ORCES OF DIFFERENCE By Mike Nichols N THE STEPS OF THE
Faces of different color and sexual orientation challenge the Klan and each other
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Indiana Statehouse, people gathered.While some came to support, others came to protest the white supremacists with shouts and jeers. The rest witnessed the event as if it were a spectator sport. People from all walks of life came to hear Thomas Robb, the national director of the Ku Klux Klan, speak. Amid a sea of chaos filled with homosexuals, heterosexuals, Jews, African Americans and whites, the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, gathered to recruit and mobilize supporters at the Statehouse on Oct. 16. Looking unlike their robed predecessors, Robb stood before the crowd in a dark suit, while other Klansmen donned white shirts, black pants and baseball hats emblazoned with the Klan's cross-shaped insignia , carrying shields with the same insignia. "I am not here to promote hatred against anyone," Robb said in an effort to expand Midwest support. But Robb spoke to the angry protestors in his speech, after they had nearly made his speech inaudible. "To be hated by you, ladies and gentlemen, I say thank you," Robb said to the protestors.
He then said to his supporters, "They are the same element that doesn't understand free speech." He said the protestors came to the rally to shout ignorance, hatred and their own prejudice in what he called a sea of destruction. "To those of you who say `hey, hey, hey, bye-bye' ... I say, `bye-bye, you won't be here next year, bye-bye,' Robb said in reference to AIDS patients, against the roar of Gay Alliance and other gay advocates. Unbothered by their disapproval, Robb spoke on about his mission. "If I could lift the shroud of ignorance and the light could be shown to their eyes that penetrates to the mind, that sinks down to the depths of the heart and to the soul and to touch their very spirit ... then I will know [we] are still alive," Robb said as he reached out for supporters. The young white men and women resounded with neo-Nazi chants and raised arms as white supremacy soared back through the air to the delight of their leader. But not all KKK supporters were chanting this sentiment. "It's really sad that it's come to this," said Aaron McCord, a 23-year-old factory worker from Alexan-
dria, Ind. "It's going more towards neo-Nazi." McCord believes the KKK is weakening and the smaller factions that support white supremac in violent ways are to blame. "I believe in the preserva tion of the white race, I don' believe in going out and hanging them ... the blacks will take care of themselves, to quote Charles Manson," McCord said. He believes th Klan needs more white colla members to strengthen the organization. But McCord assures that his hate for non-
