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.

   
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