Update 9/23/2016, 6PM: According to The Polk County Standard Journal, the Klan event has now been cancelled.

As highlighted by anti-racist research, the International Keystone Knights of the Ku Klux Klan are hosting an all-day “White Christian Community Event” at Seaborn Jones Park in Rockmart, western Georgia, on October 1st. The City of Rockmart has approved the Keystone Knights’ permit application to use the park’s pavilions from 10AM-6PM. Anti-racists believe that the Klan event is dangerous, not only because it provides an opportunity for Klan recruitment and future growth, but also because unaware users of the park and the nearby Silver Comet Trail could be exposed to hostility from the assembled white supremacists.

International Keystone Knights leader in Georgia, Greg Calhoun (profile as “Thor Henderson”). Image courtesy of Restoring the Honor

Please call or email the following parties to express your concern:

City of Rockmart main office: 770-684-5454, rockmart-ga.gov Rockmart Mayor Stephen A. Miller, smiller@rockmart-ga.gov (call main Rockmart number, request transfer) City Manager Jeff L. Ellis, jellis@rockmart-ga.gov (call main Rockmart number, request transfer) Trailhead Offices, 678-883-9024, trailhead@rockmart-ga.gov (The Silver Comet Trail runs along Seaborn Jones Park where the Klan event will be held, warn them of threat to trail users.) Parks & Recreation, 678-757-1001. Jeff Hulsey, Coordinator: jhulsey@rockmart-ga.gov

Be persistent and call/email every day until the event is canceled.

Talking points:

The International Keystone Knights of the KKK gathering is being advertised as a “White Christian” gathering “for god race nation”. Klan organizers renting all the pavilions at Seaborn Jones Park will in effect turn a public park into segregated whites-only space. Authorities in Rockmart have behaved disgracefully by not warning the public of the blatantly white supremacist, Klan event which is approaching. Another neo-Nazi event–the large “Hammerfest” gathering hosted by the Hammerskin Nation–will occur in Draketown, GA on the same day. Draketown and Rockmart are just 25 minutes apart. It is likely that the Rockmart KKK event will attract neo-Nazi militants who are driving to Draketown later in the day. This further increases the danger of the Rockmart event.

Additional Background:

A recently-obtained permit for the International Keystone Knights event lists five people as “responsible parties” for October 1st event in Rockmart. Four of these five individuals are clear Klan or neo-Nazi organizers. Our previous story on the Rockmart event discussed Gregory Todd Calhoun, who was once part of the (neo-Nazi) Aryan Nations and now leads the International Keystone Knights within Georgia. The name “Stephen Monk” on the permit is presumably an alternative spelling of Steven Monk, a neo-Confederate who has recently gone public about his affiliation with the Klan. Heath Bearden displays his Blood Drop Cross (KKK symbol) tattoo prominently on his Facebook profile. As well as being the main applicant on the Seaborn Jones Park permit, Christopher William Bailey has been pictured (alongside Greg Calhoun and Steven Monk) in a photo of a June 2016 National Socialist Movement “meet and greet” gathering in Georgia which was posted to the NSM website.