BY EVA BRAIMAN
CLEVELAND - Despite the urging of local city officials,
editors of the daily Plain Dealer, church leaders, and
politicians to stay away, approximately 400 opponents of
racism assembled in downtown Cleveland August 21 to protest a
rally by about 40 white-hooded members of the Ku Klux Klan
and a few dozen of their supporters. "If we don't publicly
repudiate them, they will only become bolder," noted
Mohammed, a 42-year-old machinist from Nigeria. He was one of
hundreds who attempted to get within view of the Klansmen,
but were prevented from doing so by police in riot gear.
Cleveland mayor Michael White organized the cops to pen off four city blocks around the Klan rally with chain link fences, preventing opponents of the Klan from entering the area with anything more than one key and one form of ID. Many were subjected to full-body frisks and videotaping. Reporters, including this one, were not allowed to enter the pen carrying notebooks, pens, or cameras.
At the same time, members of the KKK were given the downtown Justice Center to change into their robes and were escorted by police to the rally site. "So much for the police being neutral," complained one young protester from Columbus who was turned away by police.
In addition to the downtown rally, there were various "alternative" events around the area, including Unity Day Cultural Fest '99 at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, which 4,000 attended; a teach-in at Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea; and an anti-hate parade that drew more than 800 people, organized by students at Cleveland Heights High School.
Eva Braiman is a member of United Auto Workers Local 2400.