A raucous crowd of more than 8,000 watched, cursed and took pictures as 35 Ku Klux Klan members, protected by a ring of almost 200 police marched silently Saturday morning along Edgmont Avenue in Parkside Borough.
It was May 1988 when I wrote this.
Parkside was a rough little town, filled with bikers and white people who had fled the integration of nearby Chester. I remember the tension in the air as a handful of Klan kooks paraded through the town.
And at the end, as the police escort disbursed and the Klansmen got in their cars to leave, the tension broke as men started heaving rocks at their car windows. I remember the sound of breaking glass and the smell of burning rubber as the Klan members peeled out as if their lives depended on it.
I remember thinking, “Huh. Parkside Borough, defending the black people of Chester?” I suspected it was at least a little bit of “you outsiders can’t fuck with our n*ggers, that’s our job.”
It kind of reassured me, though, that the residents were vocal in their dislike of the Klan. (I just checked the election results, and Hillary Clinton won there by 100 votes.)
And now, 28 years later, we have the Klan openly planning a celebratory parade in North Carolina over Trump’s win.
Time to organize, folks. For now, get to know who your friends are.
I found Drinking Liberally to be an absolute lifesaver during the reign of Bush 2. (Little did I know it was only a dress rehearsal.) Either find your local chapter on the map, or start one. Bar owners are happy to host a group that meets on a slow night.
What do we do? We find people who care, and we talk. Then we plan.
