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APtn 07/03 1533 Klan Opposition MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (AP) -- Representatives of a civil rights group and the Ku Klux Klan have agreed to persuade their supporters to maintain peace when the two groups confront each other during a planned July 4th Klan parade. Davidson County Rainbow Coalition co-chairman the Rev. Enoch Fuzz and state Klan director Henry Ford spoke to each other Friday during a 45-minute conference telephone call planned by a Nashville Banner reporter. "We each just want to get our message out. We're not here to intimidate anyone," Ford said. The Klan plans a 10 a.m. CDT rally, held in response to a march in April honoring Martin Luther King Jr. Fuzz helped organize a counter-demonstration, scheduled for 10:30 a.m. CDT, by the Rainbow Coalition and the Rutherford County Racial Harmony Coalition. Both Ford and Fuzz also agreed to meet along with leaders of their organizations after the demonstration. During their conversation, the two leaders defended the beliefs of their two groups, describing the other as unloving or misguided. Both leaders admitted the possibility of violence during the march, but said it was not encouraged by them. "It hurts me to hear you speak of this organization (the Klan) and be so far off base about what life is about," Fuzz said. "I practice love. I love the Klan and I pray to God that the Klan will be let go of their hatreds and they will no longer be blinded by Satan." Ford said the white race is God's chosen race. "We feel like all different races are descended from the Satanic seed," he said. Fuzz told Ford that all Christians are God's children and will go to heaven. But he said he believes Buddhists, Muslims, and those of other faiths will not be welcomed to heaven unless they accept Christ as their savior. Ford insisted his organization is spiritual and does not condone or practice violence or harassment, but Fuzz said he had received threatening telephone calls from Klan members. Ford countered by accusing members of the Rainbow Coalition of trying to intimidate his family with night telephone calls. Ford said "90 percent" of the people who would start trouble with counter-demonstrators would "probably come from old members." Murfreesboro Police Commissioner Bill Jones said will have about 60 officers on duty. But he advised Murfreesboro residents to stay home. "My advice is to ignore the people on the (town) square," he said. "The best thing for citizens to do is to stay home. If they come to watch on the square they could get involved in an unsafe situation." Jones said Klan members only plan to wear their robes at the town's central square, and that's where he predicted the most tension would occur. "I feel like if there will be any trouble it will happen there," he said. The march is to be followed by wreath-laying ceremonies at local cemeteries. Earlier this week, Fuzz promised to disrupt the Klan march, and called on pastors and congregations in Middle Tennessee to join the counter-demonstration. Fuzz predicted about 600 members of his coalition will meet the Klan marchers when they arrive at the courthouse square. Coalition members are to wear armbands to differentiate themselves from other demonstrators, Fuzz said. "If there is violence or disorderliness, then those armbands will help to show that it was not our people," he said. Last page !

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