Black Minister Battles To Close KKK Shop And Meeting Place In South Carolina

Laurens, SC (AHN) - A black civil rights activist and minister in Laurens, South Carolina is trying to shut down a racist-hate shop that operates from a once-segregated movie theater that he and his Baptist church acquired in 1997. The "Redneck Shop" has operated out of the building since 1996 under a lease that runs until the shop's owner dies.

Along with selling Ku Klux Klan robes and clothing with printed racial slurs, the shop also serves as a private meeting place for the Cleveland Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.

Its full name is the "World Famous Redneck Shop and Klan Museum," and the Confederate flag stands outside on the sidewalk at the entrance to the store, according to a recent Intelligence Report by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Reverend David Kennedy had begun picketing the shop when it opened, but even when ownership of the building was transferred to Kennedy and his church, he was powerless to close it.

That's because legal documents indicate that John Howard, 62, who runs the store, has a legal right to operate his business in that building until he dies.

It is expected that a court will be asked to decide the matter.

Howard once served as the KKK's grand dragon for South Carolina and North Carolina. Kennedy actively lobbied to remove the Confederate flag from the Statehouse dome.

Kennedy hopes that his New Beginnings Missionary Baptist Church, which now meets in a double-wide trailer, can someday move into the building.

Laurens is about 30 miles southeast of Greenville.