Love versus Intolerance

Online Videos by Veoh.com



Residents hope online videos will show city's true image


By Kelly Kazek
kelly@athensnews-courier.com

Two Athens residents hoped placing videos of local response to a recent Ku Klux Klan rally here would show the world the city is not stuck in a racist past.

The videos, which can be found at www.youtube.com by typing “Athens, Ala., Klan rally” in the search bar, were created a church group leader and a Madison Police dispatcher.

Stephen McAulliffe created a photo slide show set to Montgomery Gentry’s song “Some People Change.” It can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTm7EVPQjR4

“I couldn’t believe in 2007, they were trying to bring this back into our community,” McAulliffe said. “Like someone’s sign said, this is 2007, not 1945. I was curious to see how the town was going to react. I was very inspired to see the turnout.”

Three local churches organized an anti-Klan protest after Knights of the Ku Klux Klan were granted a permit by the city of Athens to hold an anti-immigration rally on Sept. 15. The person who requested the permit, Jack Thomas, gave a Rogersville address but no phone number, and no local connection could be ascertained for the dozen or so Klan members who attended. The Alabama Grand Dragon of the KKK, Jerome Johnson, responded to an e-mail before the rally saying he had organized the event.

Although its members described the rally’s purpose as a protest against immigration, Klan speakers also disparaged black people during speeches, which were liberally sprinkled with expletives.

The church groups, who held yellow signs with the word “love,” were joined by students from Alabama A&M University and the University of Alabama in Huntsville, who wore duct tape with “love” over their mouths in silent protest.

“I was moved just to see that the community came out against the Klan and the Klan’s teaching of hate,” McAulliffe said. “It was hate I wanted to go out and protest.”

The chorus of the song McAulliffe used in his slide show echoes that message:

“Here’s to the strong, thanks to the brave;

Don’t give up hope, some people change;

Against all odds, against the grain,

Love finds a way, some people change.”

The second video shows Rod Carroll standing in front of the scene of Klan members and protectors discussing the impact on the town where he has lived for 18 years.

Carroll, who is media director for Lindsay Lane Baptist Church and leads a group of young couples, said he first videotaped the event as a possible tool to teach about the effects of hate, but he posted it on YouTube in hopes to show Athens’ positive side.