OXFORD, MS - The Ku Klux Klan joined the fight to save the Ole Miss fight song on Saturday, November 21, 2009 with a rally on the steps of the Fulton Chapel on the university's campus.
KKK members say doing away with "Dixie" at the school's football games violates the students' free speech rights. But as the Klansmen expressed their own freedom of speech, they were greeted with loud boos and angry outbursts.
"Trash," yelled one man in a crowd of about 250 spectators. "Trash! Red neck trash. Get out of here. We don't want you here!"
Fewer than a dozen Klan members silently protested the song ban while holding the rebel flag. All but one wore a hood. They occasionally gave nazi-style salutes.
This rally is in response to the November 17th decision by school leaders to prohibit the band from playing "From Dixie With Love" at football games. Ole Miss officials say the song's final chant, "The South Will Rise Again" is inappropriate.
"To me," says student Nikki Magee, "it doesn't matter. The song is a tradition. As students, we sing. We even say the chant at the end. It's tradition."
"I think it's a good song," says student Kevin Holmes. "It is a tradition. I like the song. But I don't agree with the 'south will rise again' part. I think that sheds a negative light on Ole Miss in general."
The students may be divided over Dixie, but they are in total agreement that the Ku Klux Klan does not represent their school.
"They have every right to be here," says former student Lyle Strickland, "and to go anywhere to say what they want. That's what my fathers died in World War II to protect. But they also fought for equality. And those guys don't speak for Ole Miss."
"We're in America," says student Cheryl Cox, "and they can say what they want to say. As long as they don't touch us, we're good. They have a right to do that. They did it. Hopefully, they won't be back."
It's not often you see hooded Klansmen in modern day America. That's why many at this rally decided to capture it for posterity. A police officer even got out her video camera as a Klan member snapped off a few photos of his own.
Ole Miss students, former students and staff all taking pictures of a moment in time when a the fight over a fight song made history.
"For those who support the chant," says Larry Ridgeway the Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs, "having the KKK come in support of it takes away their argument that it doesn't have any negative connotations associated with it."
"I love the song," says Ole Miss alum Lyle Strickland. "But maybe it hurts people. And so we should step back and look at it. Is this good for Ole Miss? Because everybody here in red and blue today is here for the betterment of Ole Miss and to make it as good and as big as possible."
Students refer to the song as a "tradition." But school leaders say the students just started adding the chant to the end of the song about five years ago.
