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Racists March
Despite Opposition
Atlanta-A scheduled rally and march by
white supremacists in the City resulted in what
may have been the largest and-Klan
demonstration in the area, and ended with violent
clashes that saw 13 people injured and 40
arrested.
White supremacists received City permission
to hold their "No King Over Us" march as a
protest against the Martin Luther King, Jr.
holiday and as vindication for the permit that was
revoked during the Democratic National
Convention because of confrontations that
erupted at that time.
This time, Richard Barrett, the Mississippi
lawyer who heads the ultra-right wing
Nationalist Movement, started his day with a
speech at the Forsyth County Courthouse. Only
one supporter came to hear him.
Meanwhile in downtown Atlanta,
counterprotestors numbering over a thousand
began assembling, carrying signs like "Real Men
Don't Wear Sheets" and chanting "Racist, Sexist,
Anti-Gay, We say No to the KKK," and swarms
of law enforcement officials took to the streets.
The crowd waited for hours in the chilly wind
of downtown, listening to speeches by a variety
of organizations. Chip Rowan of ACT-UP spoke
of the Klan’s repeated cry of 'Thank God for
AIDS", and told listeners at the Pryor Street
gathering, "We're here in solidarity with all
oppressed people".
Anti-Klan protesters complained of the huge
cost at which the City protected the white
supremacists.
With helicopters hovering overhead, at least
two thousand men and women of the Atlanta
Police, the GBI, Georgia State Patrol and the
JOGIRAUDOJ
Over 40 people were arrested in a
violent clash between anti-Klan
marchers and 2,000 Atlanta Police,
National Guard and GBI officers.
National Guard watched over the eight white
supremacists. Many of the counterprotest
organizers were lesbians and gay men, and the
tone during the anti-Klan rally was one of unity
in the face of bigotry.
After Barrett finished his speech in which he
called Dr. King "A Communist and a sexual
pervert,” he and his seven supporters marched to
CNN Center surrounded by police in riot gear.
Despite repeated calls for non-violence by protest
organizers, some counterdemonstrators broke
through police barricades and hurled bottles,
bricks and stones, hurting mostly police officers.
None of Barrett's people was injured, and many
counterdemonstrators were arrested.
Organizers say they may sue the City, saying
police used excessive force, inciting the violence.
City officials have promised an investigation
of the charges against police, but say they must
protect even the rights of bigots when it comes to
free speech and assembly.
Organizers of the anti-Klan rally had hoped to
prove the opinions of bigots do not represent the
majority in the City. Judging by the numbers,
the point was made. -F.G.
MACGLO MLK Marchers Receive Mixed Crowd Response
One of the organizers of the gay and lesbian contingent in the
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day parade said he felt police officers lining
the parade route would not have intervened if the crowd had become
physically abusive.
"Our local police department was not prepared to protect us if
something had happened," said Jeffrey Laymon, executive secretary
of Metropolitan Atlanta Council of Gay & Lesbian Organizations
(MACGLO). "It was very disturbing," he said.
Laymon and other march participants said they heard at least one
police officer making anti-gay remarks to spectators, and other
officers were observed smirking and laughing as the MACGLO
contingent made its way down
Peachtree St and then onto
Auburn Ave. "They were
unprofessional," Laymon said.
The officers' apparent
contempt for the marchers sent a
message to the crowd "that it
would be alright to attack the
homosexuals," Laymon said,
although there were no reported
physical assaults along the
parade route, which ended at the
MLK Center in the 400 block of
Auburn Ave.
Laymon said he will
communicate his concerns
about some of the officers'
conduct to Atlanta Public
Safety Commissioner George
Napper.
Over 50 gay/lesbian activists joined black and other civil
rights groups in the 4th Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
Parade Jan. 16.
Laymon counted 52 persons who marched with the MACGLO
group, apparently the largest gay and lesbian turnout in the four-year
history of the MLK parade,and the first time gay and lesbian groups
participated in a joint march.
Several of the marchers expressed apprehension as they gathered
at the Georgia Pacific Center, where the MACGLO group
assembled. "There were some frightening things two years ago, said
Nick Danna, of Atlanta, who has marched three times in the MLK
parade. "People were throwing objects, tearing down banners,
calling us names" he said. But "there was also cheering," he said.
