The Loyal White Knights, a Ku Klux Klan group based in North Carolina, held a parade convoy in the city of Roxboro on Saturday to celebrate the presidential election victory of Donald Trump.
IT'S HAPPENING. KKK just came through Roxboro. Battle flags & shouting "WHITE POWER!"
On its website, the KKK group announced a “Victory Klavalkade Klan Parade” for Saturday, but reportedly neglected to specify a location for the parade.
In response, hundreds of counter-protesters descended on Pelham, North Carolina, where the hate group is based.
In Pelham, and later in the nearby city of Danville, Virginia, the counter-protesters marched in the streets with signs that read “Fags and Dykes Against White Knights" and “Against White Supremacy.”
100+ marching in #Danville, VA where the Klan was reportedly planning to gather around 2PM. No hate, no fear, the… https://t.co/TO3tAjz2xC
Another dope banner at the anti-KKK protest in #Pelham, NC earlier today. Some 150 people ran the Klan out of their… https://t.co/M714Z7PFCk
But the KKK celebration of the President-elect's victory over Hillary Clinton never materialized.
So far #Pelham, by the numbers: 1) counter protestors (~150) 2) press (25) 3) uniformed cops (12) 4) undercover cops (3) 5) KKK Members (0)
Instead, a caravan of 30 cars flying large Confederate, American, Donald Trump, and KKK flags drove through Roxboro, a city nearly 40 miles away from Pelham, the Times-News newspaper reported. It is unclear why the group decided to drive through the city of Roxboro.
In a video taken of the celebratory parade, one man could be heard shouting, “White power!”
Robin Hayes, the chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party, condemned the group in a statement to CNN. "We are disgusted and condemn this extremist ideology and associated actions in the strongest possible terms,” Hayes said.
Amanda Barker, an “imperial kommander” of the group and wife of the controversial group’s founder, Chris Barker, told the Times-News that her group shares the same views as the president-elect.
“We actually kind of have the same views," she told the paper. "Actually a lot of white Americans actually felt the same way, especially about the wall, immigration and the terrorism coming here. I think Donald Trump is going to do some really good things and turn this country around."
“And now it seems like these people are kind of waking up, saying, ‘I’m not held down and now I can actually feel privileged and feel proud to be white once more,’” Barker added.
The Loyal White Knights is one of the largest KKK groups in the country and perhaps the most active; Members pass out flyers in cities across the US and the group is consistently engaged in recruiting new people.
The group was recently infiltrated by an anti-hate group from the UK, which found that the Loyal White Knights had a “desire for extreme racist violence, seeking to exploit the anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant climate fostered by Donald Trump.”
An anti-immigration rally held by the KKK group in Anaheim, California, in February led to violence when counter-protestors and klansmen clashed. Three people were stabbed at the event.
KKK flyers littered doorsteps of 32 Abbotsford homes yesterday, the same showed up in Mission… https://t.co/yYbF9E8ICB
Former KKK Grand wizard David Duke expressed his support for President-elect Trump earlier this year, and tweeted on election night that it was "one of the most exciting nights of my life."
Trump has denounced the endorsement from the former leader of America's oldest hate group.