The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.61/No.16           April 21, 1997 
 
 
3,000 Oppose Klan At Rallies In Pittsburgh  

BY EDWIN FRUIT
PITTSBURGH - More than 3,000 people rallied downtown here April 5 to protest the presence of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). The American Knights, based in Jefferson County, Pennsylvania, had been initially denied the right to have a rally in front of the City-County Building on Grant St. in downtown Pittsburgh. As a result of a suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), U.S. District Judge Alan Bloch ruled that the city had to grant a permit for the racists.

Two coalitions formed in order to respond to the Klan. One was initiated by the Coalition to Counter Hate Groups. It organized a rally for Market Square, about half a mile from where the Klan was to appear. The theme of their rally was "Not in Our Town" and a "Celebration of Unity."

The Grant St. Anti-Klan Coalition, composed overwhelmingly of young people, wanted to have a rally directly across from where the Klan was to gather. Some of these activists had been involved in the fight against police brutality that galvanized around the murder of Jonny Gammage in October 1995. Others were members of organizations like the Black Action Society, Campus Women's Organization, and New Youth Culture at the University of Pittsburgh, who wanted to make sure that there was a militant vocal opposition to the Klan. Their demands included, "Justice for Jonny Gammage," "Defend Affirmative Action and School Desegregation," "Oppose Anti-Semitism," Support Gay Rights," and "Free Mumia Abu-Jamal."

Prominent political and religious figures, including the Pittsburgh City Council, urged people to attend the Market Square event. Officials of 10 NAACP chapters held a press conference two days before the protests and urged everyone to stay away from Grant St. and go to the Unity Rally.

In the weeks leading up to the action, city officials tried to violence-bait the action proposed for across the street. Police met with activists in the Grant St. Coalition and showed a video of other "violent" anti-Klan actions. The coalition had stressed in all its publicity that it intended to conduct a peaceful, legal non-violent action, but Mayor Thomas Murphy defended his decision to enclose all the demonstrators in a fenced in area, with access to be controlled by the police, including using metal detectors on all those entering the area.

On the morning of the demonstration, all the streets around the City-County Building were fenced in and barricaded. Several hundred police surrounded the area. They were equipped with face and body shields, gas masks, at least two sets of handcuffs each, and four-foot batons. In addition, there were mounted horse patrols where the demonstrators were to enter the enclosed area.

The organizers of the Grant St. Coalition stationed marshals outside the "cage," as the area became to be known, and discouraged anyone from entering. They explained that the safety of demonstrators could not be ensured. Instead an impromptu gathering and demonstration began to take place outside the "cage." While several hundred people did elect to enter the enclosed area, most demonstrators stayed outside. The two major newspapers in Pittsburgh estimated there were between 1,500 and 3,000 people at both the Grant St. location and the Market Square locations. This reporter talked to numerous people at Grant St. who had been back and forth between the rallies. The majority of those at Grant St. were young, many of them high school students.

Karen Gilboa from Allderdice High School in Pittsburgh said "I think the KKK should get out of Pittsburgh. Hate should stop right here." A group of students also came from Baldwin High School, just down the street from where Gammage had been killed. At about 1:30 p.m. there was a roar from the crowd. About 40 KKK members had arrived on the steps of the City-County Building, most of their faces hidden in black and white robes. The chanting from the counterdemonstrators got louder.

Many people came from outside Pittsburgh to protest the Klan. In Morgantown, community activists and students from West Virginia University formed the Morgantown Mobilization coalition. Two radio talk shows focused on the action, and several carloads of people ended up coming to Pittsburgh.

Alpha Phi Alpha, a Black college fraternity, was holding its national convention in Pittsburgh. Andrew Ryan, a student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, came to the Grant St. action with other fraternity members. "I felt it was important to come and support the protesters," he said.

Members of the Black Action Society at the University of Pittsburgh marched to Grant St. with a banner. Joyce Keyes explained, "I wanted to see the KKK and I felt it was important that the community showed unity in rallying against them." A contingent representing Anti-Racist Action (ARA) from both Columbus and Kent University in Ohio were also present. ARA has mobilized its members for other anti- Klan actions in Ohio and Michigan, and the group endorsed the Grant St. action in Pittsburgh.

The two-hour action at Grant St. was a big success. At the end of the action demonstrators marched en masse to the Market Square rally and joined those there who had been listening to a host of speakers. There the biggest applause went to speakers who demanded justice for Jonny Gammage.

Edwin Fruit is a member of the International Association of Machinists in Coraopolis, Pa. Contributing to the article were Cecilia Ortega, a member of the United Auto Workers in Cleveland and Maurice Peret from Morgantown, West Virginia.  
 
 
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