By Tracy L. Scott, BET.com Staff Writer
When activist and author Sister Souljah visited the University of Louisville last year, a White local radio host spoke out against her views and suggested that racist hate groups, such as the Ku Klux Klan, have an equal right to say their piece.
“Eventually the Klan showed up,” said Ede Warner, a professor at the university. The group has since held three rallies on university grounds and distributed fliers around the campus.
According to Warner, the Klan is demanding to be paid what Souljah was paid to address the students. “They wanted to be called a diversity initiative,” Warner told BET.com.
While Warner and Black students at the school have argued that the Klan should be banned from the campus in the same way that terrorist organizations, such as Al Qaeda would be banned, the group stands behind its First Amendment rights.
“This is not a free speech issue. It’s a safety issue,” Warner said. However, university officials do not seem to agree.
When Klan members began to appear on the university campus this fall, Black students fought to have them restricted. They also wanted the university to sever ties with the radio station that instigated the Klan’s involvement. Warner said he has argued his point with university officials, but that they have not attempted to ban the Klan from the campus. “I’ve made my point to university officials. I’ve left the ball in their court to go further,” he said.
Warner is concerned about the climate on the campus and the safety of students. “I recruit young Black students from New York, D.C., Chicago . . . I’m bringing people’s children here, and you got the Klan walking around this campus,” said Warner, who has received Klan literature and phone calls from members at his home.
Warner compared the Klan to a terrorist organization. “Their [terrorists’] moves are moves of intimidation. Why is this any different?”
“It’s very subtle. It’s not direct. It’s not ‘we’re gonna hurt you.' It’s ‘we’re going to send you some fliers to remind you what we’re about.’ They’ve put me on some Web sites,” said Warner, who did not contact the police about the literature left at his home.
“I live in a predominantly Black neighborhood, but the Klan has threatened to take it over,” Warner said. “A group of White extremists have a house a block from me. Five were charged with murder this summer.”
While there have not been any reported instances of violence so far, Warner said he is also concerned that the Black students -- which make up about 13 percent of the 22,000 student body -- will eventually take matters into their own hands.
“There have been students who have said if the university won’t protect us, we’ll protect ourselves, but for the most part students stay away,” Warner said.
“If something goes wrong, and some of our students are involved, they will be demonized for being the aggressor,” Warner said. “It won’t be that it was bad the Klan was on the campus, it will be about the lack of restraint by our Black students. It’s too bad because I think it could be prevented.”
Warner said, “Maybe they’ll just get bored and go away,” but he admits that it’s not a risk worth taking. “I’m not trying to be a martyr. I’m trying to move.”
http://www.bet.com/WebApplications/betRoot/Templates/Posting_ArticlePrintFriendly.aspx?{3692D8F0-AC94-4F5B-AD0E-5DA69B601FFC}
Author
