In South Carolina, the Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan are planning to rally in support of the Confederate flag at the South Carolina Statehouse July 18. Yr Wonkette is wholly in favor of the event, since it will be the first completely honest show of support for the treason rag. We love Bree Newsome, the woman who climbed up and pulled the flag down Saturday, but the Klan's support may actually be far more effective at getting the flag permanently removed from the Statehouse.

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The state approved the group's application for a permit to hold a rally with "100 to 200 people" (translation: 20 Klansmen, several thousand counter-protesters), because First Amendment, and we're fine with that. In fact, were we at all conspiracy-minded, we'd almost think the KKK planned the rally far enough out to give the state legislature time to pass a law to remove the flag. The Charleston Post and Courier, which has been polling legislators since the proposal to remove the flag was first introduced, found that the necessary 2/3 of members of both houses are ready to vote to bring it down. And now the Klan has provided some additional incentive to get it done quickly. The legislature will come back into session on July 9, and could potentially vote on the flag that day.

Gov. Nikki Haley issued a statement emphasizing that her office had nothing to do with approving the rally, saying, "This is our state, and they are not welcome." The Loyal White Knights' headquarters (presumably a really good double-wide) is located in Pelham, North Carolina.

In contrast to the usual mumblings about "heritage not hate," the Loyal White Knights are perfectly happy with the racist history of the Confederate flag; grand dragon Robert Jones explained to the Post and Courier Monday that his group is a "civil rights organization" that merely wants to support white culture and history, as embodied by the battle flag of the Confederacy. Also, too, the paper notes that he group's answering machine message describes Dylann Roof, who murdered nine people at a Charleston church in hopes of starting a race war, as a "young warrior."

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Jones explained in a phone interview that Roof had the right idea but just chose the wrong targets:

“He was heading in the right direction; wrong target,” Jones said. “He should have actually aimed at the African-American gang-bangers, the ones who are selling the drugs to white youth, the ones who are robbing and raping every chance they get.”

To Jones, the real problem isn't nine dead black people; it's that Roof picked the wrong nine black people to kill, because they were entirely too sympathetic as victims. It's just one of those youthful mistakes that maybe the Klan could have helped him with, if only he'd asked.

With voices like that coming out in support of the Confederate banner, we're betting the legislature will hurry up and get it off the statehouse lawn well before July 19, so they can be nowhere near Columbia when the KKK shows up.

[Charleston Post and Courier / Post and Courier again]