Winchester to Klan: 'Leave our town'
WINCHESTER, Ind. — The Ku Klux Klan came to the Randolph County city of Winchester this week, handing out leaflets on a downtown street corner.
Officials let the Klan members have their say. And then townspeople told them in no uncertain terms: We don't want you here.
"They chanted them out of town," Teresa Hargis said Thursday. "'Leave our town! Leave our town! Leave our town!'"
Winchester's mayor told The Star Press the Wednesday night Klan "rally," in which three Klan members occupied a street corner for more than two hours, ended peacefully and with no arrests.
A crowd estimated at 100 people or more showed up to watch, and a camera crew, self-identified to bystanders as being from cable TV channel A&E, filmed the incident. But it was Hargis' Facebook live video that alerted people from the town to what was happening.
Mayor Shon Byrum said he felt it was important that the demonstrators' First Amendment right to free speech not be denied. But he said he was proud that residents of the Randolph County city of about 4,700 people let Klan members know they wouldn't tolerate their message.
"They did end up leaving after the community came out against hate," Byrum said Thursday.
Around 7 p.m. Wednesday, three men — not wearing traditional Klan robes and hoods but waving a Klan flag and a pro-Klan poster — showed up on the corner of Main and Washington streets at the courthouse square, just down the block from the fire station. The men handed out leaflets with a drawing of a hooded Klansman reading, "The KKK wants you!"
The leaflet gives a website, email and telephone number for the Old Glory Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, a group based in Ohio. In late 2014, KKK leaflets in plastic bags were left in driveways in Winchester, Farmland and other parts of Randolph County.
A crowd started to gather at the Wednesday night demonstration after Hargis, a Parker City resident who was working in Winchester that evening, started streaming live video of the demonstration on Facebook.
Byrum said he was at home and made sure that police were on hand, but he added that his wife urged him to go to the scene after seeing more people show up on the Facebook live video.
"My first thought was ignore it, it will go away," Byrum said. "But we watched more and more people show up and engage."
The mayor said he and other officials watched from the fire station what he called the "two-hour ordeal."
"I don't want to entice this even more," he said. "They do want this to become a big spectacle."
Byrum said, "No matter what, the First Amendment has to be protected."
Eventually, however, Byrum said, he encouraged people in the crowd to leave.
"I went over to talk to people and said, 'They want the attention. If you're against this, the best thing to do is to go home.'"
Nicole Van Note, board president of the chamber of commerce and executive director of United Way in Winchester, watched as the crowd grew and tensions increased.
"They're allowed to exercise their First Amendment rights," Van Note said. "We're all grateful it remained a peaceful demonstration.
"I'm glad the town stood together. As they were leaving, people were cheering."
Hargis, who livestreamed more than 30 minutes of video before her cellphone battery died, said the crowd grew heated enough in its comments to the Klan members that police officers ended the protest. The crowd then followed the Klan members to their car, chanting as they walked to the vehicle.
"It could have been a lot worse," Byrum said. "But thanks to the way our community and law enforcement reacted, it didn't escalate."
Thursday morning, Byrum posted a message on Facebook:
"Concerned about the demonstration of hate in our city last night? Do something showing love in our city today. Rise above."
Contact Keith Roysdon at 765-213-5828 and follow him on Facebook and Twitter.
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