Arrested with Noose on Pickup Truck Near Jena

Two teens are behind bars and authorities in Alexandria, Louisiana are questioning other suspects after they drove near black protesters with several nooses hanging from the back of a red pickup. The arrest report is quite colorful.

As police were questioning the driver, he said he had an unloaded rifle in the back, which police found. They also found a set of brass knuckles in the cup holder on the dashboard, according to the police report.

The passenger told police he and his family are in the Ku Klux Klan, the police report said. He also said he had tied the nooses and that the brass knuckles belonged to him.

Mayor Jacques Roy says the young men were not from his town—a staging point for the protesters—and lived closer to Jena which is an hour south. Up to 15,000 people protested against the treatment of six black teens charged with attempted murder for a schoolyard fight that followed a series of racially charged incidents. Not ironically, the Jena tensions started after white students hung a noose from a tree.

Authorities in Alexandria say the young men were driving near "a crowd of about 200 people, mostly African-Americans" who were awaiting to board buses home. The suspects face charges of inciting a riot, disturbing the peace and DUI. Hate crimes charges are being investigated.

Money quote from the eyewitness who took the photos: "People need to see this. It's 2007, and we still have fools acting like it's 1960."

Two Arrested in Noose Incident [CNN]

Did You Read? ...
Thousands Protest in Jena [R20]