The MACGLO marchers encountered immediate jeering and
catcalls when they joined the parade in front of the Georgia Pacific
Center on Peachtree SL Initially, there was only scattered applause
and a few shouts of support from the predominately black crowd,
estimated at 200,000 persons.
When the MACGLO marchers turned east onto Auburn Ave.,
they began chanting, "Gay, straight, black, white, same struggle,
same fight!" which seemed to neutralize some of the crowd's
hostility.
"When we chanted I could see people begin to stop and think
about their own struggle for equal rights," Laymon said. "They
seemed to realize that we’re a
part of that struggle, too," he
said. Laymon estimated the
overall crowd reaction to the
marchers as "equally split
between the positive and the
negative."
As the march neared the
MLK Center, the hooting and
the taunting subsided
somewhat Carolyn Mobley,
who watched the parade at the
comer of Auburn Ave. and
Hilliard St, said "the marchers
were not being heckled" from
her vantage poinL "I didn't see
anything very negative," she
said. Mobley is a board
member of the African
American Lesbian/Gay
Alliance (AALGA), which recommended that MACGLO
coordinate a unified gay participation in the parade.
"All 52 people who participated should be applauded for taking
a risk," Laymon said. As for the future, Laymon said he hoped the
gay community would continue to participate in the parade, but he
indicated MACGLO might consider an involvement requiring
"less risk" than a march. One possibility, he said, would be to enter
a float and a marching band in next year’s event "This would add
visibility," Laymon said.
-Matt Moline
JES3 MCVAY—I
Dallas Judge
May Be Impeached
Z)a//as-Leaders of the Dallas gay and
lesbian community may begin working for
impeachment of the judge who admitted
homophobia played a part in his sentencing of a
murderer.
Judge Jack Hampton came under fire when
he told a reporter he gave the killer of two gay
men a light sentence because, "They were
queer".
The admission brought angry calls for his
resignations throughout the country from
people as notorious as Senator Edward
Kennedy.
The Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct
met January 13th to review the complaints
against the judge. But, according to John
Thomas, executive director of the Dallas Gay
Alliance, they refused to open the meeting to
the public and would not comment on the case.
The Commission has received hundreds of
letters calling for Hampton's removal, including
two from Members of Congress representing
the Dallas area in Washington.
Since there has not been any effective action
by the Judicial Commission, the Gay Alliance
and the Texas Human Rights Foundation are
considering initiating the impeachment process
against Hampton. That, said Thomas, would
require that ten recognized lawyers state they
feel the judge and his court are incapable of
issuing impartial justice. At that point the State
Supreme Court would make the final ruling.
Thomas said the decision to start the
impeachment process will be made some time
in February, when the Judicial Commission is
scheduled to meet again.
-F.G.
Celebrating Black
Lesbian/Gay History
"I think we unnecessarily divide and
segregate ourselves.. .this play is a way to
bridge some of those places."
So says playwright Sabrina Sojourner about
ho - new play, Becoming Visible, opening
February 2 at Nexus Theatre. Becoming
Visible celebrates Black gay and lesbian history
and culture, and offers a lock at homophobia
and AIDS in our communities from an angle
most of the white gay community doesn't see.
The seven characters—members of both the
blood family and extended family of a lesbian
and a gay male, who are brother and
sister—learn what family really is when the
brother, who has been heretofore closeted, dies
of AIDS. According to Ms. Sojourner,
Becoming Visible is about "what happens when
you are asked to make a choice to stand up for
yourself—" even in the face of traditionally
conservative Black religion.
Ms. Sojourner moved to Atlanta 2 years ago
from the Bay Area of San Francisco (via
Kansas City), and has written and spoken
extensively about her experiences as a Black
woman, Lesbian, and recovering incest
survivor. Another play, Finding My Way
Home, has received several readings both in
Georgia and California, and is currently being
rewritten as a screenplay. Ms. Sojourner, who
describes herself as "politically un-correctable,"
is directing Becoming Visible.
Becoming Visible, a play about taking pride
in who we are, plays February 2-5 at Nexus
Theatre, 608 Ralph McGill Boulevard. Curtain
is at 8 pm Thurs-Sat, and 5 pm Sunday.
Tickets are available at Charis Books & More,
or make reservations by calling the Nexus box
office at 688-2500.
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