LAURENS, S.C. (AP) — A black civil rights activist is fighting to close a store that sells KKK robes and T-shirts emblazoned with racial slurs. David Kennedy is confident he can make it happen. After all, he says he owns the building.
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(Photo: AP Images / Patrick Collard)Reverend David Kennedy, looks at items as John Howard watches him inside The Redneck Shop in Laurens, SC, Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2008.
Since 1996, the Redneck Shop has operated in an old movie theater that, according to court records, was transferred in 1997 to Kennedy and the Baptist church he leads.
"Our ownership puts an end to that history as far as violence and hatred, racism being practiced in that place and also the recruiting of the Klan," Kennedy said. "This is the same place that we had to go up into the balcony to go to the movies before the Klan took it. So there's a lot of history there."
But legal documents also indicate that the man who runs the store, 62-year-old John Howard, is entitled to operate his business in the building until he dies. Now the dispute may go to court.
Kennedy, 54, has led protests outside the store since it opened but said he's never been able to close it because of the agreement that Howard can run the shop for life.
The reverend envisions the building as a potential future home for his New Beginnings Missionary Baptist Church, which now meets in a double-wide trailer.
Kennedy claims he can't even visit his own property because Howard won't let him in when he appears in the door. But that didn't happen during a recent visit with an Associated Press reporter and photographer.
"Reverend Kennedy, where you been hiding?" Howard shouted when the door opened.
Inside the store, hooded Klan robes hang on the same rack as the racist T-shirts. Pictures of men, women and children in Klan clothing and pamphlets tell a partial history of the organization.
Howard used to own the whole building. When his store first opened, he said, people threw rocks at his windows, spit in his doorway and picketed. A month later, a man intentionally crashed his van through the front windows.
"If anything turns people off, they shouldn't come in here. It's not a thing in here that's against the law," Howard said, adding that he was once the KKK's grand dragon for South Carolina and North Carolina.
To blacks, Kennedy said, the store is a reminder of this region's painful past, which includes the lynching of his great, great uncle by a white mob.
The town of Laurens, about 30 miles southeast of Greenville, was named after 18th century slave trader Henry Laurens.
Some street addresses are still marked with the letter "C" that once designated black homes as "colored." Racial tension was heightened in recent years when two white female teachers were sentenced for having sex with male students — all of them black.
Kennedy has a long history of fighting racial injustice. He protested when a South Carolina county refused to observe the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, and he helped lobby to remove the Confederate flag from the Statehouse dome.
When people in the region allege racism, he rallies attention to the cause. A walk through the neighborhood where he was born shows that he seems a stranger to no one.
"Hey Rev," one man says as he strolls by.
"Pump it up," Kennedy responds with the phrase he uses at his protests.
Mary Redd, who lives across from the house where Kennedy was born, said blacks know to contact the pastor with their problems.
"And he helps them out," added neighbor Deborah Cheeks.
Kennedy said progress has always been slow to come to Laurens.
"There are two powers in the world: the mind and the sword," he said. "In the long run, the sword is defeated by the mind. I want to destroy the concept of hatred."
Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Well, hopefully the hate mongering fool john howard will be run out of business thru boycotts and protest. Another source of hate is from pat robertson and the late jerry falwell against gays. Christians should also boycott pat robertson's TV programming and stop sending him money. See link below for robertsons and falwell's hate statements against gays.
http://www.hatecrime.org/subpages/hatespeech/robertson.html
Here is a christian church that too should be protested against, fred phelps church in Topeka KS - the Westboro Baptist Church. Their sick web-site is listed below.
http://www.godhatesfags.com/
Much of what Christians do to vilify homosexuals is similar to what christain europeans did to the Jews in Europe which helped hitler carry out his extermination of european jewry.
ender,
Well said! Christians need to stand up for what is true, enough of this lukewarmness, either you are a Christian or not.
I would also add that we should be doing our best to boycott products from China, their persecution of our brothers and sisters is unnacceptable.
Economics is the key here. Boycot the store. Find out who manufactures their merchandise and boycot all of their products. Let the world know who makes their stuff. Many people will do bad things in private that can not stand the scrutiny of the light of day.
Oglefam,
I also agree with you. Rap music is a terrible thing, and some very racist and hateful words are said on it. Women are demeaned, and sex is treated as a common thing. I am adamantly against rap music as well. Also political activists such as the supposed reverend Al Sharpton is a racist and a bigot and I find it amazing the double standard he and so many others hold.
I hate all forms of racism on both sides and I won't pander to either side. If you are a Christian or say you are, then racism is intolerable (I will not speak for atheists, they can say anything they want).
xiz,
When we talk about shutting down KKK stores, it is using clear judgment about what is obviously wrong. I was mainly saying that no Christian can support these things and we as a Christian body have the responsibility to declare any "so-called" Christians as not. I wouldn't be afraid of people trying to censor the Bible as a result of this or ever. The Bible has been censored many times and it did nothing. In any case, we have to take stands against morally hideous things regardless. We wouldn't say, "Now if we ban child pornography, they might try to ban our Bibles" Rather we have to say, "I am a Christian, I will not stand by such hatred and evil, you atheists can say what you want, this is intolerable in my faith"
I also live in SC and agree this shop is racially motivated. While I would never shop there or even enter the shop, I have to ask where is the out cry when Louis Farrakhan or Jesse Jackson keep racial issues central in their words? There are too many racially motivated actions on both sides and hopefully someday Americans will have had enough of both and stop letting them have a platform.
There is no place for racism in the family of God. JESUS is all about love and when you promote hatred that is not from God! I pray that the Holy Spirit will convict this man of what is in his heart, because change only comes by the Holy Spirit showing us a change is needed!
The KKK has nothing to do with Christ or His church! They worship some other god, it is not our Lord Jesus Christ.
My prayer is that the LORD will dry up there finances and close them down, in Jesus Name!
Amen PDF! xizwyck: Persecution is coming, it is a Christians' call as it was our Lord's and our Lord tells us to fear nothing as HE is in charge and as the Light of HIS coming draws nearer, ever-increasing wickedness occurs as the LIGHT of CHRIST gets brighter, Praise the LORD!
The KKK is not a Christian organization as they proclaim. They are a racist hate organization that has committed terrorist attacks against Blacks, Whites, Jews and other minorities and should be shut down.
I hope that the Reverend David Kennedy has the 'Redneck Shop' shut down. Hate speech is not protected free speech and should not be tolerated. These kinds of items should not be sold in America.
I would never shop there nor would I ever support a store like this in anyway... but I wonder what will happen when Christian bookstores are targeted as "hate speech" because they sell merchandise (like the Bible) that speak against homosexuality, marriage between one biological man and one biological woman, repenting from sin, etc... ....just a though.
Chris333 and agentorange20:
AMEN AND AMEN!! Couldn't have said this better. This is a NO brainer for TRUE Christians!! There is NOTHING right about this!!
Agentorange,
I am from SC and I agree with you. I would also like to say that this is against Christianity and every Christian should be appalled by this and should be adamantly against it. It goes against the very core of what we believe in. If any Christian supports this kind of hatred they should be deemed non-Christians. Without exception.
Free speech is protected, but not hate speech. Having people selling the KKK cheerleader gear like the Iron Cross and other racist garbage is hate speech, isn't protected and should be shut down. Hopefully, people vote with their wallets and it will force this 'business' to consider other viable options.