Canceltown Sunday: KKK fliers and a 'White Lives Matter' rally - Huntington Beach CA confronts 'storm of hate'

Mod: You know, 'cancel culture' wasn't always about Dr. Seuss. It was about what all those white power people down in HB will be whining it up about today. The Fox News guys just cleaned it up a little for the folks at home.

KKK fliers, White Lives Matter rally: Huntington Beach confronts 'storm of hate' (GazetteXtralink): For years, Huntington Beach has tried to push back against its reputation as a magnet for extremist hate. Those efforts weren't helped last year when the city's downtown and pier became a rallying spot for anti-mask activists and far-right supporters of then-President Donald Trump.

Now, the city is bracing for a White Lives Matter rally Sunday. The event — which arrives after a smattering of Ku Klux Klan fliers were distributed in Huntington Beach and surrounding areas — is sparking new demands that the city take more profound steps to shake its association with right-wing extremism once and for all.

"These groups will continue to come back unless the larger community stands against them," said Mary Adams Urashima, a Huntington Beach resident and historian. "That has always been the case, historically, wherever the Klan or white supremacy shows up."

The rally, organized by the Loyal White Knights, is slated to take place at the Huntington Beach Pier. For days, community members have been planning counterprotests and pleading with public officials to intervene.

"Here we are again looking (the KKK) in the face," one resident said during a Huntington Beach City Council meeting Monday. "When are you going to do something?"

Some plan to attend a counterprotest organized by Black Lives Matter Huntington Beach that has been scheduled for the same day. 

But others say those counter- measures don't do much if the KKK feels it can march the streets of the city unchecked. "The Klan is coming here because they think that you will do nothing," another resident, Lisa Marquise, told City Council members. "They've seen racist bullies come to downtown this past year in one guise or another and face zero consequences."

Lt. Brian Smith, a spokesman for the department, said Wednesday that the KKK event, while not sanctioned, is protected by the First Amendment, but added that police will take action if people encroach on civil liberties or incite violence.

Ku Klux Klan imagery, Confederate flags and language about genocide don't cross that line. "That's all protected speech,"Smith said, drawing a comparison to anti-abortion groups that march with images of aborted fetuses. "Even though that is disturbing and shocks most people's consciences, it's still a protected right they have to display those images."

Mod: More at the link.

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