Should the KKK have a right to demonstrate on the battlefield at Gettysburg?

                                                               ... a difficult conundrum

More than 89 years ago, my uncle was killed by the Ku Klux Klan in Lilly, Pa. Phil Conrad was not an African-American; he was the son of an Irish-immigrant mother who, along with his German-American father, raised him as a Roman Catholic. The KKK was targeting Catholics in that era, not African-Americans, as they did in the aftermath of the Civil War.

My Uncle Phil, whom I never knew, may have just caught a stray bullet on that night, but recent evidence indicates that a Klansman may have targeted him in the aftermath of the burning of crosses in Lilly.

More than 400 Klansmen descended on Lilly on that fateful April evening, one in which three men were ultimately killed and approximately 20 more were injured. The KKK had instigated this battle, and their first gunman precipitated the conflict <http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/uncategorized/the-tiny-town-that-fought-the-klan-533531/>.

Fast forward to Oct. 5, 2013: A motley group of three KKK members descended on Gettysburg, Pa., where they had hoped to demonstrate on the venerable ground of the battlefield that allowed the Union to survive <http://www.eveningsun.com/local/ci_24245810/kkk-rally-gettysburg-community-holds-unity-event>. This was the site where Abraham Lincoln stood almost 150 years ago and gave one of the greatest speeches in American history <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtEqTBuigFY>.

In that four-year conflict, more than 600,000 soldiers were killed, a brutal battle on our own soil. At Gettysburg, 7,893 soldiers were killed, 27,224 were wounded, and 11,199 were listed as missing after the battle. In all, 46,286 were listed as casualties <http://www.gettysburg.stonesentinels.com/Gettysburg_Facts/Gettysburg_Facts.php>.

The general who led the Confederacy, Robert E. Lee, surrendered on April 6, 1865, in Appomattox, Va. With his surrender, Lee allowed the Union to survive, although many in the 21st Century Confederacy appear to disagree with his action <http://faculty.ucc.edu/english-chewning/catton.htm>.

With all that in mind, the question in all of this is simple: Did the KKK have the right to demonstrate in Lilly in 1924? Does the KKK have a right to demonstrate on the sacred battlefield where almost 8,000 soldiers gave their lives?

On Oct. 5, the KKK was forced to demonstrate in the town of Gettysburg because the government shutdown precluded their appearing on the Civil War battlefield. They would like to appear on the battlefield next month, the 150th year celebration of the venerated speech of President Lincoln.

Here is the answer: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or of the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

The major concern here is that the first amendment protects the KKK's right to demonstrate, regardless of how repugnant their views are to the American public. That was the case in 1924, and it is the case today. 

The difference between 1924 and 2013 is that the KKK came to Gettysburg with a handful of attention-getters who had no weapons, unlike the demonstration in Lilly.  As my late aunt, Helen Conrad, who watched the events from across the tracks in Lilly, said, "How were the boys to know that (the KKK) were armed to the teeth?"

Nevertheless, the judge in the subsequent trial acted like the first amendment did not exist, nor did any of the protections provided in the Bill of Rights. You can read about there here: <http://hughbradyconrad.blogspot.com/>.

Does that mean that the KKK should be allowed to denigrate the battled in Gettysburg in November with their presence? The government could prevent them from demonstrating if the authorities thought that they might incite violence, but from what transpired over the Oct. 5-6 weekend, that is unlikely. 

So, yes, the Klan does have rights, too. That is what the Bill of Rights gave us, and thank you for that, James Madison.

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