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Police are often caught between KKK members and protesters, like this 1987
demonstration in Alabama.
Klan Slam
Ann Arbor "welcomes" KKK on Saturday.
CL7
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DAVID ZEMAN STAFF WRITER
Starts Friday
June 21, 1996
S
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icture a French soccer
goalie stumbling into a pub
filled with English hooli-
gans. Or Newt Gingrich
boarding a plane chartered by
the National Gay and Lesbian
Task Force.
That will give you some idea
of what awaits a band of Ku Klux
Klan members visiting the city
hall in Ann Arbor Saturday.
About three dozen KKK
marchers will be greeted, if that
is the word, by hundreds of coun-
terdemonstrators in this pro-
gressive college town.
Opposition to the white su-
premacists' rally will certainly
test the people skills of Klan
leader Jeff Berry, a convicted
felon who calls himself the im-
perial wizard of a Klan faction in
Newville, Ind. Mr. Berry, who
could not be reached for com-
ment, is apparently coming to
Arm Arbor to lead a recruitment
drive.
A loose network of anti-hate
groups hopes to disappoint him.
"As a civil-rights organization,
we're very much against the Klan
and fascists and people of those
persuasions," said Michael J.
Steinberg, Ann Arbor president
of the National Lawyers Guild,
which is participating in the
counterprotest.
Some civil-rights advocates
contend hate groups should sim-
ply be ignored when they gather
in public.
But Mr. Steinberg said, "I
think there's been so much tol-
erance of racism in our country
at all levels that it's important
for people to make a statement
that the Klan and racism are not
welcome in our community."
Ann Arbor police are taking
precautions to reduce confronta-
p
S
tions: among them, ushering
KKK members to and from the
noontime rally.
Police Sgt. Phil Scheel declined
to elaborate on how the depart-
ment Will defuse tensions, say-
ing only, "Hopefully, it will be a
small turnout."
In the days leading up to the
demonstration, it remained un-
clear why the KKK chose liberal
Ann Arbor for possible recruits.
One explanation is that, because
of a scheduling conflict, the group
was unable to rally later Satur-
day in Livingston County, an
area that in the past has been
more hospitable to Klan enthu-
siasts.
But an official with a leading
anti-Klan group said the KKK
also uses rallies to divide resi-
dents in racially diverse towns.
`The Klan often tries to exploit
racial tension in an area," said
Tawanda Shaw of Klanwatch,
the investigative arm of the
Southern Poverty Law Center in
Montgomery, Ala.
Ms. Shaw said her group has
noticed an upsurge in Klan re-
cruitment events throughout the
Midwest, but is not sure why.
She added that Klanwatch
generally frowns upon counter-
protests, saying they raise the po-
tential for violence and give KKK
members exactly what they
want: media attention.
"In fact, we like to say that if
you want to hold a unity picnic
across town, that's a good thing,"
Ms. Shaw said. "Hopefully, the
media will concentrate on the
unity rally."
But Phil Carroll, an Ann Ar-
bor civil-rights activist, said the
city has a long tradition of ac-
tively opposing hate groups, even
if that means a few scuffl6.